Winchester College

[MayBeitsNotRight]

Dear all,
Happy new year .My DS, is currently on the waiting list for admission to WinCol for the 2024 session. I have several inquiries for which I would sincerely appreciate any feedback.

While DS performed commendably based on the information provided by the school, it appears he did not secure a place on the main list. I am curious about the dynamics of the waiting list and how it progresses. Additionally, I understand that there is another examination phase before the final selection. Could anyone share more details regarding the level of proficiency required in Latin to meet the threshold?

Any insights or information, pertaining to Latin, & over all life at the school would be of great value. Thank you 🙏

I'd say there's quite a bit of movement on the waiting list, @MayBeitsNotRight . Lots of boys will be holding multiple offers and will start relinquishing places once their ultimate decisions are made. In reality the Eton list will have an impact on the Winchester list. Boys will know if they've been accepted at Winchester earlier than Eton. There is a further entrance exam but it's not intended to reduce numbers, rather to keep prospective pupils working during the latter years of prep and not switch off once they know they have places. Occasionally a boy loses a place if their entrance exam results are really poor, but you shouldn't view that element as likely to yield lots of promotions from the waiting list.
If your son has not been placed on a House waiting list that would be a more concerning picture as there won't be a Housemaster advocating for him. If this is the case and he needs lots of waiting list movement it would be worth having a back up plan- there are many excellent schools who would be delighted to welcome a near-miss candidate from Winchester.
That said, I wish your son the best of luck in the admissions process.

Thank you for your thorough response 🙏. I really appreciate it. Currently, my son hasn't been assigned a house or house master. I'll reach out to the school to check on his status.

May I confirm your DS is in General Place or Reserve List Place? There's a big difference between them.

A House Place. A place in the boarding house of the Housemaster who interviewed the candidate.
A General Place. The offer of a place at the school. The House will be finalised later, but with the Housemaster who interviewed the candidate if numbers allow.
Both offers are subject to satisfactory performance in the Election or Entrance exams.
A Reserve List place. We see the candidate has potential and we are keen to maintain dialogue with the Prep School and parents. Boys can be promoted from the Reserve List to a General Place by the Registrar at any time depending on the number of vacancies. Patient faithfulness brings dividends, as vacancies tend to occur late – sometimes March to May of the year of entry.

My DS was admitted to Winchester via the waiting list. Places become available when the scholarships are announced as boys who have places reserved in houses get promoted to college. It also means that places come up across most houses. We were advised to keep the Register updated on any successes our son had in exams etc at his prep school. It is an anxious wait. Two boys made it into his house from the waiting list in his year that I know of.

With regards Latin. The exam is very difficult but I get the impression that the score doesn't need to be that high to pass. The aim is to test all abilities up to the most talented. I am however somewhat out of date so this may have changed.

All the best with your DS application.

Thank you everyone for your responses. We're currently on the reserve list and anticipating sitting the exam at the end of April or May. We haven't been assigned a house master yet, which has me feeling a bit concerned now that I understand its importance.

Regarding the exam, are there any specific tips or advice we should keep in mind? Any additional information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, everyone!

I guess you are from overseas. Have you prepared Latin recently?

Did your DS sit for Election or Entrance? How did he find it? Does he have confirmed house place yet? If not, call the registrar and have a chat - I am sure they’ll be some places opening up after the exams finalise everyone’s thoughts.

Election results will come out by 6pm today that must have a certain impact on the reserve-listed boys. Finger crossed🤞 for everyone.

Winch me: We sat the entrance and expecting results any moment now. I emailed the registrar about the house and house master. Really appreciate your advice.
I do have some worries as to the communication front. Based on my experience the communication has been very slow, sporadic and disorganised.

Slnt Dad:
Best wishes to all waiting. We still haven't heard anything from the school yet.

I think entrance results are out Thursday. Election came out Tuesday. Good luck everyone.

Hi MayBeitsNotRight - has there been any news? I’d phone admissions in your shoes and reiterate that you want your DS to join.

Hello,

Thank you so much for your guidance and check-ins. Is your child attending the school or was scheduled to join? I hope everything went well for you.

We received an acceptance offer via email this afternoon, and we’re relieved that the wait is over. We're feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. We haven’t had the chance to tour the school yet, and we don’t know anyone personally to chat with about it.

Well done MayBeitsNotRight to your son. You had never visited the school? Maybe you should immediately ask for a visit. Feel free to send me a message if you want to chat. My son started in WinColl in September.

Awesome news MayBeitsNotRight!

@MayBeitsNotRight
Huge congratulations to your DS and you! I hope he'll be happy and thrive there.

Thank you. I have just sent a PM.

Would any current Winchester parents be able to send a link to their exam results this year?

Hopefull bump as the school still hasn't updated their website, we are in the final stages of deciding between three schools.

I expect they are waiting for the remarking deadline to pass to get the best possible set of results before publication. That's not a Winchester-specific comment, but my DS have just done GCSEs elsewhere, and I'm aware of quite a bit of upward movement in the past week.

@Marjoribanks Thank you, that might why .The other schools that we are considering have published results on the day.There have been a lot of changes at Winchester, this will be the first year of A levels results as a coed 6th form with day students.

I hope your DS was happy with his GCSE results, wishing him all the best for 6th form.

@Caddycart that's so nice of you. Yes, two happy relieved boys.
Best of luck with your decision!

Hi, do any Winchester parents on this thread know the GCSE and A levels results this year?
I can't find them on their website.I did find this link but they weren't mentioned.

Eton, Tonbridge and Winchester don’t seem to be in that list as well as others that I think would often make top 100?

Tonbridge published 2024 results on their website on results day.

'"This year, an impressive 94 per cent of all grades awarded are A star A or B, with 75 per cent of those being A star and A. Notably, almost half of the cohort (81 boys) have achieved straight A* and A grades.'

I couldn't find Winchester's anywhere.