Tonbridge School or Winchester College

[Marshmallowtreat]

My DS has been offered a place at Winchester College and Tonbridge School for year 9.
We are finding difficult to make a decision at the moment.

Can any current or recent parents offer advice?
He is currently at a London day school so he will be new to boarding.

Hi everyone, I know this thread is probably long dead but I thought I would add my point of view to the decision making, especially if other prospective parents will look at this in the coming months.

I'm one of 16 day girls who will be joining Wincoll for 2022 Sixth form entry and wanted to enlighten you on how Winchester is planning on integrating us into the school.

There are 3 day boys also joining and they will be following a similar schedule FYI. For the first year 4 of the boarding houses (Furley's, Beloes, Trants and Toyes) are being adapted to be able to contain study spaces for new day pupils. The houses will have 4/5 day pupils each and we will join them for breakfast lunch and dinner everyday, saying for preces till 9:15 at least once a week but we are encouraged to stay to do prep after dinner, though we can leave from 6:30. On Saturdays we do the lessons and then any extra-curricular in the afternoon before going home.

Essentially, they're offering 'everything but the bed', which I fully intend to take up.

I agree that integrating girls into Winchester's sixth form is not a great idea. I think it disrupts the community and changes years of tradition. HOWEVER, I would never turn down the opportunity to attend arguably one of the best schools in the world. My current school (St Swithuns) has a terrible sixth form and my sister was not supported in the slightest. However, my brother is leaving Winchester after his A-Levels this year and has loved it. It is clear to me which is the better option. Giving girls the opportunity to join such an amazing school shouldn't be taken likely. Even schools such as Wycombe Abbey (which I would've applied to if it hadn't been for Winchester), Downe House or Cheltenham ladies cannot offer the same style of education. Even the environment is head and shoulders above other schools.

Furthermore, the girls who have claimed their offers are incredibly bright. 3 day pupils are from state schools (as far as I know) and they are all of a very high calibre. The interview process was rigorous and I have no doubt we match up to the usual standards for entrance considering 90 people applied for sixth form entry, 45 made it to interview stage (after online testing and a personal statement) where we were interviewed in 2/3 a level subjects as well as by a pastoral team and the headmaster and then 20 day pupils accepted offers as well as what I estimate to be 10 boarders.

The number of boarders being admitted is staying the same as the day pupils are obviously not using bedrooms so it is no harder for boys entering for boarding. A girls boarding house is planning on being built ready for 2024 entry, though I doubt this will be the case judging by how long it is taking them to construct the sports centre.

Winchester were also very firm that girls would never be admitted from JP-5th book, only in sixth form.

Most of the boys are happy girls are joining, some aren't but everyone's opinions will change in September.

so yeh, thats basically all I had to say but I hope people have found it useful.

Congratulations@Astras , I have a DD who is considering applying for next year. May I ask what subjects are you planning on taking for A level? What are your plans after Winchester?
Best of luck , it should be a fantastic experience.

No problem@Strawberrysunday46 , I'm planning on taking economics, history and maths, lots of the other girls are planning on taking four but I'm not personally interested in any of the others and have heard how tough it can be to balance four amongst extra-curriculars.

I'm not completely set on any specific courses in the future but am looking at: politics and economics, politics and international relations, law, land economy etc.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the application experience or anything to do with wincoll (lots of experience from my brother's five years) :)

That sounds wonderful @Astras . I think that you have a very bright future ahead. From what I know about Winchester there will be lots of extra curriculars that will play to your interests.

Your post has been very helpful. Best of luck with the remainder of your GCSES.

Hi Nolanscrack - do you know which house(s) at Winchester is going co-ed? Would be good to know as we are considering houses. Thanks.

Thanks Astras - and congratulations on being in the first girls cohort! You mentioned that initially girls will be day students using some of the existing boys boarding houses for prep/dining etc. and then in 2024 girls will have their own dedicated boarding house. Does that mean those existing boys boarding houses will only be temporarily co-ed (i.e. from 2022-2024)? Or will those existing boys boarding houses now become co-ed (with girl day students) forever?

