LEH or Tiffin girls

Yes officially announced

So, just to confirm, has the current Deputy Head officially been appointed as the permanent successor? I'm asking because I recently saw an external advertisement for the role.

My daughter is Yr 13 at Tiffin. She had offers at LEH and many others. Best decision we ever made. Yes there’s academic pressure but she’s also done tons of music and drama. Plenty of teams if you want competitive sport. Ok they don’t have the super shiny facilities of the private schools but they do an amazing job with what they have. Big range of clubs. I also like the fact it’s culturally diverse and not everyone has a ski chalet or a second home in Cornwall….
Staff are excellent, great shame the head is leaving but his successor is well regarded within the school (deputy). Pastoral support for us has been good.
i would say save your money and choose Tiffin.

20 min walk to the train Hampton or 111 bus, with waiting for a bus is also...20 min. R70 goes around so it would take too long
I live here and see the green bikes around school. They take those publicly available bikes

Just saw your question re. coaches. My DD gets a mix of the late coach and train. Pretty much all of the clubs/activities that are after school finish in time for the late coach which leaves at 6pm. Many girls who don't live locally get the late coach. My DD also rows though which is often not at school and in those instances the girls tend to get the train. If your DD gets into sports etc... she will definitely be wanting to stay for some of the after school training/clubs so definitely look at what travel options you have if the late coach doesn't go to your area x

I should have been clearer with my wording. To clarify, my comment was less about a specific school and more about a type of institution. A top-tier private school excels in every field and maintains high standards across the board. This creates more dimensions of potential pressure than a grammar school, which primarily focuses on academics.

My issue with your post was that you were asserting that "the school expects excellence across the board—from academics (both humanities and STEM) to music, sport, drama, debating, you name it."

It's completely incorrect about SPGS. The school expects no such thing. In fact, the school's entire ethos is about encouraging students to discover their own passions / interests / skills - whatever they may be, and however eclectic - and to enjoy things even if they're no good at them. I don't know a single girl at the school (or, indeed, anywhere in the world!) who would fit your description.

It's just really unhelpful to other parents who may be searching for information about schools to post things on a public forum that aren't based on any knowledge or direct experience.

Again, the atmosphere in a school will have nothing to do with what you or I think. It will be driven by what the students think.

If we assume that Harvard students could have used their (hypothetical) income to purchase housing, it would follow that over half of them would have chosen B in your thought experiment.

There should be some positional concern, but only to a certain extent.

Let me give you a thought experiment:
A. Live with your family in a large house, where the neighboring houses are even larger.
B. Live with your family in a small flat, where the neighboring flats are even smaller.
All else being equal, I believe choosing A is a no-brainer for almost everyone. What do you think?

Sorry, I should have quoted the entire question.

Note that prices are what they are currently and prices (the purchasing power of
money) are the same in States A and B.

The survey had several other questions. The income one merely drew the headlines. But if you don’t believe that positional concerns are important to and drive competition between high achieving students, we can leave it here.

A: Your current yearly income is $50,000; others earn $25,000.
B: Your current yearly income is $100,000; others earn $200,000.

Choosing A is not necessarily irrational as the measure of life quality is very complicated. Just like someone chooses to live in a big city (B）and someone chooses to live in a small town (A), preferences differ.

Unlike competitive sports, studying is ultimately a competition with oneself—or perhaps with the wider world rather than just those within one's own school.

I agree with you, but I think many students don't understand this. I'm surprised how arrogant many children at the "top" selective schools, both state and private, can be. It's not really their fault. They don't realize how small the ponds they dominated (their primaries) were and how much larger the world is beyond their secondaries. Most students at these schools are also not fully aware of how fortunate they are in having such supportive and, often, well resourced, parents.

one student’s success doesn't have to come at the expense of another’s

It doesn't have to. But the reality in a school has nothing to do with what you or I think is optimal. A famous experiment once gave this to a group of Harvard students:

In the questions below, there are two states of the world (State A and State B). You are asked to pick which of the two you would prefer to live in.
A: Your current yearly income is $50,000; others earn $25,000.
B: Your current yearly income is $100,000; others earn $200,000.

