Relative difficulty vs St Albans / Habs?

[PlutoMum]

Thanks maddad. The discussion thread was interesting. I guess it's reassuring to know we're not alone and many others are facing similar decisions. It's just been such a long, agonising process and it's the only thing DH and I talk about at the moment (constantly weighing up the pros and cons of each option). I guess we'll all get there in the end!

[Pushy Dad]

Parmiters was our back up to the state school allocation last year. And because we were out of catchment for Parmiters, Habs was the back up to the back up (St Albans is our 'local' but DS didnt get a buzz on Open Day whereas he did with Habs).

We got the state school school that we wanted, no offer from Parmiters and got offer from Habs.

We kind of expected the Parmiters results because we knew that were only 15 out of catchment places available. What we didn't know at the time was that a large chunk of that went to siblings. So there was really only about 9 places going. So, if you are out of catchment then, unless you are confident that your DC will be in the top 9 out of a 100?, you need a back up plan.

As I said, we got the state school that we wanted and Habs was supposed to be the back up to the back up, but when we got the offer letter we spent just an hour before deciding to take it up. Now that my son has had a term at Habs, if I were to be offered a place at Parmiters tomorrow I would decline it. This has nothing to do with Parmiters itself. Its just that DS has come such a long way in just one term. It all comes at a price (just over £14k pa) but the range of extra curricular activities is most impressive and so are the facilities.

We can comfortably afford the fees. It just mean that we need to keep the car going for longer and take a foreign holiday alternate years. However, whether I would recommend that someone takes equity from their house to pay for the fees is another matter

[WP]

We kind of expected the Parmiters results because we knew that were only 15 out of catchment places available. What we didn't know at the time was that a large chunk of that went to siblings. So there was really only about 9 places going.

That's not quite what the Parmiter's arrangements are. At most 5% of the selective places (47 academic and 19 music) and those on medical grounds are for applicants from out of catchment, which amounts to 3 academic places and 1 music place. There is no residence requirement on the sibling criterion: they have priority wherever they live, and this has no effect on the number of selective places unless these criteria use up all the places, which hasn't happened in recent years.

But yes, Parmiter's is an extreme long shot if you're out of catchment, and a backup plan is likely to be necessary.

[Pushy Dad]

I recall having the same conversation with someone last year

I got the info from the horse's mouth so to speak i.e. the admissions office. Siblings of children who are out of catchment comes out of the 5% which was 15 places in 2011. A decision was then made as to how to proportion the remaining between music and academic places. In 2011 there was only one music place and although my DC was 2nd she might as well be last

[WP]

I recall having the same conversation with someone last year

Yep

I got the info from the horse's mouth so to speak i.e. the admissions office. Siblings of children who are out of catchment comes out of the 5% which was 15 places in 2011. A decision was then made as to how to proportion the remaining between music and academic places. In 2011 there was only one music place and although my DC was 2nd she might as well be last

On the previous occasion,

I stand corrected. Mrs PB spoke to admissions about CI and the sibling rule DOES apply to out of catchment.

Of the 9 places available, 5 went to siblings, 3 to academic and 1 to music.

There's the 3 and 1, but the number of out-of-catchment siblings won't always be 5. Parmiter's draft arrangements for next year are up in the consultation, and last year's Moving On booklet is still available. In both, the only reference to the catchment is

For applicants who satisfy Criteria 4, 5 and 6:

95% of the places available will be allocated to applicants from the following post code areas: WD3 to WD25 inclusive, AL1, AL2, AL3, HP1, HP2, HP3 and HA6

Criteria 4, 5 and 6 are medical, academic (47 places) and music (19 places). No connection is made between the catchment and the sibling criterion (#3).

[maddad]

Parmiter's website is explicit about the academic places:

25% of places will be allocated in order of academic ability. This equates to 47 places (44 from within the catchment area and 3 from outside the catchment area).

Source: http://www.parmiters.herts.sch.uk/admis ... explained/

(I think) there were approximately 350 applications for the out-of-area academic places this year, which puts your odds as less than 1-in-100

[magic-mum]

Hi Plutomum,
With offers from Parmiters, Habs and St Albans someone told me I couldn't really make a bad decision - all great schools - i guess that was true but the descion was nevertheless difficult and we chose St Albans.
We declined Parmiters (with difficulty as there are no fees !!) - but finances ok, and therefore decided to choose between Habs & St Albans feeling they would both provide so much more for our son overall - then it was really hard to choose.!! In the end we went with our hearts / gut feeling - we live in St Albans so we thought about location, independence of travel, a network of friends that would live closer & the possible school for a younger sister when her time comes (soon) etc. The things that make the difference, when all other things are really equal.
We are thoroughly delighted with our choice & he is having a wonderful time at St Albans. We are glad we considered location important as he doesn't finish school until 6pm 4 nights a week due to extra curricular activites & with homework to do every night, a short journey is essential. We are also at the school & Woollams for concerts and sport at weekends - again being nearby really helps.
Hopefully you too will end up making a "difficult" decision between great schools - there is no right & wrong, it is just very personal and everyone is different.
Good Luck - x

[PlutoMum]

Thanks for the reply magic-mum. My gut feeling is leaning towards St Albans although my husband thinks Habs. We are hoping for a scholarship so this may well help make our decision in the end. As you say, both are great options.

Unfortunately Parmiter's is looking very unlikely (3 catchment area places) but a place at QE is quite likely (got through to second round which went well). However, to add to our dilemma, we are becoming increasingly wary of QE having read the various threads on this forum. We just can't seem to get to the bottom of whether this this would be a great school for our DS or whether it is just too regimental and lacking in pastoral care. DS is very academic and works very well with rules but only if fairly applied. He has a quirky but sensitive nature - I have no idea if this would work with QE.

Thanks for all the responses. They all help in our slow process of making a decision.