Haberdashers' Boys' School

If you have a confident, self-motivated boy who actually enjoys being pushed, Haberdashers' is one of the names that will come up. It is an independent day school for boys in Elstree, set on a rural hundred-acre site on the edge of north London, in the grounds of Aldenham House, a former stately home. It was founded in 1690 by Robert Aske, a wealthy merchant who left money to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers to educate the sons of poor members. Today it shares the campus with Haberdashers' Girls' School, the two running as single-sex schools on one site, with every sixth former taught at least one subject in a mixed class.

The school is openly academic and competitive, and the Good Schools Guide describes a place that has opened up in recent years, with boys who make an impact 'not just through their own achievements but by reaching out a hand and bringing others with them'. One parent told the Guide that the young men they had hired from Habs all 'were self-assured and comfortable in their own skin'. Music is a real strength, and pastoral care follows what staff call 'the Habs way', loosely meaning values above victory. Its alumni run from the comedians Sacha Baron Cohen and Matt Lucas to plenty of others who have gone quietly far.

Habs suits a self-assured, highly numerate boy who likes hard work and the push that comes with it. The Guide is honest that a boy who needs a lot of mollycoddling may be happier elsewhere. Led since 2023 by headmaster Robert Sykes, it is a demanding school that backs the children who lean into it.