Whitgift School - how do the Non-sporty boys fare?

S school by any chance?

He's at private prep ATM but rethinking and considering local state schools.

We live close to CB.

He is yr 4

I would say my ds is quite sensitive, as are a lot of his friends. They all play sport, which I think is a plus- and are all in the top set, getting great results.
I really am delighted with the school- where is your ds?

deaddei - how do you think a sensitive DS would get on at CB?

Can recommend- ds very happy, is being pushed and so far hasn't been knifed

By the way, deaddei, well done to your DS and the rest of the team!

My DS not yet at secondary age but CB a serious contender.

(sorry, hijack, carry on)

Trinity have done the IGCSE for ages, I technically have no C in GCSE maths as a result... Pretty sure my A* at IGCSE will make up for it though

No, but it is near us.

It was indeed PinkElephants [smile}
Is your ds there?

deiddei - was that Coombe Boys?

Re IGCSE and performance tables:
the following is a quotation from an article in The Times, 14 January 2010

"Private schools are abandoning the International GCSE just a year after taking up the new qualification, which was heralded as offering greater stretch and challenge to pupils, The Times has learnt.

"The Government does not recognise the IGCSE in its league tables published yesterday, meaning that independent schools who offer it plummeted to the bottom of the ranks even if they got stunning results."

However, the original poster was asking about her non-sporty son, would he get lost? For myself, I think it possible he could become demoralised unless he was "academic" and well motivated by comparison with the majority.

Trinity do IGCSE maths, physics, chemistry, and biology. They've recently moved to IGCSE German as well (I did GCSE, 96% :D) and they may be moving to IGCSE english as well.

Just as an aside, Whitgift were beaten at football last Friday by an "improving" boys state school.
As you were.

I don't think that that is true for the igcse, for these schools at least. I think that Whitgift, Trinity and Caterham all do igcse for some subjects (and all do for maths), and in order to get to the stats quoted you have to include maths.

All the "performance tables" for 2010 are available on the government website, both for GCSE and A level.

Don't forget, if a school put boys in for IB (instead of A-level) or IGSE (instead of ordinary GCSE) those results will not be included in the tables. Ask each school whether this applies.

Each school's apparent performance is as much related to the calibre of the intake of pupils, and their motivation and application, as to the teaching.

Don't forget that some of the schools you've mentioned actually heave boys out if they seem not to be making the grade academically or otherwise, before they can besmirch the school's published results.

OP had a good question. In my experience, a non-sporty boy can feel quite unvalued at the school in question. All the staff know which boys have scholarships, and don't expect much of those who are not "scholars".

Thanks for that SchoolsQuestion.

LOL - Dr Barnett must be sobbing into his little doggie's coat!

It is always difficult to read the trends though. Certainly the introduction of A at A level is now significant, esp if you are in the indie sector as it seems that many of the top unis are routinely throwing an A into the offer.

I have a few friends and acquaintances with children at Whitgift. Feedback is that its pastoral care is not very good and that staff are only interested in the achievers (academic or sporting). However, if you are on of those achievers, then it's a great school. When the parents went round the schools, the Trinity talk was all about what the school can do for your son; the Whitgift head only talked about what you/your son can do for the school (in terms of fame, sporting or otherwise, and hence bringing notoriety to the school).

Here's the results from the Sunday Times this weekend:

GCSE %A*-A
Trinity - 73.1
Caterham - 70.3
Whitgift - 70.2
Royal Russell - 35.4

GCSE A*
Caterham - 36.4
Whitgift - 35.9
Trinity - 35.2
Royal Russell - 11.8

School ranking (GCSE)
Trinity - 96=
Caterham - 118
Whitgift - 119=
Royal Russell - 392

A level A*
Caterham - 25.3
Trinity - 21
Whitgift - 18.2
Royal Russell - 6.8

A level A*-A
Caterham - 66.4
Trinity - 61
Whitgift - 60.5
Royal Russell - 35.5

A level A*-B
Caterham - 92.3
Trinity - 90
Whitgift - 88.5
Royal Russell - 66.1

School ranking (A level)
Caterham - 48=
Trinity - 64=
Whitgift - 80
Royal Russell - 320=

I have 6 teachers across three subjects. (Bio/Chem/German)

I'll probably keep in touch with my german teachers, but that's it. If I get in, I'm anticipating that medicine will take over my life, and I'm not really the most sociable person either.

3/6 of my teachers is inspirational. that goes up to 4/8 with my AS politics tutors, and there a few others who inspired me during GCSE. This is normally due to intellectual ability/opinions that interest me.
On the other hand, there have been 2 notably bad teachers during my time at Trinity, (I was only taught by one) and both have left. My English teacher was a tad boring, but the others are great.

Everyone's UCAS stuff has been sent off; I'm currently doing German homework.

Would agree the art facilities are better at T but think C scores on setting.

I remember now - yes I was told about the Caterham car thing! I'd completely forgotten that!

If I remember rightly the drama facilities at C are across the road from the main buildings - I don't recall them as being at quite the same standard as T but I could be wrong. I also had the impression that T's art facilities were slightly better.

Of course T is cheaper which is always an advantage!!!

I agree with you, Rolymo, that Whitgift's historical reputation is the thing that makes people chose it despite the fact that Trinity and Caterham are overtaking it academically.

Of course some people are also swayed by the lovely old building and flashy sports facilities (and the array of exotic beasties!). I'm not sure the headmaster is an asset, though.

You will also find a different ethnic mix at Whitgift to the other two schools (this is particularly noticeable at Caterham although becoming more obvious at Trinity now too).

Differences in opportunities - hmm, well T is definitely stronger in music and I think gets better sports results (I don't pay much attention to the latter). C has the benefit of being co-ed so drama may make mores sense there - although T import girls sometimes for drama stuff.

T is quite big on science/engineering - I'm thinking here of the Trinity School Racing thing - not sure if C do anything similar?

Re sports - football is pretty minor at T and rugby is big.

I think the differences are in the margins and you only need to consider them if your ds is really, really into one particular thing. For example, if he is a keen singer or musician I would definitely suggest T. Good luck!!