Winchester entrance position

[Thecatiswithhishat]

Good morning mums,

I am hoping that some of you can advise, my DS is about to sit the Winchester entrance exam. He has a conditional place in a house for September , his grades will be a mix and I am concerned about sending him there. I worry about being talked into sending him there after the exams, our headmaster said they will not turn a boy away at this stage.

My main concern is that he will fall through the cracks and won’t reach his potential.
I know that he would be so unhappy if this were the case.

DS applied to Winchester ,we didn't accept the offer. When you look at GCSE results only 8 boys achieved all 9' s this year, they only do 9 so you would expect much better. The numbers achieving 9/8 was only in the 20's.

Our main concern was around pastoral care , a family we know well adviced us to consider our other options . They had a serious case of buyers remorse after sending their son to Winchester.

I'm glad we listened but it's difficult for most families to be so open/ honest with friends.

3 year eight boys at our prep have been offered a place at Winchester in the last few weeks. It did make me wonder if families are having second thoughts at this late stage.

@betterment Late offers (sometimes known as promotions) happen all the time in all schools. It is mainly due to families sitting on multiple offers until the last minute. It is a selfish thing to do and schools try to deter it with hefty acceptance fees and deposits but there are some families who are so indifferent to cost that they do it anyway. There will be some who choose Winchester or Westminster over Eton at the last minute, and some the other way around.

You would expect a wave of promotions in the Easter holidays for a few reasons: firstly financial, because in most cases if you are still sitting on an offer at the start of the summer term you become liable for the first term’s fees whether you take up the place or not. Second, it means there is still just about time to take the right CE/entrance exam for the right school. Third, there are a few schools (eg Oundle, Radley) whose scholarship examinations happen in the spring term, which encourages some families to make up their minds in a certain direction.

My son has got an offer for 2025 entry. I know a few families who sent older dc to the school and are now sending their younger siblings, including some in our prep. This can hardly be explained by “buyers remorse”!
However I keep seeing negative posts specifically about WinCol on mumsnet, which worries me a bit. Genuinely struggling to make up my mind! It would be great to hear more details, either here or privately. We do still have other options so will help us in our decision making!

I am also struggling to come to a final decision, my DS has two other offers. There doesn't seem to be any negativity with regard to the other offers he has.

Someone above posted that the number of boys who achieved 9/8 's at GCSE was only in the 20's..
This surprised me a little, is it due to lack of oversight? We certainly don't want to tutor DS while paying the fees but we do expect top notch results.

Our other options are Radley and Sherbourne, boys from our prep have done very well at both schools. Our headmaster was less forthcoming when it came to the boys who went to Winchester. Apparently it's not known for it's pastoral care , that is obviously a great concern.

Also are there any parents of Radley or Sherbourne boys on here who could advise?