Winchester College Sixth form entrance

I went to Peter Symonds then Oxford. Win Col is far superior academically ( and also to KES and PGS). If you have a very able son and can afford the enormous fees then don't hesitate. Win Col is premier league, if not THE most academic school.

I'd probably like Win Coll; ds wouldn't. That's why he is abroad with us; he didn't want to board, and so I took him out of prep when we moved. Educationally, probably not the best decision; but on balance, looking at what we have gained being together as a family, and living abroad, priceless.

scaryteacher that is the point you cannot compare one against the other. Neither is better as both are completely different and are appealing to different markets. If you like one you are very unlikely to like the other.

It depends why you're moving them Colleger - I do want PSC for my ds, as it will give him a more varied experience than he has had to date at his current international school, where the gene pool is smaller.

Happy - PSC is an excellent sixth form, and with a far larger sixth form cohort than Win Coll. As I am sending ds there is September, and as I went there myself as a boarder, I am aware that PSC is a sixth form. Of course it has a different ethos, it's a state sixth form. Had I wanted the traditional boarding school experience I would have sent him to one. I didn't.

OP is not interested in Win Coll. I don't get why when you enquire about a school you are given other options. PS would not even cross my mind, it's not the type of environment I would want if I was looking at Winchester!

scaryteacher really it is not possible to compare Win Coll with PSC not only is Win Coll selective but the ethos is completely different. At Win Coll nearly all full board the vast majority since they were 13 years old. This boarding house centric culture with all the infra structure involved; house masters, matrons, compulsory chapel, traditions, meals taken in house, inter house competitions extra curricular activities etc. I could go on is what Win Coll and others like it are what parents pay for. PSC is a sixth form college probably a very good sixth form college I don't live in Hampshire so I don't know but we have excellent sixth form college where I live so I'm not against them but you are comparing apples and oranges.

'Just looked at the two websites (freely available to all who can be bothered to look) Winchester College results are significantly better than PS. The OP obviously does have the money or she wouldn't be asking about it.'

Smaller, selective cohort. Given that PSC isn't that selective and has far more students, I think they do really well. I shall see in September what they make of ds, as he will be boarding there.

We are abroad and PSC offered great education at reasonable boarding prices, and Winchester is reasonably easy to get to via car, plane or Eurostar from Belgium. I went there too almost 30 years ago, and would go back like a shot.

Hope you are right singergirl. My DS is going for 13+ pretest at Winchester soon. He is exactly as you describe. Bit dyspraxic, so brings his average down as not good at spatial and working memory not great either. However, ask him to write a piece of creative writing or a poem, then he does really well. Despite working memory not being great still came top in English and second in science last year. Fingers crossed

I think it's so funny the way that these threads always result in the same handful of posters peddling their prejudices.

But on the IQ thing, lots of very able children, with talents in particular subjects, won't necessarily score incredibly highly on a Full Scale IQ test - they may be brilliant at humanities, but score relatively low on some of the spatial tests or coding tests. Or they may have processing or working memory shortfalls.

I think IQ is a narrow measure of 'intelligence', even the sort of intelligence that's prized by highly academic schools.

Wow, well I don't know on which scale but we all did an on-line test: I was 127, DS was 144 and DD was 139. DS is uber bright, DD has always been regarded as top average although has been on a roll since secondary, I was regarded as thick at grammar school. DH tutted and humphed and refused. DH has a brain approximately the size of a planet. Not sure it means anything but me and the dc felt quite smug.

*Back to Win Col?s ?118? cohort, if this is with reference to the Cattell III B scales, then I must say this is pretty poor calibre considering 148 is the minimum needed to join British Mensa.

Edit: Young kids are usually measured using the Wechsler Scales*

Lordy, I probably shouldn't bring this up again as I don't think anyone truly thinks an iq score is the measure of a child, but as I said in my post, I was referring to the 'most commonly used one", which as peteneras has stated is the Weschler. So an iq of around 120 is good. (Malcolm Gladwell humorously states in "Outliers" that an iq of over 120 is a waste as this level allows most educational/career aspirations to be fulfilled, assuming conscientious hard work.

