Thinking of getting DD to do the 11+ exams but just wondered if any child from Hatfield ever got into Dame Alice Owen's, Parmiters, Queens or Watford Girls School.

I know we are in the catchment area for DAO but right on the egde, so I have little hope if it's by distance to school criteria.
Not sure about the SWHerts Consortium Schools if we are in the catchment area, do we bother doing the exams anyway?

Can anyone help/advise? Would really like to hear other peoples views. TIA x

There are lots of people from Hatfield at DAO. If you have a look at the station at about 7.30 you'll see loads of them.
Don't forget that distance is only used to decide between people of the same test score so there'll be people from all over. There are lots of people coming from WGC which is obviously further than Hatfield.
I don't know about the other schools sorry - they seem as though they'd be a lot further?

Parmiter's, Queens and Watford Girls all publish their catchment areas in their admissions codes so I recommend that you take a look. Although none of them extend to AL10. Parmiters have maybe 3 out of catchment places and St Clement Danes has no catchment; however you also need to consider feasibility of travel.

Let's deal with SW Herts Consortium first.

Hatfield is not in the catchment of SW Herts so it is not possible to get into Watford girls or boys or Queens.

However Parmiters has three non catchment places and I know two students from Hatfield who have secured one of those places in the past.

Clement Danes has 20 non catchment places so it is worth taking the SW Herts exam especially as it uses some of the same format. There are also non Catchment music places.

Hatfield is certainly not on the edge of the DAO catchment area, there are places like Islington that are a lot further away and Hatfield is just 15 mins drive away or just two stops on the train.

DAO also runs a bus from Hatfield to the school.

I personally know over 30 students at DAO who live in Hatfield and Hatfield students are very successful at DAO.

The local schools: Green Lanes, Countess Anne, Howe Dell and the Ryde all have ex students at DAO. A student from the Ryde got one of the ten music places this year.

The students from WGC, Hatfield, Welham Green and Brookmans Park all travel on the train with each other.

Stand on the platform at Hatfield or WGC around 8am in the morning and 415 in the evening and you will see them all. DG

Islington isn't 'edge of catchment', though, is it (as in, the catchment includes all the area from the school to the furthest border of the Londonn Borough of Islington)? It's a separate specific area- presumably reflecting the school's previous location in the borough.

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

So still worth a shot at getting DD to do the SW Herts exams? Slim chance, but you gotta be in it to win it!