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Original poster

This is the pushy parent Tiffin tutor thread.

469 replies

uwila · 22/01/2007 13:28

Okay, so wh ohas used a Tiffin tutor? Did it get your kid(s) into Tiffin? How old were they when they strted tutoring?

Okay, so my DD is only 3 1/2 but I like to plan ahead/. I've heard you can sign up for tutors that increase your chances of getting into Tiffin (boys and girls schools).

Any experience/opinions welcome.

Thanks.

OP posts:
Celia2 · 27/01/2007 10:45

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jura · 27/01/2007 12:45

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Celia2 · 27/01/2007 14:38

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hatwoman · 27/01/2007 14:41

very true celia, take 900 odd kids from across sw london and give places to the most able 140 and I should blummen well hope you get good results! I have also heard good reports about Hollyfield's top stream

CristinaTheAstonishing · 27/01/2007 15:50

The head of Tiffins is a young bloke who went to an underperforming state primary in a small & not wealthy town in east Anglia. I can't remember about seconday, then on to Oxford or Cambridge. Not adding anything to the knowledge base here, just a bit of gossip. Catholic, largish family.

drosophila · 27/01/2007 21:09

So if you tutor like mad to get your kid into whichever 'good' school do you then throw back your heels or do you have to keep tutoring?

CristinaTheAstonishing · 27/01/2007 22:33

I have no idea, Drosophila, but I shudder at the thought of a life spent under so much pressure.

In fact, how does tutoring work? An hour a week for a year, a few half mornings before the entrance exams? Really curious to know if I'm being apprehensive about something I know nothing about.

foxabout2pop · 28/01/2007 08:21

Christina, I think tutoring for two years is quite common now. Anyone know if its an hour a week? I know it involves homework.

Some of DS's friends are having Kumon maths atm and the teachers at his (very good) school say its completely counter productive as it just teaches a different method, thus confusing the kids.

Its a good point Christina about the pressure though.....

Celia2 · 28/01/2007 13:46

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foxabout2pop · 28/01/2007 15:49

Celia - its does seem a bit false doesn't it, if children need endless tutoring to "keep up" or "stay ahead"? Some of the parents in DS's class are obsessed with having their children at the "top" of the class and pay for tutoring to keep them one step ahead, just so they can tell everyone their children sit at the top table. Its seems really sad for the children and a not a little pathetic of the parents (lets face it, they must be so insecure). I agree, nothing wrong with some preparation work leading up to exams etc - but a whole life of tutoring/homework???

teachersmummy · 28/01/2007 16:31

A friend who tutors in maths\science tells me that most of his students are from grammar schools who were extreme tutored to get there in the first place and are struggling to keep up with the rest of the class or those at private schools who would be persuaded to leave if their standards of work dropped and threatened to spoil their record of 100% pass rate. So it seems the round of tutoring never ends (even extending to sixth form)

Judy1234 · 28/01/2007 16:34

I don't think tutoring helps in schools. If you can't keep up, you can't keep up whatever tutoring you're given. Part of the point of private schools is you don't need to pay for tutors as there is good teaching at school whereas go to a state school like the Blairs and you have to hire in tutors from Westminster School just to get decent GCSE and A levels.

amidaiwish · 28/01/2007 16:42

go to a "state school like the Blairs"
the London Oratory is not what i would call "a state school"....

and i went there, so i should know.

frogs · 28/01/2007 16:44

Oh naff off, xenia. Some of us can't afford private schools, are doing our ruddy best for our kids and don't need to have our noses constantly rubbed in the fact that we don't earn enough to buy our way out of the system.

lulumama · 28/01/2007 16:50

xenia...my sister and i both went to a private all girls school in the north west..and had maths tutoring......some children find certain subjects harder to get to grips with than others...and what is wrong with some extra assistances if that is the case?

