Tiffin Girls prep

[xxxx123abcxxxx]

I would like my daughter to gain a place at Tiffin Girls' School at age 11.

She will be 2 years of age at the end of 2020.

What would be the most effective route into Tiffin Girls' School in regards to choosing a nursery, prep school and junior school to attend?

I was thinking either Jack & Jill or Kew College.

Limitations are the Twickenham/Richmond/Hampton/Kew area where fees are around £4500 per term.

Depends where you are based and both are good although I can only help with one of them.
Jack n jill prep girls for LEH , so push quite hard. They have homework most nights but kids are happy there generally.
Ultimately, to get in to Tiffin your daughter will have to be very very bright. You will need to have CAT scores of about 125+ and most kids will be tutored as well (so factor in More money for that). Lastly, my advice would be to not try and forecast your child’s future so far ahead. She may be very academic, but she may be very creative or sporty and tiffin isn’t a one size fits all school. I have 3 kids in private education and I haven’t considered tiffin for any of them as it’s not the right school and environment for their personalities. Tiffin is an amazing school for the right girl, but you might have a quieter girl or a shy girl , one that thrives in a smaller environment etc etc .
If you want to forecast so far ahead, have you thought about moving to Waldegrave catchment? It’s not as academic as tiffin, but scores as well as some of the private schools in the area and what you would pay for jack n jill would pay stamp duty on a house ?

I honestly wouldn’t start setting your hopes on a place at Tiffin when your daughter isn’t even two yet. You have no idea whether or not she is bright enough, nor whether it is actually right fit. Highly selective schools can be miserable places for the highly tutored child who then struggle to keep up.

Also what if you focus entirely on getting her in and then she doesn’t pass? Or what if selective state schools are abolished under Labour government policy if they get in at another general election?

I would wait until she is 7 before making such committed plans. In the meantime chose establishments that fit your child right now, especially in terms of location and what you can afford.

Thank you for the feedback.

I am in the TW3 postcode, and have no intentions of moving since family and business are nearby to home.

My cousin's daughter did the J&J to LEH route and is now 30 years old working in a city law firm. She did an English degree in London and then converted to Law. She absolutely hated LEH, and has bipolar mental issues which she blames on her schooling and isn't happy with her career either.

Of course this may be an outlier case; but hence, I'm hesitant with private schooling from 11+ onwards.

Failing entry into Tiffin, next would be Kingston Grammer, and so on until forced into continuing private.

Although J&J is nearest to home, I don't like the idea of changing 3 sites from nursery, prep to junior. I see this as an interruption to stability, consistency of environment, and teaching relationships.

Kingston ‘Grammar’ is a misnomer, it’s a private school.

It’s great you are alert to the potential risks of a high-achieving academic environment but not sure Tiffin would be that much different? And (not saying this is you, but having seen it in my daughters’ peers) setting sights very firmly on getting a place there when it’s so competitive and turns away so many bright girls can put its own pressures on applicants’ mental health/self esteem.

I really admire your ambition, but it does seem very early to be thinking about this! I have a dd at Tiffin and it is an absolutely wonderful school for her, but we didn't start thinking about selective schooling for any of our children until they were at least in Y4/5 and we had an idea of their personalities and aptitude. Mine went to our local state primary and then selective secondaries. (As an aside, as KGS is a coed private school, I think it's a very different proposition from TGS).

It’s lovely your planning so far ahead, BUT take a breath - it’s more than just what school to send your child too from an educational point it’s about the right fit for your child personality.

I think a good well rounded prep school that have a dotted line into many different options is a good start.

That’s what we did with our daughter and some of the girls/boys went onto tiffins some to other grammar schools in the area and some to private schools - my daughter went onto a very good state school & has done well.

I had to consider her personality to find the right fit she would have struggled at Tiffins, she’s bright and capable but would probably sit in the bottom half of the classes which would have possibly affected her self confidence and mental health.

