Haileybury Hertford SG13 7NU

"As they say, “all that glitter is not gold”. I will advise parents to do a bit of research, contact other parents before applying for a position or even attending an open day at Haileybury. During our interaction, we found the lack of leadership and communication as big problems with the school. My daughter applied for sixth form place in November 2017, after asking for the school report and numerous communications, with the admissions assistant, came a period of pin-drop silence, as we heard nothing from the school in spite of our repeated email contacts. The process started again when my daughter got her GCSEs results and scored grades for their intake criteria, a visit was arranged for us to come and visit Haileybury and meet up with their Master C. The day went haphazardly as the information given about the school was rather sketchy and for us it was more a sales pitch and interviewer’s personal and family’s achievements rather than knowledge sharing. After our visit we were promised the communication, which never happened once again. At this point my daughter decided to take sixth form options at another school, because of school’s amateurish approach and dilemma with their communication, she found Haileybury no better than any state run school. Upon my enquiry with the school a letter was drafted haphazardly, with wrong spellings of my daughter's name and was handed to me saying that interview never went well, the given reason was too vague therefore I asked for a full feedback, which never went down very well, as the feedback was drafted on a piece of post-it notes. Very disappointed with the level of professionalism and will refrain to apply again at Haileybury."

"Took a Saturday stroll around the grounds and it was very nice. Beautiful grounds and architecture. Will be lovely in the summer. My daughter has attended summer camp here several summer's running and has loved it."

"Great school grounds, some great teachers and some ok ones. Parental comms., could be variable. Some teachers replied straightaway, some had to be chased. Staff turnover could also be high and some class sizes, not all, were surprisingly big. Bigger that state? It did feel if league tables took greater priority than pupil education. We knew of some who underperformed in the 6th Form. We were told by their parents they were asked to leave. Sad. Slightly worrying to hear about Siobhan McHugh in the news. She talk one of our children but the school never informed us. Great school? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Value for money? Not really."

"Don't send your kids here. Teachers really unfriendly! Take it from someone who's been there in the last 5 years, not a nice environment."

"Wow! What a fabulous place! I went visited yesterday (15/06/13) to the for the first time; I was going to the Sports Complex for scuba club, but even though I was born and raised in Hertford, I had never seen the school before! I not only is the school and its grounds beautiful, I could feel the history too! Well worth a visit and take a camera too!!"