52% of them picked A.

This study was heavily criticized for posing hypothetical questions to students. There is a very real chance that, had there actually been something at stake, the students would have been more sensible. But the result might reveal something about the stated preferences of high achieving yet naive students.

I was just pointing out the fact that SPGS could add additional layers of pressure on some girls. Probably your dd is so good and so fit for the school that she doesn't feel any. The comments were not meant to be negative though.

I'm intrigued that you've written negative comments about SPGS when you don't appear to have a child there, and the previous poster had simply mentioned an impression she got on an open day. And it's not a school OP wants advice on anyway.

Your "suspicions" about the school as excessively pressured are, I'm afraid, inaccurate. And the idea that the school expects every student to excel in everything is, frankly, ludicrous.

Oxford is globally dominant in many traditional academic fields, while Bath is particularly strong in applied, technical, and career-focused subjects with strong industry links - all sorts of Engineering.Year long industry placements sandwich year are common at Bath and they have very modern labs and facilities as well as highly structured teaching. Oxford’s engineering science degree is prestigious but far more theoretical and broad.

I believe there exists an optimal dose of competition; exceed that, and it starts to do more harm than good.

Absolutely. And in most cases it is down to the family to handle it in reasonable way and explain to the child: you don't have to be best at everything. Follow your bliss and for the rest do your best within the reason.

And because it's a state grammar, you don't have that same "return on investment" pressure from parents. It feels like a much purer focus on learning rather than having to be a world-class all-rounder just to justify the school fees!

I hear what you’re saying about the 'purity' of a state grammar, but that actually overlooks the massive shadow investment happening behind the scenes. For many families at Tiffin Girls' particularly the ambitious, foreign middle-class and South Asian communities- the 'fees' aren't paid to the school bursar; they are paid to tutors for years leading up to the 11+ and tutoring all along the school.
When a family redirects every spare penny into 11+ prep because they can't afford a £25k per year private school, the pressure for the child to repay hat sacrifice through elite grades is immense. It’s not just about a love of learning; it’s a high-stakes family project where academic success is the only acceptable ROI.

In many South Asian and immigrant cultures, education ( and vast number of girls are from this ethnic background if not most) is seen as the primary vehicle for social security. It’s not just about "learning"; it’s about entering the gold standard professions in medicine, Law, Engineering. If a student at Tiffin isn't hitting those marks, the family perceives it as a failure of their long-term survival strategy. I know quite a few families like that.

In a private school, you can arguably "buy" your way into a certain network. In a grammar school, you have to earn it every single day. For the families in private schools the "merit" is the only thing they have. In top grammars the environment less about all round exploration and more about a laser focused almost industrial pursuit of A* grades.
The "return on investment" isn't measured in school facilities or polo matches at grammar; it’s measured in the prestige of the university offer. For these families, anything less than Oxbridge or a top Russell Group medical school feels like a loss on their investment.

No, I am not saying that Tiffin Girls is toxic. Not at all. But it is fiercely competitive all along the school.

I believe there exists an optimal dose of competition; exceed that, and it starts to do more harm than good.
Unlike competitive sports, studying is ultimately a competition with oneself—or perhaps with the wider world rather than just those within one's own school. Therefore, excessive competition (the "dog eat dog" scenario) is simply unnecessary. School is not a zero-sum game like a rowing race; one student’s success doesn't have to come at the expense of another’s.

At the level of the Boat Race and, I suspect, at Tiffin, they all think they work hard and deserve to win. To me, "dog eat dog" is pejorative if players are actively sabotaging each other, which I doubt the PP meant is happening at Tiffin. But people can feel that achievement or success is sweeter when it is higher than their peers', and they work towards that, and that is also human nature. I don't believe that's necessarily toxic.

