Habs girls vs DAO
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Habs girls vs DAO
There may be a few like us. We may be in that fortunate place come Monday.
What type of girl would each school suit best? What difference could it make for her future?
Clearly Habs is fee based and the other is not, DAO is mixed and Habs girls only (although some gradual alignment is anticipated with Habs Boys).
I read some comments from a while back that DAO's pastoral care is not quite there.
DD is sporty and recently started taking a natural interest in music. We have academic scholarships at other good girls schools.
What type of girl would each school suit best? What difference could it make for her future?
Clearly Habs is fee based and the other is not, DAO is mixed and Habs girls only (although some gradual alignment is anticipated with Habs Boys).
I read some comments from a while back that DAO's pastoral care is not quite there.
DD is sporty and recently started taking a natural interest in music. We have academic scholarships at other good girls schools.
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Finchley mum
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- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 7:00 pm
Re: Habs girls vs DAO
I have a DD at Habs Girls and she is thriving. pastoral care excellent and lots of geeky girls doing what they like and not feeling under any peer pressure to follow the crowd.
But she would never have got into DAO/HBS etc as her VR/NVR ability was not good enough. If it were and she could have got a place at a state selective, I would have gone for that without question. DD has friends at DAO (who also had offers from Habs) and they love it there - the sport and music is akin to a private school. The only negative might be that DAO is almost too academic - at least in their top set and the kids put a lot of pressure on themselves to keep up with each other. I think set 2 would be the place to be at that school - keeping up but not being overwhelmed.
But she would never have got into DAO/HBS etc as her VR/NVR ability was not good enough. If it were and she could have got a place at a state selective, I would have gone for that without question. DD has friends at DAO (who also had offers from Habs) and they love it there - the sport and music is akin to a private school. The only negative might be that DAO is almost too academic - at least in their top set and the kids put a lot of pressure on themselves to keep up with each other. I think set 2 would be the place to be at that school - keeping up but not being overwhelmed.
Re: Habs girls vs DAO
I'm not so certain about that and DG may come aong in a minute and completely disagree, but friends of mine who work at DAO and have children there say that there is very little difference between set 1 and 2. Set 2 is almost like the overspill of set 1. I haven't heard of there being that much pressure either. The children I know seem to be coping well, have good social lives and get good results. As with all schools children have to decide whether to take up extra curricular offerings and not all do.
Best of luck OP for Monday.
Best of luck OP for Monday.
Re: Habs girls vs DAO
Good point, but I imagine this is not an issue in the top sets at DAO as well.Finchley mum wrote:I have a DD at Habs Girls and she is thriving. pastoral care excellent and lots of geeky girls doing what they like and not feeling under any peer pressure to follow the crowd.
DD is one of the lucky 227 that had offers this year (PAN is 200)! Would the brand new Science block make it easier to accommodate this large swelling?
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Jean.Brodie
- Posts: 451
- Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:55 pm
Re: Habs girls vs DAO
Hi SHertsDad! I hope you have had the maximum good news by now.
AS DAO is only partially selective, you might want to consider what impact this has on the atmosphere and culture of the school overall. (We wanted a fully selective school for our DD as we wanted real academic challenge and companionship for her throughout her peer group and lots of talented girls passionate about all sorts of topics and subjects.)
Any news from HBS? This is our DD's school and so it's the one we know best.As you may know, they set only for Maths and only from Year 10. The standard is actually very high for all the sets, with the GCSE grades varying only from A* to A, with plenty of A Level and investigation type challenge in the higher sets. Without formal setting, something similar applies for all other subjects in terms of the standard throughout and the stretch.
Your DD's offers so far, including scholarships, suggest that she is clearly very talented. I would carefully compare the Habs offer with that from other fully selective schools, indy and state, even though DAO has the 'hook' of a sibling rule.
Good luck for today if you are still waiting to hear from any schools.
AS DAO is only partially selective, you might want to consider what impact this has on the atmosphere and culture of the school overall. (We wanted a fully selective school for our DD as we wanted real academic challenge and companionship for her throughout her peer group and lots of talented girls passionate about all sorts of topics and subjects.)
Any news from HBS? This is our DD's school and so it's the one we know best.As you may know, they set only for Maths and only from Year 10. The standard is actually very high for all the sets, with the GCSE grades varying only from A* to A, with plenty of A Level and investigation type challenge in the higher sets. Without formal setting, something similar applies for all other subjects in terms of the standard throughout and the stretch.
Your DD's offers so far, including scholarships, suggest that she is clearly very talented. I would carefully compare the Habs offer with that from other fully selective schools, indy and state, even though DAO has the 'hook' of a sibling rule.
Good luck for today if you are still waiting to hear from any schools.
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pabrighton0
- Posts: 327
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:55 pm
- Location: Herts
Re: Habs girls vs DAO
They are both great schools, your DD is very lucky.
You may also want to consider:
Clubs: I was told by a happy parent that the clubs often do not run at DAO. So you should not expect them to tick over like at Habs.
Trips. Not as frequent at DAO.
Population: DAO has a very different economic and social mix compared to Habs Girls. And while both sets of students worked hard to get the place, there's no DAO bubble.
Sports: Habs has a swimming pool and the girls play Lacrosse. Although from reading various comments, the swimming pool may not be used as regularly as you may think.
I have seen a few girls from Habs at the 6th form admission sessions, so perhaps this does not have to be a choice for 7 years...
You may also want to consider:
Clubs: I was told by a happy parent that the clubs often do not run at DAO. So you should not expect them to tick over like at Habs.
Trips. Not as frequent at DAO.
Population: DAO has a very different economic and social mix compared to Habs Girls. And while both sets of students worked hard to get the place, there's no DAO bubble.
Sports: Habs has a swimming pool and the girls play Lacrosse. Although from reading various comments, the swimming pool may not be used as regularly as you may think.
I have seen a few girls from Habs at the 6th form admission sessions, so perhaps this does not have to be a choice for 7 years...
