Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls

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The School Crest

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls is a British independent public school in Elstree, near Borehamwood, in the county of Hertfordshire. Often known as "Habs" or "Habs girls", to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the school was founded in 1875 by The Haberdashers' Company, one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London, through the agency of Robert Aske. It moved to its present site in 1974.

1 Academic selection and performance
2 Non-academic
3 Class names
4 Awards
5 Notable Alumni
6 External links

[edit] Academic selection and performance

The school is a selective academic day school for around 1,140 girls with its main intakes at the ages of 4, 5, 7, 11 and 16. It is oversubscribed, and selection and induction procedures are in place.

For example, for the large intake at 11, candidates must sit reasoning, English and mathematics tests held at the school. If candidates do well, they are given a structured interview and then possibly offered a place. Once places are accepted, girls are invited back to meet future classmates in the summer term prior to starting at Habs. Teachers from Habs also visit girls in their primary schools. A special meeting for girls who do not have any classmates from their previous school is also held. Once girls have settled in, they are allowed to invite a teacher from their previous school to visit Habs. In addition, girls attend a group activity session in Osmington Bay,Dorset.

The school faces significant competition for candidates from other North London area selective girls' schools. In particular, the equally reputable North London Collegiate School is not far away in Edgware. Many candidates apply to both schools. North London Collegiate and another competitor to the west of Habs, St Helen's, have introduced the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to A levels in the sixth form, but Habs has not. As of June 2006, there has been no marked effect on the relative popularity of the schools.

The school was rated "very good" by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2002. According to the http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk, Habs is known as the "friendly school" for its supportive and relaxed atmosphere. However, examination league table results are on a par with the best London independent schools and pupils regularly win more than 30 places at Oxford and Cambridge per year.

[edit] Non-academic

The current headmistress is Mrs Elizabeth Radice, who lives on-site. Prior to joining the school in 2005, she was head of Channing School, a smaller independent girls' school in North London. The school also has a "senior team" of five girls chosen by the staff, who are selected out of the prefect team.

A coach network shared with the neighbouring boys' school transports pupils from a large catchment area stretching from St John's Wood in London to Harpenden and Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. A short fictional description of Habs coach culture is given in William Sutcliffe's novel, New Boy.

The school is well known for its musical tradition: 75% of girls play a musical instrument. Girls showcase their charitable activities and musical, artistic and sporting achievements in the annual school magazine, The Greenhouse.

Habs is noted for its distinctive green uniform, worn by pupils until they reach the sixth form. The dark green colour is unique to the school and has to be mixed specially.

Other important "Habs things" include, but are not limited to: Action Week; Open Days; St Catherine's Day; Alan, the much loved groundsman and caretaker; the Black Gates which separate the boys' and girls' schools and are seen as a social meeting point and also the courts; strong lacrosse, netball, tennis, cricket, trampolining, badminton and swimming teams; the school councillor Rozi who is always there to talk to; Jackie the nurse who always has a plaster handy; the reprographics man Neil, who does all the photocopying for the students; the annual carol concert at St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square; and various musical concerts throughout the year. The St. Catherine singers won the title of Radio 3 Youth Choir of The Year in 2005.

St Catherine's day in particular is a very eventful day in the school calendar. It is an opportunity for the girls to have a break from work for the day and celebrate their school's patron saint. Forms participate in a quiz in the morning and have sports, design and dance competitions later on. The afternoon is possibly the most enjoyable time when forms decorate their classrooms to a set theme, and in the style of a funfair have various stalls which girls raise money for charity from. The teachers are also prone to the odd game on a dance mat, or marshmallow eating contests.

[edit] Class names

The school has rather interesting names for its classes. In the junior school, year group forms are classified as follows:

Class	Name
Reception	Rainbow
Year 1	Prep
Year 2	Tran
Year 3	First Form
Year 4	Lower Two
Year 5	Upper Two
Year 6	Third Form

There are two classes in each year group (except Rainbow, which has one class), with about 25 pupils in each class.

The senior school year groups are classified as follows:

Class	Name
Year 7	Lower Fourth
Year 8	Upper Fourth
Year 9	Lower Fifth
Year 10	Middle Fifth
Year 11	Upper Fifth
Year 12	Lower Sixth
Year 13	Upper Sixth

There are usually 4 classes in each year group up to year 11, called A, Aesc (pronounced "ash"), Aleph and Alpha, after the first letters of the Latin alphabet, the "Æ" grapheme, the first letter or the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets, and the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Every five years, a fifth form is called Aske after Robert Aske, in whose honour the school is named. Each class has up to 30 pupils, two prefects, a form teacher and a deputy. Lower and Upper Sixth classes have about 10 classes in each year and about 14 pupils in each class.

[edit] Awards

The school has an excellence book which girls are asked to sign if they have excelled in a subject. It is kept in the headmistress's office. The school has recently introduced 'cornflower awards'. The cornflower is the school's flower and the cards are postcard sized with a cornflower on one side and the girl's name, form, reasons for the award and teachers signature on the back.