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Original poster

Winchester College

85 replies

Doolittle1 · 03/02/2022 13:02

Hello

Does anybody have any insight please into which houses are good. I am especially interested in the housemasters / if they are staying or going and facilities in the houses.

Many thanks.

OP posts:
Beyondthesea123 · 03/02/2022 19:24

Kingsgate is close to everything and has its own tennis court. It has one of the nicest dorms in the school. Housemaster is musical.

Turner’s is close to town ( far from sport pitches and classrooms) and has good facilities ( tennis and squash court as well as large garden), rooms and dorms are one of the nicest in school.

College has the best food but it is different there.

Bramston’s has a squash court and strict house master whom many parents like.

Toye’s is regarding as one of the coolest house but not great in term of facilities. Just has a new housemaster who is French and into sport.

Cook’s has a large garden and squash court. It is very close to town (but far from academic areas and sport pitches). It has nice housemaster whom is a biologist.

Chernock’s is close to everything. Next to new sport hall, sanitary and very close to class rooms and nearby sport pitches.

Original poster
Doolittle1 · 11/02/2022 13:21

Thank you Beyondthesea. If anybody else has any insight I would be very grateful. It’s a bit strange how you have to choose the house first before you get to know the school a bit better but not a problem…

OP posts:
Beyondthesea123 · 11/02/2022 15:06

You welcome.

I also mistype it is sanitarium not sanitary.

Jenny12345 · 14/02/2022 14:29

Hi, my son has a offer at Winchester and Abingdon

Any views from anyone would be super helpful

X

Beyondthesea123 · 14/02/2022 15:04

Jenny12345

Winchester and Abingdon are very different types of schools.

Abingdon is a day school with some boarders.
Winchester is a boarding school ( in a very near future they will introduce some day boys/girls).

Winchester is certainly more academic than Abingdon. Boys at Winchester are mostly quirky, academic and intellectual. There are although some sporty boys ( who also has to be intellectual ) but they are minority ( but they are also happy at school).

Abingdon boys are surely more extrovert and sportier than the one at Winchester.

owlinnahat · 14/02/2022 15:06

DH was in College (many years ago) - am I right in thinking it's where the scholarship boys go? Anyway, he loved the school and says that whatever you choose now, odds are after the first term your DS will be sure you made the best possible choice as your House is where your friends are and that'll be what ends up mattering. However, he adds that of he hadn't been in College he'd have liked Chernocke which he thinks is good if you're sporty.

Jenny12345 · 14/02/2022 15:52

Dear 15:04Beyondthesea123

Thankyou for your feedback

My son is a all rounder and definitely a confident boy but I would say quietly confident

On paper GCSE and A levels are very similar for both schools hence the confusion!

Beyondthesea123 · 14/02/2022 18:30

Jenny12345

www.best-schools.co.uk/uk-school-league-tables/list-of-league-tables/boys-boarding-schools

For 2021 the Winchester has done much better than Abingdon in term of academics. Generally it always one of the most academic boarding school in UK ( Abingdon is always for more all rounder). Winchester is also famous for teaching random things that are off syllabus, something that is not in a curriculum but they thing it is interesting.

However if your son is sporty and all round as well as being extrovert than Winchester is may be not the place. It depends how introvert your son is.

if your son is from oversea, Abingdon has not got much borders which mean it could be quite empty at night and during weekend. Radley which is a nearby school in the same will provide a better boarding experience.

Jenny12345 · 15/02/2022 11:11

Thanks for all the feedback

Does Winchester have any day spaces at all?

Beyondthesea123 · 15/02/2022 11:48

Winchester will have a day space next year ( it is the first time they are doing it) but it is not a day school so I think for a day boy Abingdon or Tonbridge are much better.

nolanscrack · 15/02/2022 12:50

How can people with a place at a school not be aware if it has day places..or indeed think Winchester and Abingdon are similar for exam results.

Jenny12345 · 15/02/2022 12:58

I just read something in the news that Winchester would be having day spaces.

I see the GCSE results as very similar but I might be wrong.

nolanscrack · 15/02/2022 13:19

Didnt Winchester contact prospective Parents to inform them of the rather major changes they planned?

Beyondthesea123 · 15/02/2022 13:33

www.best-schools.co.uk/uk-school-league-tables/list-of-league-tables/top-100-schools-by-gcse

This is for GCSEs.

