State v Private? Tiffin v Hampton?

4whatthatsworth - my theory is that up until this year Tiffin entrance was based on pure NVR/VR - and a pretty tough level of questions. Taking the top performers from such tests doesn't (imho) mean someone is going to get A* GCSE results. Especially since the previous exam style could be drilled and drilled and drilled for years so that (almost) anyone could potentially pass the Tiffin criteria - there are only a finite number of NVR patterns, a finite number of the types of words necessary for VR questions etc.

Hence lower results in 5 years time than you might expect from te supposedly brightest group. And I saw somewhere that 40% of boys at Tiffin had English as a second language - not that they didn't speak English at school normally and theres a lot to be said for being bilingual.

1mum - also there is a difference in GCSE results between the two schools. Tiffin get just over 80 per cent A star /A which is similar to KGS or Ibstock, whereas Hampton get around 90 per cent which puts the school in a similar ballpark to LEH, G&L or LU. Of course a bright child will do well in either, but I also suspect that Hampton get their results in a less stressed and pressurised way and with more opportunities for an all-rounded education. Just my view though!

Hi all, 1mum2boys I am in the position as you. I have received offers from both Tffin and Hampton. My son is both academic and sporty and currently he is in the prep school. He loves Hampton however, Tiffin is more practical for us .My concern is more about school's facilities and having more Asian students. Although we are Asian, I would prefer my son be in a place that there is balanced mixture of children. I am very confused and don't know what to do.

Not direct experience but you have given the choice to your son to sit the tests for Hampton and he has been successful and prefer that school then I feel you have to make the sacrifices and send him there; as it will be unfair to have given him false expectations; I imagine you should have considered the financial aspect before you applied.

I agree with chicken's comments.

We had this same choice last year and for us it was always going to be Hampton but then the financial side wasn't a consideration.

Academic wise I doubt it will be much different though I do wonder about the funding issues. I don't like the location of Tiffin, and I don't like having sports fields separate to the school. The Head of Sports there once said that if you come to Tiffin prepare to be a loser at sports as this is often the case, they compete with independent schools that have the edge on them. I wonder about funding cuts and their ability to keep up the playing fields - the cricket pitches at Tiffin we have used for club games have been crap - but then I guess they need to extra money gained from renting them out. The big pavilion / changing rooms is a shithole, reminds me of 1970s/80s pavilions I got changed in! The ethnic mix at Tiffin is very skewed also which I don't like. They don't compete at football at Tiffin also which was a consideration for us.

There are some good comments here, especially Ladymuck on page 3:

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=45980

In my opinion if you can afford it, choose Hampton.
I know many boys at Tiffin, some have found it ok, plenty have not been happy.
There is little involvement from boys (after the first 2 years) in extra curricular activities.
Apparently the school is struggling for money. The PTA try and raise funds but not always successful.

The facilities and support in my opinion are not a patch on Hampton. If you want your child to only pass exams, then Tiffin might be ok (although I have known a couple of boys to picked on for not doing so well) if you want well rounded and lots of opportunities go with Hampton.

What is your DC like? They are quite different schools in many regards. I assume you've looked round? What does DC prefer?