Tiffin School vs Harris Westminster Sixth Form

[VioletsArePurple]

We have an offer from each - Maths, further maths, physics, and economics.

Which would you choose and why?

I'd chose Tiffin as it's more academic, has better progress score and the location is less hectic.

Thanks for your response. I didn't realise Tiffin was higher performing than HWSF. Oh no... what to do? This is so stressful, but then I know we are very fortunate to have such a choice.

Is Tiffin further away than the Harris Westminster? Is that the conundrum?

No, Tiffin is much closer. But she has already been to orientation and enrolled in HWSF, and is really happy. And we are all very proud of her achievement. And then we got a late offer to Tiffin. But the results are better at Tiffin. So having made a choice yesterday, it's all up in the air again today.

Oh dear... HWSF isn’t quite as good as Tiffin but it’s excellent too and many kids secure Oxbridge and Russell Group offers. If your daughter is happy with it, she might as well go there.

KCLMS would be the perfect school for that combination of A Levels (Although they only do Econ as AS)

Regarding which is better, Tiffin likely has much higher requirements- they are taking in/already have stronger students, so their results will be stronger.

Looking at the data on the OFSTED website, Tiffin's Progress score from GCSE to A Level is 0.07 whereas HWSF's is -0.1 (KCLMS's is 1.04)

If your child is happy and excited about HWSF and not so much about Tiffin, then that's a major factor to consider too. Everyone will be new at HWSF, so making friends might be easier.

We tried for KCL Maths School... didn't make the cut.

I would be wary of being part of the first girl cohort at Tiffin. I'd never heard of Harris but it looks amazing.

What was the cut off for KCL? Just nosey because their results are so good.

That Tiffin has better results only means there are more kids who are capable of straight As due to selection. If your ds is capable of As, both schools are good enough to get them. I would choose Harris as it's an academy, not a grammar, and regarded as less posh, so if you are looking towards Oxbridge, they are more likely to make an offer as they are desperate to get kids from 'proper' comes, and at least on paper, if not in reality, HW qualifies as the latter. With HW your ds can play the 'disadvantaged' card all his life, which can be very very useful.

DD, sorry.

@NellyBarney
Play the disadvantage card?
That's a very nasty thing to say and think. Disadvantage is real and substantially affects academic achievement, it's not a trump card to be whipped out.

Thanks for all your replies. We have gone for Tiffin. Incidentally Tiffin is an academy and has plenty of "disadvantaged" children. It was such a hard choice. We also loved Harris.

Great choice- Tiffin is a great school. But I don't think there are many 'disadvantaged' kids there at all..

I can’t believe there are any disadvantages students at Tiffin!

No way are there "plenty of disadvantaged kids' at Tiffin!

@VioletsArePurple I hope you don't mind me tagging you. My son is considering Tiffin this year - same subjects as your DC - so I'd love to know how you're getting on. Is the quality of teaching as you expected? Has your DC found it easy to settle in (academically and socially)? Do they help the newbies to settle in? What is the academic enrichment like - do they provide opportunities beyond the curriculum to encourage a wider interest in the subject?

That last question is because I'm aware that for getting onto the most competitive maths and science uni courses they need more than just top grades. My son is very sporty, sociable, gets the grades etc, but (so far) isn't interested in reading around his subjects for pleasure or tinkering with his own projects for fun. Yet on the rare occasions that enrichment opportunities have cropped up at his current school he has thrown himself into them and enjoyed them. I'm hoping that being surrounded by academic types and being exposed to (hopefully) top quality teaching and (hopefully) a wider range of extra-curricular clubs may help that side of him to evolve.

This has just come up but Tiffin has Dr Frost Maths guy who is well known to every maths person. He is one of the most amazing teachers so it was a no brainer. Hope she's happy!

Dr Frost is amazing. I know him quite well. And he is the greatest teacher I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

DC who joined the sixth form this year has settled and is getting on well. I'm not terribly involved to be honest. She gets on with it and I just stand on the sidelines. Her parent teacher consultation were all good. Currently predicted all As. I'm not sure she engages in extra curricular as much as I'd like but she does do so things. There's a good careers advisor who is really helpful, but child does need to make an effort to go see her.

I also have a DS in lower school. He is the least motivated human on earth. So lazy sometimes I check his breathing to make sure he's still alive. Hates rugby. But his grades are okay. He's more academic, just needs a a frequent swift kick of motivation.

Thanks Violets, good to hear she's settling in. What does she think of the physics teaching? We only saw one of the physics teachers at the open evening and DS wasn't sure about him, but obviously its hard to judge in that setting.

Also how many girls are there in her year group? (If you'd prefer to PM me that's fine).

@workingonsunshine PM sent.