Tiffin v WHS v KGS v Coombe Girls

My daughter is Y9 at TGS and very happy/inspired/flourishing. She had offers from several local private schools including a 50% academic scholarship from one. Don’t know Coombe but it has a good reputation. Other schools all seem great options and I know of girls at all of them who are happy and doing well. For us,finance was part of the the decision so that made it easier. I agree with PP that TGS is not the joyless exam factory, churning out unhappy medics that it is often painted - I’ve never heard that view from girls (or parents) who are actually at the school - at least not recently, but maybe we have been lucky or the pressure gets piled on later. So far my daughter is very happy and it feels like the right choice.

We had the choice of TGS vs WHS and went with WHS. We don't have vast amounts of money or any bursary/scholarship. For us the difference was a one hour journey vs a 10-15 minute journey for a summer born child. This was really handy in year 7 with an exhausted child and really really useful right now in year 8 for keyworker school, we have excellent provision and I wouldn't have been able to get her to school and also work if she was so far away. Online provision and pastoral care has been excellent.

I can only comment on WHS. There is a large range of extracurricular clubs which have switched online this term. The sports clubs go down to F teams and play other schools (in non Covid times) so anyone who wants to play can.

My own experience of grammar school wasn't great. I really like the fact that my daughter is taught outside the curriculum and the school has a degree of freedom rather than being an exam factory. I love the fact that all girls have to study PPE in year 10 and also the focus on STEAM.

I agree with Wombatchocolate. I think if you have Tiffin you would have to earn a lot of money, family inheritance etc to be comfortable in not sending your DC there

I went to Coombe in the 90's, as did many of my friends. We did ok.... some went to uni, others straight out to work. we are all decent people with good jobs... a solicitor, a consultant in a London hospital, a director at a pharma company, dental nurse, police officer and a political researcher amongst other jobs.

It has a long standing good reputation and has sets to support the various academic abilities. Coombe, Holy Cross and Tolworth girls schools will all get the clever girls who just missed out on Tiffins so all are high ranking state schools.

And as a PP said, any one child can never take advantage of all the clubs available in any school....so the fact it offers 120 clubs isn’t really the issue. You have to consider what YOUR child will do and benefit from, and with things like results, you have to consider how YOUR child is likely to do and where they might fit in the cohort.
Likewise, any one child can only go on so many trips.

Distance is a big big factor. A long journey to any type of school makes it much harder to engage in the wider aspects of school and is best avoided if at all possible.

I agree that if you actually have the Tiffin offer and the independent schools, £20k is a lot to pay for the shinier facilities and experience which is a bit different, unless you are absolutely loaded and won’t notice the £20k is gone at all.

In reality, in terms of ability Tiffin will always be harder to get into as it’s a numbers game. So many apply per place.

Every year a handful get Tiffin who then go independent. They tend to be the people with vast vast incomes or those who are attracted to the independents by big bursaries and scholarships.

There are more clubs, and there will be nicer facilities and smaller classes and a parent body who are more established in affluence and so more willing to support the idea of degree courses such as History of Art or courses which don’t directly lead to a career, whilst the Grammars will have lots of parents who are very focused in medicine or law or very obvious career paths. The independents often dont have such an able cohort, but somehow squeeze as good or better results from their students, and interestingly, better uni destinations overall. But whether those things are worth £20k when Tiffin will deliver a fantastic academic education and a vast array of extra curriculars is a hard one to turn down, unless the journey would be crazy or money no object.

Coombe is highly regarded too. Clever girls will do really really well.

A lot depends on the sacrifices school fees will mean for you and whether you value the extras that independents will offer to the tune if £20k.

Personally, I’d think it was worth it if the state options were poor, but if the alternatives are Tiffin or Coombe, really not worth it. You’re paying an awful lot for a bit more, but actually not that much more.

[quote sanam2019]@violetcobra, very interesting to hear as we will likely also be choosing between Tiffin vs WHS/KGS at some point and have the same concerns about extracurricular provision. I thought Tiffin was relatively good in that respect, compared to other state schools. Would you add your thoughts to this thread? Might be very helpful for the OP:
Nonsuch vs WHS[/quote]
I think it really depends on how much importance you place on extracurriculars - Tiffin does have the 'standard' clubs (orchestra, debating, sports) but little beyond that, and if you are interested in more niche areas (art & design, philosophy, creative writing, politics) there's not very much on offer and private schools are generally much better in that regard.