@martjohn For 2022: Furleys (Chernocke's), Trants (Bramstons), Beloes (Kingsgate) and Toye's (Moberly's) are taking girls. At the beginning of 2023 all boarding houses will take day pupils and hopefully by 2024 there will be girls boarding houses

@martjohn I am not 100% sure but I believe that once the girls boarding house is constructed day girls will be affiliated with it instead of the current boys houses instead. I could be wrong though as nothing is confirmed and this may create a divide within the school

@Astras
I hope it works out for you.
I attended the sixth form of a major boys public school - one of only 24 girls in a year of 180 boys.
It was bloody miserable. It’s easy to be lured in by the facilities and teaching that top boys schools offer, especially if you were previously at an uninspiring girls school like most of us had been. However I don’t think it’s the right answer I’m afraid. As a tiny minority, it is phenomenally difficult to be treated equally and have equal opportunities. You probably would have been better off going to Wycombe Abbey. But good luck.

I have a 3rd year at Tonbridge and another going in 2023. He is beyond happy at the school - I can’t sing its praises highly enough.

Have they announced the new Head at Winchester yet? The interviews were a while back but I can’t see an announcement.

The new headmaster will be announced by late July or sometime in August.

Does anyone know why the Big name Girl's school are not taking Boys at sixth form? Why aren't the likes of Wycombe Abbey, CLC,Roedean,Downe House, Benenden et al taking Boys too?

Good point. Does anyone know why this is the case?

The girls schools don't need ds to improve their A levels results etc.

I heard it’s rather likely to be a new headmistress

Girls in boys school increases grades for whole school, not just that girls get good grades but boys suddenly start working harder/smarter. Also girls civilise the boys.

Girls schools don't need that. They just need to stop losing their top girls to boys schools

It is not that simple. Welcoming girls is a strategic decision affecting the ethos of the whole school. WinColl definitely doesn't need a boost in terms of results. This is a welcome rebalance for the 21st century and will certainly please the feminists, who are itching to cancel anything to be done with boys or masculinity. The hated men are not looking to cancel girls, so there is no pressure in that direction.

I disagree. At the end of the day, they are a business who needs good track records of Leavers and exam rankings to attract future students/families. Winchester's results have been less than stellar in any rankings and is regarded as second-tier academically compared to the likes SPGS, Westminster, St Paul's Boys and even Eton now that it is academically selective.

Winchester is still 1st tiers academically. Winchester’s recent results in 2021 is better than St Paul

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

and it is definitely better than Eton. I also checked Westminster and they haven’t updated their results since 2019. SPGS is however always top of their game.

Winchester is always doing very well but not as well as 15 years ago. The only downside is their GCSEs results not the Pre U /Alevels. I realize that not many boys got kick out of the school because they are not performing anymore ( one or may be two a year at most) but the improve results from GCSEs to Pre U/A levels was because many boys are more of a specialists so they are brilliants in some subjects but terrible in others.

Sunday Times Top 150 Independent Schools 2022

Not sure if the link works but Eton came in in 11th place vs. WinColl’s 23rd place in the current rankings. Hope the link works. I don’t know what to make of it. We have offers from both.

The Sunday times’s version considered GCSEs results ( which Winchester somehow not doing that great for years but for the reason I was talking about earlier) together with A levels/ Pre U, they average 2 years results ( I think 2017 and 2018) of pre Covid era with last year results. They calculated that way because they feel that 2019 and 2020 results are not valid and fair to some schools.

if Sunday times use A levels/ Pre U 2019, 2020 and 2021 results and average them out purely Winchester would do much better.

In the previous post I was purely talking about 2021results in which Winchester did better than St Paul and Eton in Alevels/ Pre U ( not GCSEs and not in the way Sunday Times calculated it)

2020 and 2019 A levels/ Pre U results from Winchester were also very decent.

New Head announced!
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/winchester-college-appoints-first-female-head-teacher-9fcxb22v8

www.winchestercollege.org/stories

Winchester has not fallen from Tier 1 when it comes to academic excellence. Let's be guided please. St Paul's girls and boys,Westminster,Eton,Wycombe Abbey, Wincoll and probably Kings are the names that roll off your tongue when discussing Tier 1 schools of Academic excellence.