Lilymaid · 28/01/2007 17:09

Private tutoring can work but the child must want to do the extra work and there should be a particular end in sight (e.g. an exam). If your child is already at an academic independent school where results are excellent, private tutoring is probably only useful where the child has very particular problems or organisational difficulties. In the state system - especially in subjects where it is now difficult to recruit teachers (e.g. science and maths) - a private tutor may make all the difference to whether you can carry on studying that subject to a higher level.

hercules1 · 28/01/2007 17:13

Xenia - I know loads of excellent teachers who dont and wont teach in private achools. I've also known some crap ones go and teach in private schools as it is often deemed to be easier. Private doesnt equate to teachers being better than teachers in state school. It means small class sizes and such like.

I found your comment offensive.

NotAnOtter · 28/01/2007 17:26

tosh anyway
round us there are a lot of 'posh but dim' folk who honestly believe the private school system to be superior. We are fortunate in that it is not. `the paying grammar schools fare only as well as many state.

I shall reiterate what i said before - the boys who struggle in my sons school are mor often than not the rivate school educated ones who were pushed but just do not have the calibre or drive

xenia talks through backside again

sparklybits · 28/01/2007 17:30

when i was at primary school I found maths difficult - in a few areas mainly - base numbers and long division spring to mind.

anyway, a teacher told my mum that there is always more than one way for a subject to be explained.

i think that 'struggling' in a class doesn't mean you're to be condemned as incapable.

In secondary school, also in maths, we had a teacher who taught GSCE to the level of the top few (boys) in the class). He would write answers up on the board before the majority of us had finished ,regardless of whether we understood. I'm not incapable. I think that pupils are reliant having time and patience to explain things. If tutoring helps either state school pupils or private school pupils to grasp things which hadn't sunk in in the classroom then it's worthwhile.

amidaiwish · 28/01/2007 18:13

here here sparkly bits...
i did GCSE chemistry, just didn't "get" moles etc.
changed school for A levels, did biology A level, first lesson was on moles (i couldn't believe it, was gutted).
anyway i understood it within 20 minutes.

just needed someone to explain it in a different way. maybe if i had had some tutoring (20 mins might have done!) to help me with chemistry i would have done better in it and not shied away from all science a levels.

MimmyPig · 28/01/2007 18:16

I agree.

I did A level physics at 6th form and the teacher was rubbish (this was at a girls grammar school - one right at the top of the league tables) and I got a U. The next year I went to the local college (y'know, the one everyone looks down on and 'only thickos go there'?!) - in a year, with a much better approach to teaching physics (imo anyway) I 'got it' and ended up with a B at physics A level instead.

So it's not always just that you can't keep up - the approach just might not suit you. As hercules says, the teachers aren't always better in every subject at the 'better' schools - as my example illustrates I think.

sparklybits · 28/01/2007 18:23

it's only recently (I'm 32) that i've got over thinking i'm not good at maths / figurework.

i found myself telling someone at work 'i'm crap with numbers'.. and as soon as i said it i regretted it. i'm not at all. i concentrated on arts subjects and did a history degree. i now have responsibility for recruiting graduates to our team.

the whole team sat the verbal and numerical reasoning tests that the graduates use - and my numerical grading was better than the verbal. through using numerical skills alongside my traditionally stronger 'grammar' skills i think i'm actually quite good.

just a shame that both my school (actually a v good grant maintained c of e school) didn't give me more confidence - it's taken 15 years to turn around. wish i'd pursued the tutoring or had better maths teachers.

Celia2 · 28/01/2007 19:37

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Judy1234 · 28/01/2007 20:23

Well the Blairs obviously preferred the Westminster teaching to the state Oratory school. Yes I know some children are tutored in the private sector. I don't remember very many at Habs and NLCS where my girls went but there would be bound to be some and all 3 of mine wanted to do an Easter revision course before A levels which was tutoring.

Back to the state school - if it's really important to get a place at 11+ then I can't see how tutoring can harm the child particularly if the tutor has good ideas on what helps you get into that particular school.

amidaiwish · 28/01/2007 20:53

xenia - DC Blair may have been struggling in a particular subject and needed extra tuition from "the teachers at westminster school"... why is that different to any child at any school, private or state?

and maybe it is because they live in downing street and westminster school is AROUND THE CORNER they got a teacher from there?

can't see your points about this are relevant tbh.

but yes, a bit of tutoring to pass the 11+ is usually required, esp if in a state primary school with no prep for the exams.