Winchester College Open Day

bico - no , not on the general list, a straight "house list"

Thanks just . We only had a letter yesterday - he had interview in Feb.
A bit bemused myself as the other housemaster accepted him on recommendation , we have not met yet.They said he will be in touch soon so we will get to meet him after the firm offer .. strange but who cares - it's WC :) !

Plan -- congratulations to your son! how did the process work? Was he originally but on "hold" and then offered a place or was he immediately offered a place in a house other than the one for which he applied? Have you (and he) now been invited to meet the housemaster and visit the house?
I'm curious to know how the process works -- it seems it might be more flexible than the admissions instructions suggest.
(By the way.... I'm very amused by this long thread.... Having only just started to look at Winchester myself, it is interesting and helpful to be able to read so many opinions and experiences about it. I wish there were similar threads about Eton, SPS, Westminster and a few others so I could expand my education about schools.....!)

My DS has freinds in other houses as like all schools they make friends in lessons and also through their own interests outside of lessons. Although obviously in the beginning most friends come from your house. I suppose a lot depends on how sociable your DS is and what his particular interests are.

How important is which house your DS goes to?
DS has just been offered a place in a house we haven't applied to/seen it/nor met the housemaster. I guess the question is - do they socialize much outside their houses or is each house a micro-school in its own right?

Yes thats true I was thinking he could disguise himself as a beagle and being black and white he's already half way to wearing the uniform but he does loathe water. I also worry that he too is a bit of a non conformist and definitely not a team player and the entrance test is oh so sterile his many qualities might not be immediately apparent in an 8-10 min interview.

"My DS is not a lone wolf type so will need to assess what environment suits him best"
In fairness to WC it's not packed to the gunnels with lone wolfs but from what I can ascertain there are quite a few and they are not just tolerated but actually liked. The school unlike some others being very liberal does not force encourage conformity on them and after all even a lone wolf has to go to school somewhere.

i think you should rethink what Eton has to offer, the beagling and swimming in Eton Dornay would appeal for sure ...

If Bedales is the one with the sandpit our dog would love it. Unfortunately my propensity to call him stupid on a public forum has severely knocked his confidence and therefore I doubt he would pass the entrance requirements .

The dog has carefully read many websites he's quite keen on Bedales he likes the idea of bread making and outdoor activities.
I'm wondering if he would get bursary or should we go down the scholarship route? I have to say he's not particularly clever although he's managed to organise his life so that someone runs behind him picking up his poo and staff to do his shopping and he will never need to work so perhaps Milton abbey would be a better choice.

thanks MB, that's good to know....hope your dog is not able to read MN posts either ...poor thing ....As for HG's dog, HG has made it clear in a previous post she wouldn't send it to Eton !

Anna
My son isn't a lone wolf type and he loves WC. Also , somewhat to my surprise he is doing Maths pre-U as he has ended up enjoying it . To be fair he has always been better than the dog at Maths , but possibly we just have a particularly stupid dog. So a bit like HG's son , mine has ended up taking a subject I would have put money on him not doing some years ago. So the WC maths teaching must have something going for it . I think often the boys just know where they will be happy. We didn't do the open day , just the meetings with HMs and it was the only school he came out of (and he'd been to see some good ones ) saying "I want to go here ".

He is also the type that would have hated Kumon rote learning with a passion (never tried it as I know if would not have been motivating for him to do endless worksheets)

Mrs FW, funny, my DS also often does maths problems his own way (who says maths is not creative) ...gets to the right answer though sometimes unconventionally which is also to the bemusement of his teacher...I don't even try to change that...whatever works.

HG ....ha ha about the dog...which is deserving of its own blog...I will keep an open mind on this topic and look into this further ...and ask around. My DS is not a lone wolf type so will need to assess what environment suits him best but I imagine other bright young sparky mathematically inclined boys around him to bounce off will be the ideal.

Interesting. I think MrsFred we may think you know what going on in a school or how things are done but its not till your own DC is actually in the place do your really fully comprehend the situation we also need to remember education even at places like WC is evolving all the time.
My Experience or perhaps I should say my DS's experience is that math/science is very strong at WC, chemistry is the most popular Pre U followed by physics. Many of his friend are avid about maths/physics and many of his friends in the 6th form have applied to do physics science at Uni or that is their intention.
At prep. my"exceptionally bright" across the board but identified by an ed. psych assessment as having a particular aptitude for maths DS did well but never excelled. But the teaching was mega traditional and being encouraged to question things was certainly not on the agenda, he left uninterested in virtually every subject bar art and Latin and after 6 years of French 4 times a week barely knowing anymore French than the dog in fact the dog probably had the edge. Just under two years later not only is he excelling but loving maths becasue its encouragement of a variety of problem solving approaches and so he should be bearing in mind his profile but also showing real passion enthusiasm and ability for subjects he find harder e.g English. He was the other week much to my surprise considering Pre U French (the dog is jealous) and is certainly thinking of doing another MFL along side maths/further maths etc this is from a child who two years ago hated any MFL and was planning to drop it as soon as possible.
Both maths and further maths are only studied now at Pre U up until recently I understand the former was done mainly only at A level and my DN whose very recently done maths pre U but A level further maths felt that the Pre U requires genuine ability wheres the A level could be learnt by rote. With regard to physics my DS is mad about it (he certainly wasn't at prep) and I notice that in the fairly recent past the school won 15 gold medals in one year at the British Physics Olympiad and Challenge and that all the boys were from yr 10. It's also certainly amongst friends with have at varies super selectives generally believed that WC is exceptionally strong for science and perhaps less so for the arts although this is not my experience.

