St Albans Girls School (STAGS)

[SAA]

Any information on St Albans Girls School (STAGS) will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[hopeful5]

hello there,
try posting in the section for independent schools
h5

[WP]

No, STAGS is a state school. (Sorry, SAA, I don't have any answers, but we've no more appropriate section for your query than this one.)

[pheasantchick]

My nieces went here and seemed happy. I don't really know any more info than that.

Other good state schools in the area are the three in Harpenden - Roundwood, St Georges and Sir John LAwes.

[Pushy Dad]

hopeful5

You are confusing St Albans Girls School (state) with St Albans High School for Girls (indie)

SAA

I don't have any direct experience with STAGS but we know girls who go there and they all speak highly of it. Academically it does very well compared to other non selective state schools. Facility-wise they are well equiped.

Only downside is that recently the council announced that their budget is going to be slashed by £300,000. However, the newspaper article gave no indication as to the time period (£300k each year? £300k spread over x years?).

Having said that, all state schools are going to be hit by similar reductions.

St George was mentioned but one has to be of faith in order to be admitted.

[Ally]

As a non selective girls school it tends to be very popular choice with parents. I know of a number of girls from my son's class who started in September all are very happy with the school. Also I know of a number of girls that are looking forward to starting this September. Always tends to be oversubscribed . I not sure how the admission rules work but I believe the places are allocated via a lottery system

[pheasantchick]

St Georges is not a faith school, but is voluntary aided.

[Pushy Dad]

pleasantchick - my assertion is based on the admission policy on their website AND enquiries at their open day. The of faith criteria kicks in if the are oversubscribed. And since they are always oversubscribed .....

[WP]

St George's does give priority to Christians, but according to the Herts Moving On booklets they also admitted 32, 58, 39, 33, 48, 39 and 35 children by distance (without requiring faith) in the years 2004 to 2010 respectively.

[Pushy Dad]

Apparently the cuts have begun already. Bumped into someone on this morning's train who knows staff at Stags. The music budget has been severely cut with at least one music staff either gone or going.