Merchant Taylors v. Habs v. St Albans Boys

[Queen of toast]

Our DS is in the enviable position of having offers for 11+ entry for Merchant Taylors, Habs and St Albans Boys. He says that he prefers MTS or StABs but trusts us to make the right decision for him

I think that they're all great schools and this makes it particularly difficult to choose between them. (It would have been more helpful if only one of them had offered him a place!) Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

Our areas for consideration are as follows (although not necessarily in this order of importance!):

Academic standards (pretty similar, but MTS and Habs have traditionally been higher in the league tables)
Pastoral care
Journey time
Food
Uniform
Facilities
Headteacher (both MTS and StABs are getting new ones and I liked the old ones)
DS's personality and interests

Anything else we should think about?

[Sallyltb]

Go for your gut feeling - and do think carefully about journey time. He will be spending a lot of time there, so getting somewhere you feel fits his personality is really important. Even the 'best' schools are not best for everyone

[tigger2]

Afraid that I do not know anything about either school that will help you but the the new Head of Merchant Taylors is very,very good and highly recommended. I may be wrong but I think that next Thursday he is meeting existing/prospective parents...If this is the case (could have the wrong date ) could you go to meet him and put your mind at rest on that score?

Tigger

[Tdada]

My son chose Habs over MTs. He said he had a sense of Habs being more competitive. fyi, I was leaning to MTs as it is closer to our home and I thought that he would do well at either school. AT his interview at MTs they asked him which he would chose and told him that the main diff is that he would have more competition at Habs- he has high expectations of himself. I am please that he finds lots of time to pursue his other interests outside the classroom at Habs. Also that he meets Habs girls on school bus, "the gates", etc so no regrets. You can't go wrong etween the two in my opinion

[Saswatim]

Our son has got offers from both Habs Boys and MTS with an academic scholarship for Habs boys. We have also kept QE Barnet in the equation still.
MTS is closer to our house though the Habs Boys coach comes very close to our house. We want to send our DS to Habs probably because it seemed to be academically stronger though MTS seemed more friendly.
I will really welcome any advice from parents whose sons go to either of these schools.

[Sportsmum]

Probably the best thing you could do is speak to the schools and ask to let you have another look round with your son and then go with your gut feeling. The schools are very understanding and you won't be the first people to ring them up and ask.

[zorro]

Queen of toast - how do you know that the Head of St Alban's is leaving?
My DS has a place at St A's for Sixth Form and has exams at MTS tomorrow for the Sixth Form.
We also don't know which to go for (if he gets an offer at MTS)

[Queen of toast]

Zorro - Not sure how I know that Andrew Grant is leaving St Albans . I've just had a quick look on the internet and can't see anything but I have a couple of friends who are teachers so maybe they told me after seeing the job advertised in the Times Ed. I'm waiting for the admissions person to call me back now (about having another quick look round) so I will ask her if it's true and will add a post here.

Best of luck to your DS for his sixth form exam.

[zorro]

Thanks, I couldn't see anything either. I looked on Good Schools Guide which says about MTS Head retiring but nothing about Mr Grant.
My DS is pretty sure he wants to go to St A's - so much so that he hasn't revised for the exams at MTS tomorrow!

[MrsP]

The Deputy Head is certainly leaving StA at the end of this year, to take up a Headmasters position elsewhere. Not heard that Mr Grant is leaving ...