That’s where a good prep with an open honest headteacher helps, it’s more than just getting into an exceptional school it’s about what the support within that school offers your child. My daughter has done well and continues to do well at her a-levels with good university choices. This is because she went to the right school fit for her as a whole.

Just back again to echo the above. We used a prep school for our kids, but part of that prep schools job is to advise you on where your kids would best fit for secondary school. Sometimes you might not like what the head tells you, but a good prep is all about getting your child to the right school for her in terms of intelligence, personality and resiliency. I’ve see kids coaches to within an inch of their lives to get in to a good school and the flounder at the bottom once they are in.
Also, as others have said, Kingston grammar is a private co-Ed school so you’ll need to pay the fees

You know next to nothing about Tiffin Girls but want to send your daughter there presumably based on the results?

My DD was there and has mental health issues - anxiety and low self esteem - which she blames on the school. Some of her peers developed mental health disorders and eating disorders were rife. She was in a particularly nasty form group and the Head at the time said anything less than an A* was a fail.

I would wait a few years. If your DD is academic it might be worth a try but you can't predict what sort of school it will be a few years down the line. I believe pastoral care has improved since my DD left which is good.

xxxx123abcxxxx - you said: "Failing entry into Tiffin, next would be Kingston Grammer, and so on until forced into continuing private."

You do know Kingston Grammer is a private school, don't you? So you'd be 'forced' into continuing privately fairly immediately.

xxxx123abcxxxx please don't travel from TW3 to Jack & Jills by car. There is already too much congestion in the area and there is severely restricted parking with hovering wardens in the drop-off area. Please use one of your local state primaries instead. You will be doing the environment a favour and can spend the money saved on school fees on tutors if your daughter isn't bright enough to get a Tiffin place without additional help.

@crankered I can hear your gritted teeth. Not nice

I accidentally came across this thread looking for something else. I read it with interest. I grew up in Kingston. Everyone at my primary school took the 11 plus (in the early 1980's) as did all the primary schools in the area. I don't think private schools took the 11 plus. The top 5 girls and top 5 boys from our school got a place a tiffins. So out of the of 70 odd children in my school there weren't many places. My father went to tiffins and wanted me to go. I didn't pass my 11 plus and felt a failure at the time.
It sounds very different now. What happened to the 11 plus? It sounds like tiffins is more a place for privately educated now.

It sounds like tiffins is more a place for privately educated now

No, it's a place for parents who want to save the cost of secondary private school, so are willing to spend in primary school, and the private primary schools play up to that to get more business, some of them are very much focussed on the 11+

Personally heard nothing but negatives on Tiffin, but that's likely because results being narrowly defined by academic grades and single sex educations are not in the groups I talk to.

Please let your dd be a kid. She's a baby, let her have a childhood before you hothouse her. Read books, show her interesting places, use maths in everyday life rather than worrying about formal education. My dd got a*aaa from bog standard comprehensive schools, no tutoring - and she had a childhood.

I had some great friends from Tiffin girls. I used to go there after school for tennis coaching too. They were just ordinary girls from the local primary school. None were privately educated and none had extra tuition to get in. Surely you can't force your children into being clever. Thankfully there's nothing like that where I live now. It's an hours drive to the nearest private schools so most just go to the local primary school. It hasn't held mine back, Ds1 is at university, ds2 intends to go, he's going into year 12 sept. Ds3 is only 11 so I don't know about him.

It sounds like tiffins is more a place for privately educated now

Absolutely not. My daughter got a place with very minimal prep from an ordinary primary school.

@Glaciferous that's good. That's how it should be.

@Glaciferous mine too. But I can say on here, without sounding like a knob, DC is very, very bright. Saw it from a very young age. Never put pressure on DC, since that way misery lies. Though I’m sure there are others who disagree.

How to pass? Almost no schooling owing to COVID, so I tutored during lockdown, year 5 March on, to ensure all of the maths was covered, but it was a pleasure and not a pain. Not excessive, but DC is really quick.

I think the worst thing is to send your child to a school in which they drown. Let your child be a child. These years go fast, never to return. Revisit this question in year 4 or 5.