Anyone heard from Tiffin Boys Sixth Form - interviews?

I spoke to the admissions lady and she told me that the interview choice is not linear so I presume the subject choice has a huge bearing . She said the letter in April 30 th would clarify things including the wait list process. A friend whose son is there told us that choosing Maths is a huge deal in terms of numbers . Their son’s friend from Teddington did not have great grades and yet got admission .

I think it’s the Maths that will be the most oversubscribed. At the Grammar my DD has an offer for, anybody who applied for Maths had to do an entry test. Even people we know who can get a 9 in maths very easily, (and one who holds an 6th form scholarship place in maths for a very desirably private school), were rejected.

My daughter has applied for Maths, History and French. Heard nothing, all 8’s in mocks.

@Vive42 I think your theory probably holds up. My DDs friend who got in chose all humanities and my DD chose math plus humanities subjects. Although it might be a sound approach to choose all humanities for the purpose of selection I wouldn't want to influence my DDs choices and get her to do subjects she might not prefer to get in. We do have an excellent comprehensive backup so all is not lost but she is disappointed having put all the hard work in.

@OsWasp congrats and thanks for sharing with the group. Still not a word for us. My DD is so disappointed that her friend whose grades are lower got an offer and she didn't. Also our school is super conservative with predicted grades and the teacher told us that they don't like predicting 9s - yet at this late stage they have upped her predicted grades in the last April report which I sent through but cant help thinking it is now too late. 😥

Before Easter we have been invited with our daughter for the school tour and have received conditional offer. Now we have received official email with the offer subject to achieving the minimum entry criteria and additional condition which requires to achieve grade 9 in Mathematics and grade 7 in English Literature and Physics

That's not surprising. Most kids I know in Tiffins are focused on STEM subjects and economics, where their parents see the most lucrative job prospects. Humanities subjects are less of a priority. It would be mostly kids from other schools who join at A level,who would bump up their grades. Including some of the best kids from one of the many excellent comprehensives in the area.

It looks like Eng Lit is much more popular with girls than boys too. Here is the info about gender balance for A level subjects: https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2021/09/which-a-level-subjects-have-the-best-and-worst-gender-balance/

@AnnieHack no, it's not surprising at all. Firstly, Waldegrave isn't completely non-selective. It selects by:

• House price / parental planning;
• Enjoyment of and adaptability to Waldegrave's culture (for internal students);
• The ability for external students to navigate a complex sixth-form admissions process (including technical challenges such as uploading identity documents in the student's name that they may or may not have, such as provisional driving licence, mobile phone contract, utility bill, bank statement)
• Last and probably least, the minimum grade requirements in the appendix of the admissions policy (which are lower than Tiffin's).

Also, Waldegrave's strong academic reputation probably means that it can be equally (or even more) selective of its staff as Tiffin. Many teachers would prefer to work in a leafy girls' school than an academically selective boys' school.

Remember also that:

• Tiffin's internal 2023 A level cohort (the majority) were selected based on highly tutor-able verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests at age 10, which isn't a reliable predictor of A level performance.
• Their 2025+ A level cohort was selected at age 10 based on maths & english tests. They reportedly had stronger GCSE performance, so are reasonably likely to have stronger A level performance too.
• In very small departments like Psychology, performance is very dependent on individual staff members, who can't be relied on not to retire, move schools, go on maternity leave, go long-term sick, etc etc.
• A quick google will tell you that Psychology A Level is much more popular with girls than with boys. It is therefore likely to be one of the 'harder to fill' courses at Tiffin, potentially with a lower entry-grade profile than some other subjects.

Hi I have a question for the group. I was comparing Tiffin’s 2023 A level results by subject, with our current school Waldegrave’s results. The subjects my daughter wants to do are Eng Lit, History and Psychology. For Eng Lit, the schools compare fairly evenly, slightly higher A* but based on small different in actual numbers of students, history was stronger at Tiffin, but Psychology was stronger at Waldegrave. Given Waldegrave is completely non selective, is this quite surprising?

"Thanks but I think it's too late for us to challenge, it says the deadline is 15 May for admission to Sep 2025."

@anoukis no, not too late. Getting an adjudication on the 2025 policy would benefit next year's applicants directly, but also indirectly help anyone who decides to appeal in 2024. That's because the 2024 admissions policy is the same as the 2025 policy (apart from a few minor immaterial changes), so a judgement of non-compliance on the 2025 policy effectively applies to the 2024 policy too. The school couldn't be ordered to change the 2024 policy, but the judgement could be used as watertight evidence in appeals.

Thanks but I think it's too late for us to challenge, it says the deadline is 15 May for admission to Sep 2025.

We had an interesting parents evening session on Wednesday... in one of my DD's subjects the teacher apologized for a marking mistake. My DD had 7 in her Feb mock report and should have been a 8, and in fact she said she was a few marks off 9. This is my DD's least favourite teacher... the only one she dislikes. She is lucky to have really good teachers in all subjects in KS4.

She's now changed my DD's predicted grade to 9 for that subject. This goes to show how subjective these predicted grades offers are...

No, it just needs one parent to refer their policy to the schools adjudicator. Easily done, and can be anonymous: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-admissions-arrangements#object-to-a-schools-admission-arrangements.

I might have done it myself, but the existing policy, with all its flaws, worked in my favour in a previous year. 😁 For those that do get a conditional offer, it's good to have the relative certainty of a place, rather than having to wait until August.

Yes, sixth forms often seem to flout the rules quite badly. The policies are visible on their websites, but there is no "coordinated admissions process" like there is for Reception and Year 7, so the online application forms and behind-the-scenes procedures seem to be a bit wild west.

The application form for Tiffin asks questions about hobbies, interests, aspirations etc, which aren't allowed.

Even two of the comprehensive schools we have applied to have taken up references from our teacher. Grey Court just requested one!

"following her grade estimates and reference' they would like to offer an interview.. etc I assume the reference was from her school"

Clause 1.9g of the National Admissions Code says school admissions policies must not "take account of reports from previous schools about children’s past behaviour, attendance, attitude, or achievement" so this is another part of Tiffin's process that breaches the code. Honestly, they're wide open to appeals. 😂

But people can't appeal until they have a rejection letter.

Hi Richmond001
My daughter got four 9s and four 8s in the mocks if we are counting the 8 needed for entry. Her subject choices were English Literature, History and Psychology. The email said 'following her grade estimates and reference' they would like to offer an interview.. etc I assume the reference was from her school.

@AnneTeddington thanks for letting us know. My daughter has 9s and 8s and no invite so assuming it is subject choice specific. Congrats to you and your daughter.

Yes I’d be interested to know too if happy to share. My daughter obtained 9 grade 8’s in her November mocks and we have heard nothing. Probably due to her A level choices.

May I ask what grades your daughter got in her mocks?

My daughter has just been invited in for an interview, first week back after Easter. So first round offers are still being made.

@anoukis I was wondering and thinking the same - LOL
I usually just check my sent messages to ensure that I have actually emailed people haha
Not sure how this oversight happened.