Tiffin Girls School "designated area"

[Muminwestlondon]

West or South West London parents might be interested to learn that TGS is currently consulting on a "designated area" to cut down on the nearly 2000 applications they had this year. If accepted the change would apply from 2014/15. The details are on the school website, but the postcodes are...

KT1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19
TW1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16
SW13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20
W4, 5, 7, 13
UB1, 2
SM4
CR4

[gatheringlilac]

We're not in there! And we are close enough for it to be our big shopping area!!

[Muminwestlondon]

I am also outside of it although my daughter goes there! It is only a proposal at the moment and comments can be made via their website.

[HilaryM]

that's a bit of a shocker.

anyone know if tiffin boys will follow suit?

[Muminwestlondon]

I don't know but I think what has prompted it is that the school infrastructure cannot cope with the costs and hassle of nearly 2000 girls sitting the initial test.

They are completely separate schools and as you may be aware Tiffin Girls changed the admission tests this year to include maths and English. I cannot imagine they will run two different systems for ever though as I think they must have similar problems in sheer volume of applicants and differentiating between them.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

It is about time something was done to ease the hysteria of Tiffin entrance.

Though this is only a consultation - who is eligible to comment?

[Muminwestlondon]

Anyone can comment. There is a form on their website which can be emailed or posted.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

Thanks, will have a look at that.

[TessOfTheBaublevilles]

I think it's a good idea, especially given that part of their rationale is the long distances some girls are travelling to the school, as well as the number of applications.

[JoanByers]

The postcodes seem very arbitrary. How come Southall is in but Acton is out?

[Muminwestlondon]

I think a very small minority of girls have always travelled long distances. Some of the proposed postcodes are an hour by bus.

What they are trying to do is reduce the burden of applications and shut up those who want the school to be for Kingston only by introducing a catchment of sorts.

[JoanByers]

Some of the postcodes are an hour-and-a-half by two, or even three, buses.

[TessOfTheBaublevilles]

Having put some of the postcodes into Google Maps, I can now see how far some of the postcodes are, so I take back what I said!

In that case, it's very naughty they've said in one of the documents, one of their reasons is to stop girls having to travel very long distances.

They might as well just be honest and say it's purely to cut the number of applications.

[TessOfTheBaublevilles]

Although having said that, I've just remembered that the advised maximum travelling time for a secondary aged child is 90 minutes, so perhaps that's how they've done it?

Perhaps they've worked out the journey times from various postcodes and the area is those that fall within 90 minutes?

[JoanByers]

So why is w3 absent?

[TessOfTheBaublevilles]

I don't know Joan - I was just clutching at straws!

I have very little knowledge of public transport routes from various areas to Kingston. The only ones I know are the ones from where I live!

[gatheringlilac]

We are "not on the list" but it is well under an hour, even in heavy traffic, to reach the school from where we are.

[gazzalw]

Hi Gatheringlilac (waves) - we've scraped in postcode-wise but not sure if we would be looking at Tiffin for DD just as we ruled out Tiffin for DS!

[CecilyP]

The catchment looks huge, stretching from Southall to Mitcham, so don't know how many applicants form outwith they have at present. Looking at the map, I have to agree that W3 seems a strange omission.

[basildonbond]

Sw16 is also absent and that's well within the 90 minute radius ... I wouldn't consider it for dd as I still think its too far but .....

[JoanByers]

SW11 is around 40 minutes door-to-door, and absent too....

[gatheringlilac]

Hmm. Latymer in Edmonton uses a TfL journey-planner thingy to insist that only children whose journeys take under an hour can apply. you have to affix the TfL print-out to the application. Seems less arbitrary than this list of post-codes ... unless the point is quite simply to just lop off a tranche of applications any old how.

[gatheringlilac]

... or perhaps it's that the ratio of cost of processing applications from, say, SW16 and W3 to number of applications from those postcodes being successful was way less good than the ration of cost to pass rate from, say, CR4? Perhaps SW16 is excluded because their success rate wasn't glorious enough?

(I'm joking: I think it was probably just a case of a ruthless sweep of the marker pen.)

[gazzalw]

Or the cynic might wonder if they're using postcodes to weed out certain demographics.......

[CecilyP]

I don't think so, gazzalw. It looks like they drew a circle round the school and took in all the relevant postcodes - all except W3 which sits slap bang in the middle of W4 and W5, whereas SW16 is right outside the circle.

The 90 minutes journey thing is a total red herring. Only 19 minutes from Clapham Junction (SW11) to Kingston station and perhaps a 15 minute walk from there.

[Muminwestlondon]

They used those postcodes because they say that is where the majority of those currently in the school live. W3 applicants either don't apply or don't get in for some reason.

Apparently 16% of year 7 starting in September 2012 were outside the proposed designated area (at the time of being offered a place).

Unfortunately the school now has so many applicants (over 1800) that the current system is unmanageable and apparently expensive.

I also think travelling time by public transport would be fairer but apparently this has been ruled against by the Schools Adjudicator in relation to another school (Cardinal Vaughan).