Habs boys vs City vs UCS vs Highgate vs latymer upper

[Overlyconcernedmum]

DS has done very well to secure places in these schools. Now it’s time for the tough decision of where to choose. Does anyone have any insight on any of these schools? DS is academic but also sporty and enjoys drama. He doesn’t mind if it’s co-ed or boys only. We live in north London but all the schools are manageable to get to.

All are excellent choices although Latymer Upper (if this is the West London school) doesn't offer GCSE's anymore, they have their own private qualification which puts me off if there is ever a scandal or poor management of the school.

Habs is difficult to get to by public transport and you'd have to rely on coach or a parent picking up.

So for me that would leave City, UCS and Highgate all of which are excellent. Which is easiest for your child to get to on their own?

Depends if you want a city or a ‘countryside’ school. Latymer is in London, lots of stuff around but relatively small grounds on site (although they have separate grounds off site). The kids can socialise nearby easily and be quite independent getting to and from school. They are much more flexible with timings of activities as a result. Habs boys has massive grounds and lots of space but is in the middle of nowhere. You can’t go anywhere nearby easily and boys tend to coach there and back so much more rigid In Terms of school timings and flexibility. Don’t know about Highgate. The experience of the children who attend each is quite different and really a personal preference since academically and extra curriculars will be broadly similar.

I'd circle down to Highgate vs City. I'd say highgate as it one of the most desirable and hard to get into schools for boys in North London. As other posters noted id rule out Latymer and Habs mainly because of location. Both City and Highgate has a generous bursary scheme in place so great demographics and social mix. Highgate has a good reputation for STEM, and its also co-ed which i think is a bonus factor especially for boys. While its fairly central it has a good grounds and a bit of a village feel which i think is nicer than spending every day of their school life in City of London.

DS went to UCS and we couldn’t fault it. Plenty of opportunity to do music, drama and sport. It’s a caring school and produces really lovely young men. DS thrived on the competition.

I will go UCS

Congrats! All the schools on your list are great and broadly similar attracting clever boys! Highgate is a great school I’d take it if I have this choice. It’s really hard to get a place there meaning that they can get the most academic boys from the application pool. Pastoral care is great and it’s a nice mix as they have good bursary provisions pus great teachers especially in STEM. If for any reason you don’t want Highgate I’d pick UCS.

I would choose UCS or City.
If your son prefers more of a traditional grammar school vibe, I would go with City. However, they don’t have a large sports field. I’ve heard that students sometimes need to take a coach elsewhere for sports activities.
If you’re looking for a more balanced experience, I would choose UCS. My child is there, and the sports, drama, and music are all brilliant. Mine isn’t very strong in the arts, so I can’t really comment much on that side, but overall he is very happy there, and we are happy with our choice.
We chose UCS over Highgate as we have heard there were some issues at the school involving a few wealthy students couple years ago, but I don’t know the details.

We had all the similar choices, except Ladimir. We eventually went with Habs boys that was suited to my son‘s personality the most. He is now thriving there. He’s highly interested in sports and play multiple individual and team sports at competitive level. We feel have offers a good mix of sports music and academic. Yes the coach is a bit of a journey and it takes 30 minutes each way, but within a year he was used to it. Not to say he is the best school of the lot, but it would depend a lot on what your child is like and where he would thrive. We loved UCS as well, and that would’ve definitely been our choice if not Habs. We didn’t like Highgate as much because we didn’t see our family and our son fitting in there!

Thank you everyone. Does anyone know if Highgate kids are challenged past the curriculum and also same for City. Struggling to choose between these two!

We have a son in City and another one in Highgate. It really is a very personal decision as both are great schools. We have found Highgate more rounded and in our experience pastoral care is better. City is a bit "swim or sink" and fits mostly very independent and determined boys. Our son ended up adapting well, but I feel it shouldn't have been so difficult... Have I not had the other experience I would have thought this is normal senior school "toughness"! They are both thriving and getting excellent results, you will get this in both. But we will be trying to move the one that is at City to Highgate for Sixth Form. Hope this helps!

Looking at your last post: in my experience, Highgate boys are challenged beyond the curriculum significantly more than City boys.

Thank you for this! Do you feel your children found it quite easy to fit in to both schools and make friends?

@TessaChapman do you have kids taking the 11 or 13+ recently. Interesting posts on only City threads.....

In the end, yes, but for my boys it was easier in Highgate (and this a non-pretentious, no-sporty child). His brother (the one in City) often hangs out with the Highgate gang.

We have daughter starting the journey now (Y5) and I am surprised how different the whole thing is! She will try Highgate (I believe is evident that we love the school!), but of course there is no guarantee she will get in, so we are exploring the girls only schools as well - which is a big unknown for us. I am trying to help on the 2 schools I know, if I can . Why would you find this surprising?

@TessaChapman wpuld it be possible to elaborate, please, on how the boys are ‘not challenged beyond the curriculum’ at City?

Of course they are! Sorry if that came across the wrong way. We just feel at Highgate they are a bit more (in our experience) - this doesnt mean CLS isnt a fantastic school. It definitely is!

i hear there is a lot more pressure at Highgate compared to UCS - and we are trying to make a decision fr DS. He is bright but can get anxious. How much homework are we talking about fr Highgate and are the girls really dominating everything compared to boys academically ?

I don’t think the 11+ kids feel that pressure - as they’ve all worked very hard to get there. That might not be so true of the children coming up from the junior school, who just haven’t had that same pressure. Our experience is of a very fun, busy, lyrical school that genuinely wants the best for each of its pupils. It’s an exciting place to be with lots on offer. It doesn’t feel nearly so pressured as the prep we came from which was all about results and ranking.