Page 2 | Winchester College - 6th form

DreamyLemonBiscuit · 2025-07-07T10:57:21+00:00

My daughter is considering Winchester college for 6th form for 2026 - does anyone have any experience of joining Winchester for A'Levels? Is anyone able to tell me what number of new students join for 6th form? And if anyone has any knowledge of the online admission tests? And suggestions for how to prep for these? I did ask admissions but they were a bit vague. Thank you.

WimpleDimple3 · 27/08/2025 15:58

@Ziegfeld I am sure there will be some examples of girls reacting as you describe to a historically boy dominant school. It is definitely something to be aware of as a risk as no girl should feel themselves to be an ornament. However I have to say that in my extended network, the worst issues of self harm and anorexia have come straight out of girls only schools, particularly the academic day schools in London.

RosaMimosa · 22/01/2026 00:31

My daughter had the best experience at Wincol and said "it was two best years of my life". She is missing the college so much now at her first year at uni. In her (boy's house) all girls formed very strong friendship and see each other and boys from their house and other houses in London (as they are in different unies, including abroad). They all used to hang around in Winchester on Saturdays and now go to London clubs together. The boarding house leavers trip was a very positive experience for most.
Now, there are some inter-uni visits too. Moreover, at my ds' uni, OWs keeping together (herself and 2-3 boys).

I've heard from other girls from Wincol that same line "best experience of my life".

To be honest, at the very beginning there were some initial hiccups as it was the first year when the boarding house my daughter was in accepted girls. Not all boy's parents (and some boys) were particularly impressed. Also, some boys just didn't have enough experience of communicating with girls and were a bit scared initially.
However, most girls came from mixed schools and were quite familiar with handling boys and setting boundaries where needed. At least with my daughter, she came out of the school strong and confident, knowing how get around (sometimes) toxic male environment. It will definitely help her if she will go on with work in the City.
At the end, many boys' parents said it was "healthy experience", though mentioned that this introduction (mainly communication from the college) wasn't handled properly and that girls "were imposed on them". My assumption that some negative comments here are from these boys' families who paid for "boys only" school. Such as these objectification comments... According to my daughter's insights, boys gossiping and "ranking" girls regardless of if they at Wincol or not as they not only attending regular socials with local girls' schools like SS and some of them have sisters and other friends/family connections there. They do this about pretty much all private school girls in Hampshire/South through social media. But needless to say that girls do the same.

As for sports, my daughter enjoyed playing Winkies and rowing, and was in Marines Cadets (even got a rank). And yes, girls didn't have lacrosse (not sure if some asked for it), but they had netball and fixtures with other schools.

Finally, my younger daughter wants to go to the college too and she is gentler, softer one. I feel that she will be fine at Wincol but most likely form friendship with different kind of girls/boys, eg music scholars, theatre circle, arts.

RosaMimosa · 22/01/2026 00:48

WimpleDimple3 · 27/07/2025 11:45

To update; I didn’t see our family friend’s eldest daughter, who was out with her friends. However I did spend a lot of time talking to her parents. Their thoughts are:

they chose Winchester as they were London based and they wanted somewhere easy to access yet safer and a gentle introduction to more independence.
disappointed about pace of girls boarding houses initially, but their daughter says she preferred being part of a boy’s house. She hopes they keep the girls being part of the boys houses even whilst they have their own boarding houses.
suits academic girls, motivated and interested. Teaching in her subjects was a different level from her prior school.
no complaints about sports access, but frustrated that the sports centre didn’t open fully during her time there. She spent quite a lot of time in the gym last year, which was a new development for her.
made their daughter “come out of her shell”, they think that joining a boys school made the girls feel quite different but in a good way. Noted that the boys were in general quite different from her prior school and genuinely wanted to be friends. Dad said that he’d have been very defensive about his daughter dating boys, but after meeting his daughter’s male friends and (2nd year) boyfriend he “didn’t worry” as they were nice boys.
some results of boys they know was not as strong as they expected last year (2024), she thinks this has caused a bit of a shift change at WC towards focussing on better exam results in addition to the wider knowledge based learning. She loved div and debating so would be wary of this part diminishing.
I mentioned the privilege comment above and her parents say that of course they know they are privileged, it would be insane to think otherwise and the girls there (and boys) are very lucky. She was genuinely happy there though.

DD2 has just finished yr 10 and is applying. As I said above their DD1 has come out very strongly, I can imagine there are always some less happy parents for various reasons in every year. You have to pick the right school for your child and be open to all options. I have friends with children at other very famous schools which don’t get slated on mumsnet who are very unhappy, and some that are delighted with those same schools.

