Sixth form suggestion (HABS, HWSF, CLS, Highgate)

I have recieved conditional offers from CLS and Highgate, I am waiting on HABS, but should get it within a few days. I applied to harris westminster, not counting on it at all though. So essentially, I have a few criteria for sixth form:
1) how independent is it? I prefer less independent, lower student to teacher ratios.
2) whats their specialty? I am choosing Chem, Bio, maths, Fmaths, which on is best for the sciences specifically?
3) ease to participate supercurricularly - olympiads, starting/participating in clubs, work exprience etc.
4) oxbridge/imperial success
if anybody goes to any of these I would appreciate any advice, thanks

Hi
I’m in a very similar position to you and was hoping you could share some info!
I have only applied to Harris Westminster (out of the ones you have listed) and am wondering what you know about the school. I’m literally only aware it has good Oxbridge progressions, and you take an entrance test and interview. Have you been to the school before? If so what is it like? Also in terms of commute, how far will you be travelling? I’m a bit worried as for me it takes a bit more than an hour. :/ why do you say you are not counting on it? I see my questions seem a bit personal and abrupt but I would really appreciate the advice!
Good luck with your exams and congratulations on the offers you have received! 🎉
Regards,
A_P

Hi
I’m in a very similar position to you and was hoping you could share some info!
I have only applied to Harris Westminster (out of the ones you have listed) and am wondering what you know about the school. I’m literally only aware it has good Oxbridge progressions, and you take an entrance test and interview. Have you been to the school before? If so what is it like? Also in terms of commute, how far will you be travelling? I’m a bit worried as for me it takes a bit more than an hour. :/ why do you say you are not counting on it? I see my questions seem a bit personal and abrupt but I would really appreciate the advice!
Good luck with your exams and congratulations on the offers you have received! 🎉
Regards,
A_P

haha very sorry for the late reply, but for harris westminster, i essentially know nothing about HWSF if i am being honest. my commute takes me...around an hour? as i am from North London. I am not counting on HWSF at all, as i know several people from my own school that also applied. which is not a good sign for how many total applicants there are, as compared to the places I have gotten offers from.
I have not been to the school before, I only applied for the same reason as you, it apparently has good oxbridge applicants. and my predicted was 8.75 APS

Thank you! I’m praying to get into HWSF as I’m also from North London and Ngl there aren’t made decent schools around here… Thanks for the response though!

Hope you considered Latymer in Edmonton? It's a very good grammar school.

Hi
Unfortunately the deadline has closed for the applications and I didn’t know about the school before so…. 😭
Thank you though!

Hi
Unfortunately the deadline has closed for the applications and I didn’t know about the school before so…. 😭
Thank you though!

In that case, during the open day they said to apply on results day because they tend to have available places.

You could email them and ask if you can still apply! Explain your situation and tell them your predicted grades.

I have recieved conditional offers from CLS and Highgate, I am waiting on HABS, but should get it within a few days. I applied to harris westminster, not counting on it at all though. So essentially, I have a few criteria for sixth form:
1) how independent is it? I prefer less independent, lower student to teacher ratios.
2) whats their specialty? I am choosing Chem, Bio, maths, Fmaths, which on is best for the sciences specifically?
3) ease to participate supercurricularly - olympiads, starting/participating in clubs, work exprience etc.
4) oxbridge/imperial success
if anybody goes to any of these I would appreciate any advice, thanks

I have recieved conditional offers from CLS and Highgate, I am waiting on HABS, but should get it within a few days. I applied to harris westminster, not counting on it at all though. So essentially, I have a few criteria for sixth form:
1) how independent is it? I prefer less independent, lower student to teacher ratios.
2) whats their specialty? I am choosing Chem, Bio, maths, Fmaths, which on is best for the sciences specifically?
3) ease to participate supercurricularly - olympiads, starting/participating in clubs, work exprience etc.
4) oxbridge/imperial success
if anybody goes to any of these I would appreciate any advice, thanks

Hey, I currently am in year 12 at HWSF. I went to a private secondary skl similar to the ones you applied to and have lots of friends still there so i feel i can give a pretty good comparison.
In terms of independence you will have the most HWSF as the classes for your subjects are all between 20-25 people in my year (humanities have smaller class sizes), whilst at those other schools i think they would be like 10-15 people. They also expect you to be responsible for your own learning and do extra work to fill gaps in your knowledge. However, teachers are super willing to help if you ask for it and I personally did not find this extra independence difficult at all.
I think HWSF does specialise slightly in humanities (if you look at their grades those are higher) but the maths and biology departments are quite strong. I would say the teaching of the chemistry department is slightly weaker but they have lots of resources which are super helpful.
In terms of super curriculars the school enters students into the biology, chemistry and maths olympiads, as well as a few other maths competitions. They have a period where everyone attends a subject related society (e.g. biology society) and you can become president of that in year 13. You can also join/set up clubs after school or during lunch. They also have a talk every week at school. However, at the other schools you applied to there will probably be more opportunities to run clubs as there is a lower school. A huge advantage of HWSF in terms of super curricular is that as it is a state school you can join tons of access programs at universities and summer school programs which are great super curriculars.

hey, I go hwsf currently and to answer ur questions:
1. quite independent - decent sized classes (around 25 for popular options like maths, fm and science, as low as 10 for less popular options). teaching is decent, content moves quite quickly, so naturally it’s up to you to catch up if you miss anything, and seek out teachers for help. LOTS of revision sessions from September tho - if you perform poorly in tests you get emailed to joint revision classes at lunchtimes
2. around 90% of the year group takes maths, and the majority takes at least 1 STEM subjects (3 essay-based and a science is vv popular), so there’s definitely lots of support for the subjects you take. teachers are mostly masters holders or higher (quite a lots of drs, the majority of my teachers are) so trust it’s very good for science
3. there are three ‘types’ of mandatory extracurriculars: societies, cp and sport. societies are subject specific ‘clubs’ you attend once a week (e.g. engineering, law, psychology etc), where everyone gives presentations and learns about niches within the subject. cultural perspectives (cp) are 8 week courses on different niches (e.g. there’s been f1 racing, the question of free will, econ of love) lead by teachers. in sport you can do the generic stuff like football, but there indoor things like chess, debate and music which are also good. outside of the things on ur timetable, there’s lots of talks and seminar trips happening all the time
4. Oxbridge and imperial progression is very good - the skl always recently makes the top in sixth forms 10 for successful Oxbridge offers

Hi - thank you for setting this out. I have secured a place at Harris Westminster to start in Sept 25. I have read some negative reviews that have scared me. Can you please let me know if it is a friendly / nice place to be? Are the teachers nice or are they 'shouty'?