Page 2 | Sevenoaks School or Twggs

NoeB · 2025-03-12T17:38:30+00:00

Hi, my daughter missed the TGS cut-off by 1 point. We have been offered TWGGS as a second option, as well as a scholarship at Sevenoaks School. We need to decide about Sevenoaks School before the second round of school offers. Is Sevenoaks worth the money compared to these two grammar schools? Could anyone advise on the chances of getting an offer from TGS? If we don't receive an offer from TGS and decline the Sevenoaks scholarship, would TWGGS be as good as TGS, or should we accept the Sevenoaks offer over the possibility of TGS? Another option we are considering is trying to enroll in Sevenoaks at Year 9 instead 😐 What would you do? Any experience or insight on this will be really appreciated!

Original poster

NoeB · 13/03/2025 09:28

GravyBoatWars · 12/03/2025 21:30

"Worth it" is so subjective I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't know how significant the money is for your family and there isn't some objective metric to distinguish sevenoaks from TWGGS. How does your DD feel about an all-girls school vs coed? Is she a student who will really benefit from smaller class sizes? Is the preparation for IB and its offering at 16+ a positive or negative for her? Has she shown interest in foreign languages that Sevenoaks could better meet?

But I think the "put all that aside" in reference to the facilities and extracurriculars is really the wrong thinking. If those things really don't matter to you, stick with state whether that ends up being TWGGS or TGS. Sevenoaks is very much a private a boarding school and all of those facilities and sports and clubs aren't just available, they are also part of an expectation that students participate in a heavy co-curricular program and sports/games (well beyond the 1x per week PE class required at grammars). Students are there 6 days per week including Saturday lessons, typically until 6PM. There will be far more variety available and resources to explore whatever she's interested in and music, art/design, drama and competitive sports will all be available at a higher level, and that's a huge part of the fees. So don't set it aside - does that have significant positive value for your family and DD? It isn't worth paying for something you and your DD are ambivilant about or will actively dislike.

Thank you so much for the insight. You are absolutely right, but my DD doesn't necessarily need all those extracurricular activities to be well-rounded or perform better academically. She has been involved in several extracurricular activities outside of school from a young age, and she plans to continue them if she attended a grammar school. Choosing a grammar school would give us the flexibility to balance her activities without committing to a Saturday school schedule.
Additionally, I have some reservations about a coeducational school. She tends to be quite shy and sometimes feels frustrated when boys overshadow her and prevent her from showcasing her abilities. On the other hand, SS is a very convenient option for us due to its proximity. She is already somewhat familiar with the school and, having been awarded a scholarship, I believe she could thrive there even more than at a grammar school, where class sizes are larger and resources might be more limited.

OP posts:

Enko · 13/03/2025 07:14

I have had friends with children in all 3 schools . All children had a positive experience and enjoyed their time at the school.

For the patents. The 2 at Sevenoaks praised it to the skies. The ones I knew in the other two were happy with the school no complaints but nor did they praise.

All children went on on to university

For Tonbridge the waiting list in last years were

2023: 1st round (378/393), 2nd round (375/392), Waiting List (377/383)
2024: 1st round (375/396), 2nd round (373/414), Waiting List (373/396)

GravyBoatWars · 12/03/2025 21:38

Re: the possibility of trying to enroll at Sevenoaks in Y9, unless you're open to a boarding place I would ask the school how many "late-entry" Y9 day students they normally admit each year and if there's a difference in boys/girls so that you understand a bit better about the chances of success. I know they usually only admit about 40 day students to Y9 (the majority of Y9 joiners are for boarding places) and my understanding is that some portion of these are "early decision" students who apply and accept a place in Y6 but whose current prep schools go through Y8.

Based on prior years (the scores that got offered at each of round 1, round 2 and from the wait list over the last several years are available online) I would be optimistic about your DD getting into TGS either at the 2nd offer round or from the waitlist, but there's never a guarantee and this has the potential to be a slightly unusual year with VAT coming in.

GravyBoatWars · 12/03/2025 21:30

"Worth it" is so subjective I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't know how significant the money is for your family and there isn't some objective metric to distinguish sevenoaks from TWGGS. How does your DD feel about an all-girls school vs coed? Is she a student who will really benefit from smaller class sizes? Is the preparation for IB and its offering at 16+ a positive or negative for her? Has she shown interest in foreign languages that Sevenoaks could better meet?

But I think the "put all that aside" in reference to the facilities and extracurriculars is really the wrong thinking. If those things really don't matter to you, stick with state whether that ends up being TWGGS or TGS. Sevenoaks is very much a private a boarding school and all of those facilities and sports and clubs aren't just available, they are also part of an expectation that students participate in a heavy co-curricular program and sports/games (well beyond the 1x per week PE class required at grammars). Students are there 6 days per week including Saturday lessons, typically until 6PM. There will be far more variety available and resources to explore whatever she's interested in and music, art/design, drama and competitive sports will all be available at a higher level, and that's a huge part of the fees. So don't set it aside - does that have significant positive value for your family and DD? It isn't worth paying for something you and your DD are ambivilant about or will actively dislike.

Original poster

NoeB · 12/03/2025 18:31

Araminta1003 · 12/03/2025 18:15

By scholarship, do you mean a token academic scholarship or a substantial bursary?
Sevenoaks School is very expensive especially with VAT - I just looked up the fees! Can you afford this? Usually the private school will offer loads of extra experiences but only you can decide if it is “worth” it. If your child is academic, they will do well academically anywhere, especially in a grammar school.
Is this inner or outer area TOGS? Because the threshold for getting in to outer area TOGS may well go up and not down, especially this year. For some reason, outer area Judd is lower this year than has been the case historically so I expect that one to definitely go up especially since Dartford decreased outer area number of places.

Yes, she got an academic scholarship (although there’s no discount on fees). We can afford SS, and we know it has great facilities and lots of extracurricular activities. However, if we put those aside, which option would you choose?

We are in the inner area for TGS—what are our chances?

OP posts:

Araminta1003 · 12/03/2025 18:15

By scholarship, do you mean a token academic scholarship or a substantial bursary?
Sevenoaks School is very expensive especially with VAT - I just looked up the fees! Can you afford this? Usually the private school will offer loads of extra experiences but only you can decide if it is “worth” it. If your child is academic, they will do well academically anywhere, especially in a grammar school.
Is this inner or outer area TOGS? Because the threshold for getting in to outer area TOGS may well go up and not down, especially this year. For some reason, outer area Judd is lower this year than has been the case historically so I expect that one to definitely go up especially since Dartford decreased outer area number of places.