I agree with all points based on my daughter's insights, it looks that they were at the same cohort.

HollyRollyPolly · 26/05/2026 15:53

@WimpleDimple3 Thank you for the great information you shared here, my DS has offer from both Eton and Winchester. He loves Winchester as same as us, my feeling was the school is very much focused on boy's progress not only academically but at all other aspects like sport, leadership and .., But it is really scary when some people keep pushing this that they bully is very high and boys are not well mannered, which I personally think that some of these type of comments are based on nothing, however, I have no experience of the school, I really appreciate if you please share yours. also I had plan to move my daughter to the college for six form as I really cant see how such a well known school can let the girls down and make damage on their reputation, but again, I cant say anything as I am not the real parent of the school yet.

HollyRollyPolly · 26/05/2026 16:16

RosaMimosa · 22/01/2026 00:31

My daughter had the best experience at Wincol and said "it was two best years of my life". She is missing the college so much now at her first year at uni. In her (boy's house) all girls formed very strong friendship and see each other and boys from their house and other houses in London (as they are in different unies, including abroad). They all used to hang around in Winchester on Saturdays and now go to London clubs together. The boarding house leavers trip was a very positive experience for most.
Now, there are some inter-uni visits too. Moreover, at my ds' uni, OWs keeping together (herself and 2-3 boys).

I've heard from other girls from Wincol that same line "best experience of my life".

To be honest, at the very beginning there were some initial hiccups as it was the first year when the boarding house my daughter was in accepted girls. Not all boy's parents (and some boys) were particularly impressed. Also, some boys just didn't have enough experience of communicating with girls and were a bit scared initially.
However, most girls came from mixed schools and were quite familiar with handling boys and setting boundaries where needed. At least with my daughter, she came out of the school strong and confident, knowing how get around (sometimes) toxic male environment. It will definitely help her if she will go on with work in the City.
At the end, many boys' parents said it was "healthy experience", though mentioned that this introduction (mainly communication from the college) wasn't handled properly and that girls "were imposed on them". My assumption that some negative comments here are from these boys' families who paid for "boys only" school. Such as these objectification comments... According to my daughter's insights, boys gossiping and "ranking" girls regardless of if they at Wincol or not as they not only attending regular socials with local girls' schools like SS and some of them have sisters and other friends/family connections there. They do this about pretty much all private school girls in Hampshire/South through social media. But needless to say that girls do the same.

As for sports, my daughter enjoyed playing Winkies and rowing, and was in Marines Cadets (even got a rank). And yes, girls didn't have lacrosse (not sure if some asked for it), but they had netball and fixtures with other schools.

Finally, my younger daughter wants to go to the college too and she is gentler, softer one. I feel that she will be fine at Wincol but most likely form friendship with different kind of girls/boys, eg music scholars, theatre circle, arts.

@RosaMimosa Thank you for sharing your experience which sounds very positive, I have plan to move my DD for six form to the college and reading your post gives me very positive feeling of this move, DDis very clever and sporty but in only girls school and i would love for her to get ready for university with being in Co-Ed but in very well known school like Wincol which I am sure they will get their students ready for very top rank universities. My main question is about the house your DD was in, which i know now girls has their own house but how was your experience with the house, the house Master and Dame of the house? Were there involve with students, did they check on them if they are doing well, I mean how much the house was homey? Thank you for the help

RosaMimosa · 26/05/2026 19:58

@HollyRollyPolly
My DD (and other girls from the same house) loved it and spent much more time there than in the day-house for girls only (where they have showers, desks and kitchen) because it was more fun. The housemaster did brilliantly, lots of support when needed and managing boys&girls drama sometimes. It definitely felt like home to her and she took some stuff like slippers, hoodies, a blanket, coffee press and so on to feel even more comfy.
However, according to my daughter, some girls in other houses were not that happy with their housemasters and boys, so spent more time in girls' house. So yes, it really depends on a housemaster's personality, and it's the same for boys.
The experience with the matron was mixed, but mostly because she made them clean their mess in the house library where day girls had their desks (they also brought lots of personal stuff like my DD). I took her complaints with a pinch of salt as I know how messy teens can be and again, and teen's drama about everything.
It would be different for your DD as they now have girls' boarding house, especially given her only girls school experience.
My DD said "We were lucky to be in boy's house, much more fun and feels like family with siblings & cousins and it's a pity new girls won't have that!"