Gove warns that fewer pupils will get top grades in future as he begins the long process of cracking down on grade inflation.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087130/Michael-Gove-Expect-fewer-exam-passes-parents-warned.html

I much prefer people who are well educated than people who have a lot of qualifications. Personally I think that's what one pays for at private schools. The pressure has just become ridiculous. Oddly though, DS is at a SW London leading school and although he pulled down 11 A*s it never felt as though the pressure was ridiculous.

marriedinwhite I think your righr but the problem is that many don't agree and schools have to cater for the majority hence the changes to schools like Milton Abbey and as I've already said the increasing number of children I see with significant mental health problems. Now every one has to get A's and soon it will be A*s a friend the other day was moaning her son is only going to get three B's when I was at a school that was good.

Well happy my grandparents were awfully upper middle class and had not qualifications at all. My mother was a ballerina with a smattering of O'Levels, I blew public school in the L6 and did a secretarial course and went to finishing school but still ended up as a Eurobond salesman in the City. I'm 51 now, a manager in education and still think it's over-rated except for the top 6%-7% of the population. I come across applicant after applicant with two masters degrees but who are unable to string together a grammatically correct sentence.

Personally, there is far too much pressure on all young people - especially here in SW London. You really don't need a degree to work for a high street bank.

Don't know it but Im sure your right but there are quite a few Tims out there so there is a need for more than 1 school.
Milton Abbey was I suspect unique we know of a boy who whilst there found that his métier in life was lawn mowing so spent the whole time mowing its extensive and very beautiful grounds at £11000 a term I not sure how pleased his parents were.
We also know a couple of adults who went there they are all to a man charming and believe that you didn't go there to get an academic education more to develop life skills. Perhaps sadly there is little call for this now.

What about St John's, Leatherhead. That has a boarding house and I some very happy boys who go there.

In the independent sector I only really know about boarding and the last bastion of education for Tim; Milton abbey has a new head who I understand is committed to improving the schools academic results no more lawn mowing and ferreting for its pupils!

I don't know where you are Happygardening but I can think of half a dozen school within a 20 mile radius of SW London where Tim (or Tilly) would be very happy. I have a dd, admittedly in the top sets, who is very happy at one and it has done her self esteem tremendous good to be at the top of a mid league school instead of being allowed to bump along the bottom of PHS or WHS.

"not for the faint-hearted."
When I think about it so many academic schools are not for the faint hearted in fact even the relatively non selective independent schools are also not for the faint hearted now. They all seem to be pushing these children so hard; I worry more about your average child in a non selective but academically ambitious school. We looked at one very well known school thats not desperately selective for DS1 5-6 years ago, contrary to what its beautiful glossy prospectus stated, the head of music openly admitted that music and art was being marginalised out of the curriculum due to the heads obsession with league tables. Many children I meet in my work who attend both independent schools, grammar schools and successful comps/6th form colleges seem exceedingly anxious and feel under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure where this pressure comes from the school, parents or themselves but in my profession we feel mental health problems among girls and boys are rising. I see many more taking overdoes, self harming taking anti depressants than I did when I started working in the 80's. Is it that their worried about jobs, and/or pressure to get into the "right university", getting A*'s. Sadly many from all background also come from homes with problems; divorce death of parent etc. I worry about young people I don't remember it being like this for me.
I'm also not sure where Tim nice but dim goes to school any more to get a decent education that turns him into a thoroughly decent adult even if he's not a rocket scientist.

Lol MrsJ!

Stephen Hawking is St Albans School alumnus.

That would certainly be true for all schools but they don't go round singing they're super bright and not for the faint-hearted.

The poorer the quality of the intake compared to the success of the leavers, the better the school. Obviously.

Such quibbles!

Marriedinwhite, what a very nice recommendation for Winchester. Just emerging from the school race for son and daughter I can say how shocked I have been that some schools (both private and oversubscribed state) seem to think that snotty and unwelcoming demonstrates how good they are. Fortunately we have found delightful examples, ranging from inner city state schools to poshest, that are very welcoming. Whether they do that because it is good marketing or because they just are that way I can't say but it has influenced all our decisions and what we say about them to other people.