Winchester is surely more academic but not massive different for GCSEs A-A* grade. There are many specialist boys who is brilliant at particular subject but bad in some. Those boys do well in Pre -u and now A levels.

I am sure the school inform parents about major change. It is in websites and school newsletters as well as newspaper

nolanscrack · 15/02/2022 15:10

I was asking if prospective parents have been informed,those people who thought they were getting a boys boarding school but actually are getting a co-ed with day pupils..

Beyondthesea123 · 15/02/2022 21:23

The prospective parents I know told me that they were informed about it by the school. And as I said the news are not as hard to find, it was on newspaper, social media and websites so the prospective parents would know.

Kilimanjaro97 · 17/02/2022 12:56

I am not surprised by this question.

Many overseas parents (particularly in Russia and the Far East) have limited English themselves and rely on recommendations from agents. Agents tend to list the schools in order of outcomes and brand - this school will prepare your child for Oxbridge/Ivy League and is a TOP English school. You can boast about it to your family/friends.

Agents know that however clever the applicant they will not all get in to Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc as these schools want to keep a balanced intake and can afford to be picky on nationality. So they have to spread their bets - hence agents lists which will include eg Eton, Winchester, Abingdon, Malvern, and Woodhouse Grove (or the sort of random combination no UK parent would have). Agents are also influenced by commissions offered by schools.

Wintersbone · 23/02/2022 00:38

I'd argue Abingdon is the stronger school academically. They get very close to the likes of Winchester in terms of results with a very different intake. Winchester is far more selective at intake while Abingdon take a large proportion from state schools. There are no prizes for taking the absolute cream of the crop and getting fabulous results. If Winchester didn't get the results it did then something would be very wrong! I think it's far more impressive to take a broad group of boys and use excellent teaching to get those results. However I wouldn't send a boarder to Abingdon. It's truly a day school with a small international cohort of boarders.

SW1Mummy · 24/02/2022 21:44

@nolanscrack

Didnt Winchester contact prospective Parents to inform them of the rather major changes they planned?
Yes, they did and do send this update to prospective parents.

They update them on all major developments, pretty much every term.

workisnotawolf · 25/02/2022 06:57

@Wintersbone- A levels and GCSEs are easy for the most academic and gifted children. If they are in highly selective schools those schools are not exam factories, rather the opposite. They tend to go very broad extra curricularly (including the very academic societies on offer) and beyond the syllabus into lots of deeper discussions/research.

That is not going to suit a more average child who will need more spoon feeding to get an A or A star. So I wouldn’t be looking at comparing grade results. You need to compare what the children become as 18 year olds and all the other skills, including deeper thinking skills, that they develop. The kids learn from each other too and are very affected by the environment they are in.

Lastoneleft · 02/03/2022 14:55

Thank you for the insight into houses based on experience at the school. Would it be possible to have a pm on one or two mentioned to have a better sense as we are interview for these.

Donotgetmestarted · 02/03/2022 16:14

Hello@Lastoneleft Is your son a real self starter?
The reason I ask is that my DS is at Winchester and loves the school. Unfortunately, he does very little work and his results are mediocre at best. He sat the election and did pretty well but never excelled at any subject in particular.
I feel he would have done much better at a day school, I would have been able to push him to some extent.

At Winchester you have to leave it to the school.
DS and others have fallen through the cracks. He is very well behaved and gets along with everyone.
I think that there is a lot of favouritism but that could just be how I see it. Possibly more effort would have been put in for another family or if he was one of the boys who regularly represents the school in Chemistry , Maths, Debating etc.

He just seems to have gone unnoticed and he's not alone 😟 I never imagined it would be like is, I guess I was just naive.

njshore · 02/03/2022 22:08

@Donotgetmestarted
I completely see what you mean. It's tough for a parent of a boarder of a reasonable bright boy but who is not particularly ambitious or a self-starter and you can't help him.

Donotgetmestarted · 02/03/2022 22:27

Yes @njshore it's very tough.

njshore · 02/03/2022 23:32

@Donotgetmestarted, it's not too late and not outside the realm of possibility that you pull him out and enroll in a day school. You wouldn't be the first. I know a WInchester family whose boy struggled socially at the school and he left after GCSE's (all A's) and enrolled in a top London day school. Look into it.