80% bursary at Godolphin & Latymer or Tiffins girls school?

I don't think Hammersmith OR Kingston are particularly cool, just to be completely clear!!

OMG...Kingston cool. No way. And I speak as someone old enough to remember The Three Fishes in the days when pubs did not check 13 year olds for ID.

Primark and TKMaxx in King Street go a long way to meeting teenage demands for retail therapy. Plus there is Westfield, full of G&L and LU pupils whenever there is a half day. I was always very impressed at how G&L pupils manage to adapt their uniforms so that on the tube they looked as if they were heading for junior advertising jobs rather than for school.

I also grew up very close to Kingston and went to school in Hammersmith! I honestly don't think Hammersmith is cooler, just more central (which can be sort of exciting in a way). Kingston is actually rather nice to wander around these days - it definitely has nicer shops than King Street!

Having grown up in the next door town to Kingston and gone to school in Hammersmith (G&L) I agree that Hammersmith is cooler. Not perhaps for itself but for it's proximity to life and buzz. I now live in C London which I put down to the early influence of the contrast between life in a Middlesex/Surrey suburb and being in the thick of things.

Not that one should choose a school on coolness. I wasn't cool then and I'm certainly not now. But I liked the sense that I was closer to where things were at.

Heliophilous . Think you have a point. Knowing both areas well, I would say that Kingston seems more happening and 'buzzy' (not sure that cool applies to either area though) than Hammersmith by quite some distance. Lots of young people in Kingston, partly because of the local uni.

I really don't think anyone should be basing their school choice on how 'cool' the area it is in seems! And I would hesitate to describe that particular bit of Hammersmith as cool in any case! Have you ever been to King Street? It's roughly on a par with Hounslow for the cool factor.

Good luck to you too, Piggy.

I still think west London is cooler than Kingston

Really? Maybe to the boundary with the station but deep into Kingston where the good bits are, I dont think so.

Tiffin Girls is only a 10 minute walk from kingston town centre.

If I remember correctly Tiffin is in the middle of nowhere on Richmond Road between Ham and Kingston. There's nothing around it.

G&L would be cooler location wise. Alot more going on, more places to go especially as she gets older.

Congrats to your dd.

Piggy, I think we are going for the independent offer (SPGS, so very similar to what you are looking at). There are a number of factors that have brought us to that decision but the main one is that DD just loved it there on all the exam days and looking round. And I thought they made the process very non-scary and easy for her so it seems to me a place where children are valued, which is v important to me. I was not very impressed with the Tiffin process tbh although I do think it's a good school and I liked the talk from the headteacher we heard there.

It's difficult, isn't it? Although a good difficulty to be working through!

piggy, we are trying to choose between Latymer Upper and G&L. i am an old G&L girl. I loved it. I remember Zoe Williams and tbh, i got on with her, i think she always seemed like she didn't want to fit in. i am unsure for dd as G&L has changed a bit. when i was there lots of my friends were on bursaries and i loved the down to earth feel. we are going to go back to have a look at both schools as the tour dd went on more than a year ago was very full of parents and kids and doesn't give a fair idea.

Have you decided what to do, Piggy? We are in a similar situation with a different school and the possibility of Tiffin so this thread was an interesting read for me.

'Anecdote does not equal data'.
Everydaybusy, your posts make me smile.

I'm also a current Godolphin parent and a former pupil, and unless someone has actual proof that the school is taking girls purely on the basis of parental wealth I would seriously dispute it. Although there is definitely more money in the school than there was in the 80s, I think that's a reflection of how London has changed and it's not shoved in your face at all. The vast majority of the girls my DD has come across have been very down to earth, including some on perfectly legitimate bursaries. When we first started I did think the school had become glossier but after spending some time there I think the ethos is just the same as it used to be. I've read what Zoe Williams thinks of it but I just don't recognise the place she's describing.

I don't have any personal experience of Tiffin, but I have heard that it can be a stressful environment for some girls. I also think as an all-round experience Godolphin probably has more to offer - just in terms of the facilities and the extra-curricular opportunities. I hope your DD is very happy wherever she ends up - she is clearly a bright girl!

I was at g&l at the same time as Zoe Williams (we were in the same English class) for 6th form. I found it a happy laid back place, not too pushy but I did very well academically - much better than was expected - was stretched and encouraged to pursue what I was good at enjoyed and turned down an offer at SPGS to go to g&l as it just seemed like a happier school. About one third of kids are in bursaries when I was there which made it not snooty. No experience of Tiffins but my male friends were always disparaging of Tiffins girls... But teenagers eh, what do they know.