What it's like to be a pupil at this school 【 from Ofsted report 2026】

The Tiffin Girls' School is exceptionally ambitious for all pupils to achieve their very best. Pupils are provided with a world-class educational experience that inspires them to be the best they can be. They are happy and proud to be part of this community. They work extremely hard to live up to the school's motto: ‘sapere aude – dare to be wise’. Pupils are coached to become independent thinkers and they demonstrate great determination to succeed. Pupils benefit from teaching of the highest quality. As a result, pupils’ achievement is superb.

From the moment that they join, pupils are caringly welcomed and quickly feel that they belong. Relationships between pupils and staff at the school are exceptional. Staff provide high-quality pastoral care. Pupils know that if they have any concerns, there is someone to turn to. This helps pupils to feel safe.

All pupils meet the school’s high expectations. They have exemplary manners. Politeness is second nature and their respectful conduct sets a happy, professional tone throughout the school. Pupils love attending school. As a result, attendance across all year groups is very high.

The school provides extraordinary opportunities for pupils to develop their self-confidence and raise their aspirations. Pupils develop a strong, unique sense of community. They are proud to be a ‘Tiffin Girl’ and strive to make a difference. Pupils benefit from an exceptional enrichment offer, which develops and stretches their talents and interests. Pupils and students in the sixth form enthusiastically take on roles of responsibility. This enables them to have a meaningful impact on the life of the school. For example, students organise and present at the annual student conferences.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, achieve exceptionally well. They gain the important skills they need now and to prepare them for their future lives. Pupils, and post-16 students, go on to impressive destinations and to lead successful careers.

I think that interview example is a bit of a red herring, to be honest. Almost everyone, whether "toxic" or not, would prefer winning over losing—that’s just human nature! Choosing a win doesn't really tell us anything about a school's culture.

However, to follow your logic: if you asked that same Cambridge rower whether they’d prefer to win through their own hard work and elite performance, or win because they slacked off and the other boat happened to capsize... well, I’ll leave you to imagine what their answer would be.

To me, a truly high-achieving environment is about the pursuit of excellence and personal bests, whereas "dog eat dog" implies a culture where you only succeed by others failing. One is inspiring; the other is just exhausting.

But I find St. Paul's atmosphere far more strained when visiting.

Your description of the St Paul's atmosphere matches exactly what I’ve suspected. Because the school expects excellence across the board—from academics (both humanities and STEM) to music, sport, drama, debating, you name it—it creates a very different, all-encompassing kind of pressure.

Plus, with fees that are now frankly eye-watering (and higher than the average UK annual salary!), it’s perhaps inevitable that some parents become more pushy as they look for a "return" on such a massive investment. Ultimately, that weight of expectation trickles down, and the students definitely feel that pressure from home.

On the other hand, Tiffin seems much more straightforward. If a child is academically solid and thrives in STEM, they can just get on with it without that added psychological baggage. And because it's a state grammar, you don't have that same "return on investment" pressure from parents. It feels like a much purer focus on learning rather than having to be a world-class all-rounder just to justify the school fees!

That said, if a girl is self-motivated to excel in every possible area and money is no object, then SPGS is clearly the place for her. It really comes down to which environment helps the individual child thrive.

I don't post normally but to offer my perspective, I have 2 DDs, one at a private school (not LEH), one at Tiffin (y8). I have been to LEH for offer holders' day, but turned it down. I'm sure it's a lovely school (and the grounds are amazing).

However, just to balance it out, we've not experienced any toxic behaviour or atmosphere at Tiffin. At open day, the girls showing us around were smart, lively and confident. My DD has been there for a while now, and has made good friends, and if anything the girls she hangs out with are more straightforward and kind than some of the girls I've seen at the private school so far. Of course some girls have had high expectations placed on them and are very competitive, so it will depend on whether your child suits that environment. But I find St. Paul's atmosphere far more strained when visiting (again, only from open day).