I have had dc at TGS and at private London day schools. In my view TGS is a brilliant option and the extra-curricular offer is simply not worth the indie fees if that is your only point of difference. DD at Tiffin was still (for example) able to do lots of rowing, take part in debating competitions, run the chess club, go on ski trips, do D of E and play netball against the likes of e.g SPGS and PH. My DC at 'top' indies did not make nearly as much use of the famed facilities as you might think, although they did have Saturday morning sport all through their teenage years.

I think TGS's reputation on here as a sort of joyless treadmill and exam hothouse is very out of date.

I also have a DD at KGS. She loves it there (although of course it's been so disrupted - she's year 8). The teachers are great at keeping pupils engaged and they are very good at encouraging individuality and curiosity. The kids seem friendly and down to earth. We all had a strong preference for a coed school.

For some the lack of outside space might be a drawback, DD is not one to run around much at lunchtime and it is more than compensated for (to her) by being in Kingston town centre.

@violetcobra, very interesting to hear as we will likely also be choosing between Tiffin vs WHS/KGS at some point and have the same concerns about extracurricular provision. I thought Tiffin was relatively good in that respect, compared to other state schools. Would you add your thoughts to this thread? Might be very helpful for the OP:
Nonsuch vs WHS

My DD went to TGS in Years 7-8, and then moved to WHS in Year 9.
Both schools are quite academic, but DD (who tends to do very well in "high pressure" environment) found TGS a bit demoralizing as there were very few opportunities for extracurriculars.

I have DD at KGS. It's a great school and really happy with it, but we wanted Co Ed and selective, so it was the obvious choice. The girls schools were a back up. Lack of space isn't a problem as time is taken up with clubs at lunchtime (pre lockdown!) and they're always carting them to and from Ditton Field.

The online provision for TGS is very good.

@CanadaUK, thank you so much for taking time and writing about TGS and WHS!

My eldest DD is at TGS.

We rejected offers at G&L, WHS, PHS, and some others.
Money was (luckily!) not an issue in the decision. The A-level and university outcomes in STEM subjects at TGS were just significantly better. Even for many non-STEM subjects, TGS did better than WHS and PHS (and maybe even G&L, but I would need to double check).

Teachers at KGS and WHS have and have had DDs at TGS. They were quite forthcoming about this at open days, which is pleasing and speaks volumes about their personal integrity. One teacher at KGS told me that she had a DD at TGS and another at KGS, who did not get into TGS.

Of course, none of this means G&L, PHS, WHS and KGS are not outstanding schools. I would have been delighted to send her to any of these schools.

Lockdown provision has been very solid. She has a full set of lessons for each school day and homework. She has friends at WHS and it's the same there. There is overlap in teaching materials -- the maths text books used by TGS in Years 7 to 9 are the same as those used by the top sets at PHS. All the good schools seem to be using maths materials from Dr Frost at Tiffin Boys' School.

It is also worth bearing in mind that all the schools I have mentioned are very selective and this may well be the main driver in their results. I would not compare the results of a non-selective school to a selective school. What you need to do is dig deeper and try and estimate the results of the top set in a non-selective school. This can be done with some work. Or you could just ask the relevant school. You may be pleasantly surprised by Coombe Girls' School.

Apologies for typo sent in error

She e

It would be great to hear how good is the online provision in all these schools in the covid situation, if anyone has direct experience, please.

You can buy a lot of extra curricular and tutoring for £20K pa
I say this as someone with one child in private secondary and one in state secondary

By green space I mean the grounds that Tiffin Girls has, not sure how much the girls are actually allowed to run there at lunchtime though.

They are allowed to run there at lunchtime. I know about the school and can answer some questions if needed

@Ohalrightthen, KGS is a selective independent just as much as WHS. They are all within 15-20 min train/bus from eachother and equidistant from where we are. So apart from girl/co-ed I don't see differences between them and that's my problem.

@Oreo2019 please could you elabolrate on how these schools are different?

Tiffin and KGS are grammar schools, WHS is a selective independent and Coombe is a comprehensive. They're also in 3 different places, so commute will vary, which is important to take into account.

All-girl schools can be amazing, and all studies show girls achieve better (as a group) in them. I went to an all-girl school and had the best time of my life. Sent my daughter to an all-girl school and ditto.