AnnaBBB as a fairly recent mature student I came to the conclusion that one man's "inspirational" teacher was another man's nightmare and vice versa. We had a lecturer who IMO and the opinion of many others was truly inspirational but a good friend of mine hated his lectures and positively avoided them as she came away none the wiser. In contrast her inspirational teacher whose favourite saying was "fairly obviously" made his subject as far as I was concerned anything but fairly obvious. WC's liberal attitude (in most things) and its encouragement of the boys to question when combined with a child that feels he is at last free at school to be himself and not conform means that my "lone wolf" DS is excelling in all areas. But I am nothing if not a realists this ethos many not suit other very bright boys who would perhaps not excels there and would be better off in another super selective with a different ethos. We are lucky in that those of us who are considering WC or Eton or SPS etc have this choice many don't and it is those that I feel sorry for.

i would wish for Marcus du Sautoy inspirational type maths learning .....A level maths is kind of grunt work by comparison.

Terms,

You have expressed cogently my concerns. In fact from what you say Ds might have done ok in election as he is a creative mathematician, not an arithmetician, and usually invents alternative ways to the rage of weaker teachers. So perhaps I now regret it even more! But his current school does provide the support for the latter in the upper and middle sets.

The mfl is interesting. Ds's cousins have been going through the rather typical boy refusal to speak foreign languages when on holiday with us, despite I assume good teaching. Their father speaks several languages as do the rest of the cousins in common so I have put put it down to ethos at school. But I may be completely wrong. Whereas Ds's class is polyglot as so many London schools are and they all try out each other's languages and respect those who are multi lingual.

That said, I still think WC is a wonderful school.and in my less maternal moments wish Ds was there! And I would and do unhesitatingly recommend it for the interesting and interested boy.

I should have said maths and science is an upper-tier me-too education, just good but not exceptional compared with WC's education in other subjects.
Not sure I understand why, the dons are very inspirational and are well capable of the same free range style, yet they only use that capability on demand.

AnnaBBB. Election is NOT academic. Most definitely not. Broad, very much so. It is surprising how many pre-U A* boys, teachers, tutors etc are stuck on some Election maths problems although it really is CE level knowledge. Election papers are looking for thought process and evidence of in-place curiosity not what the boys have studied. There is a world of difference between numeracy, Kumon "maths" and maths as problem defining and solving skills. Knowledge alone will not impress them. In fact, some problems forbid you from using advance methods.
As for other subjects they all have their ways of extracting thoughts rather than right answers, languages are tough (vocab and use of language). You are judged on your best three or four not every paper sat and you elect subjects to sit not all subjects. All about taking boys out of their comfort zones, even in what they think are their strongest subjects - "your weapons are of no use here". Do look at some past papers, more than a few boys actually find them fun.
WC is certainly not average in science and maths. Dons are enthusiastic about their subjects and are well capable of inspiring. It is just that the kind of free range learning evident in many subjects is not in maths and to some extent some sciences. When asked by individual boys, they would go that extra mile to share their understanding, knowledge and curiosity, to inspire. The weak area in WC is in fact the old fashioned way of teaching modern languages. As said before, maths and science is an upper-tier me-too education, just good but not exceptional. It could do with less teaching and more provoking of learning.
May be it is a leadership issue which makes WC very comfortable with applying its learning ethos to non-maths and non-science subjects and uncomfortable due to lack of personal involvement in maths and science. Head's links with schools in Asia may be an issue too since Asia is widely admired by the UK and the US for high standard of maths (rigid taught version).

Terms, I agreed with you that the dons in WC are exceptional, they do encourage the boys to dig deep! As for science and maths, I can only say from my DS set, the dons do certainly expect the boys to dig very deep and understand the whys too.

Out of interest, does anyone know where one can get hold of comparative annual stats on how senior schools do getting entrance into Oxbridge for maths or the natural sciences (as opposed to having to look at each and every school website for leavers' destinations)?

Mrs FW, This is of interest to me too, as my DS is deep in his comfort zone with maths and who knows could end up wanting to do a degree in it or in physics if inspired by the right teaching i.e. by teaching which is inspirational and stretching (rather than mechanical)...interestingly, we went to see one independent day school where the maths dept is very very strong - ...but I had doubts about the the school overall as a bit too narrow for DS as it seems to be focussed very much on results and I think he needs a more all rounded ethos and with strong maths dept, but I have yet to identify a boarding school which is as strong in producing a similar number of mathematicians that get into RG/Oxbridge .....but then perhaps I have not looked as far as I should. Wondered also about Winchester maths focus from looking at leavers' destinations,...I don't think DS is broadly academic enough for Election across the subjects overall, and not sure I would want that kind of pressure for him, though he may well be able to cope with the maths part of Election, as maths is so much his "thing" but am curious that others believe Winchester is more liberal arts focussed as I, rightly or wrongly, also came away with that impression.

Terms, don't know Winco now save through his cousins' experience ( there now). ( nearly all my family has gone there for generations so took some really hard thinking not to override Ds. ) But married first on roll and the baggage is huge there and for LO if he were to follow.

And, regrettably imv, he's not a liberal arts chap unlike the cousinry.

Sorry if this has hijacked, but just trying to explain to people who don't know the school why we turned down a place, which is v odd.