Is it worth trying for Tiffin School?

[Nushi21]

My DC is at an Independant primary school in SW London. we just received his CAT4 scores for this term. They are as follows
VR - 112
NVR - 124

I don’t understand this but his last set of CAT4 tests results last academic year was
VR -113
NVR -138

We don’t have any recent scores but his previous scores for attainment were
English - 123
Maths - 108

My question is should we even bother applying for Tiffin School? What are your thoughts on his scores?

I’m quite pissed with the NVR scores in all honesty! Especially for the money we are paying school for this school.

My son has 100% attendance, reads minimum 20 mins a day and has done since he was 6. Always finishes his homework in advance. What are we doing wrong? I’m always encouraging him and he enjoys school. What more can we do?

I don’t understand why you are upset with his NVR scores as they are better than his VR scores.

in cats the bigger the number the higher the ability.

you seem upset he has high scores?

Forgot to mention he is in year 5

I have no idea what the scores mean but he’s in year 5?! Give the kid a break a quick google shows those are fine results. You aren’t paying for high grades…

Money can't buy everything. Ultimately we are all a product of our genetics not just our education.

His score NVR has gone down from 138 to 124 in a year.
The earlier score gave us hope to apply for Tiffin school. This is my question, should we bother applying for Tiffin with the results he has.
There are only a few months before the Tiffin 11+ test.

Well actually the reason for the Independant primary school was for the scores, so yes we are paying for the scores. Isn’t everyone paying for scores that pays sky high prices for primary school? It’s surely not for a decorated classroom.

Book him into mock Tiffin tests and you'll know.
Examberry offers them for example.

That’s not why I’m paying for independent school no. It’s not even in my top three reasons!

Have you spoken to the teacher about the scores?

I mean it’s up to your but that’s really sad

Sure, we can say we are all a product of our education. Both my husband and I are highly educated and so are both our families.
I don’t mind how well my dc does, my frustration is at the scores dipping in a matter of months by 14 marks. If the score was low in both terms, I would not be bringing this up.
We’ve spoken to family members who agree with us on this. The question is have asked is whether we should bother considering Tiffin School with the grades he has.

VR and NVR aren’t taught in schools, surely, unless they are teaching to the 11+ test (and if they do this, it may be early in year 5 to do so).

Are you drilling with Bond books and the like at home?

Give it a go. What have you got to lose?

Just shield your dc from any pressure that you might be feeling.

Why are you so fixated on Tiffin?

The scores are adjusted for age and cohort. It just means others have now caught up and made the marks more competitive. That happens with all growth charts.

Has he done any work on 11 plus prep? Tiffins only assess on Maths and English, not VR and NVR. I would book a mock exam to see where he sits amongst his cohort. There is a familiarisation exam run by the Tiffin PTA or those run by tuition centres such as Examberry and Exam Papers Plus

I assume because it’s free, vs other selective schools which are mostly private. In that area of London Tiffin is really your only state grammar option.

OP it might be worth a go still, you don’t know the cohort, the lower score might be a fluke. Do lots of practice at home, VR and NVR are quite specific skills. What other schools are you likely to consider?

I must say your comment of ‘he has 100% attendance and has read 20 minutes a day since he was 6’ did make me laugh though.

NVR can be trained for to a point but it is more a test of innate ability. Once a person has learned the test format there is not a whole lot more that a school can do.
VR is more a test that can be improved by education. I’m surprised your dc VR is only in the above average range. I would have thought with decent NVR scores and being at an academic prep that their VR, maths and English scores would be much higher. Their maths scores are very average and well beneath the typical Tiffin student.
it is peculiar that the one score you are most concerned about is the one score of no concern for tiffin and also the one least affected by schooling

Our private school didn't even do CAT so no, not everyone is paying for the scores 😂

CAT scores should be more or less consistent, dropping that much looks like some error or something unusual on the test day.

Thanks. He’s under no pressure at all. We’ve got some schools lined up but we all like Tiffin.
He’s practising on Atom and has the practice books .

You’re focusing on VR and NVR but English and maths are probably more important as those are presumably the biggest parts of the exam. I’m not sure if those previous scores would put him in Tiffin range, but your school should be able to tell you.

Most of his classmates have probably been tutored quite a bit this year in the run up to 11+ so that may be why his scores have dropped relative to his cohort. I’m assuming from what you’ve said that he does not have a tutor but has been using Atom and books on his own.

He sounds like a very independent and self-motivated child, and while Tiffin might be a long shot (tbh it is for almost everyone), I’m sure he’ll do well wherever he ends up.

The Maths score you have quoted is far too low. Most boys making superselective grammars in London have very strong maths.

Tiffin don’t test VR and NVR. There’s no way to know whether those scores correlate to a tiffin entrance.
You could book a mock, although we did examberry and it scored DS very low especially for English. He got into tiffin and received the academic prize for English last year, so do take it with a pinch of salt.
There is no secret to a Tiffin place. Just get him fast on atom MCQs and analyse where he’s losing marks.

Can I tell you the things about exam technique we figured out

1. he wasn’t starting quickly, he was taking longer at the beginning meaning needed to rush at the end
2. if he took a long time answering a question he almost always got it wrong so basically if he didn’t pretty much know it then just move on
3. he quite often got the last few questions wrong because he was rushing/panicking at that point. So he stopped ten questions before the end, had a swallow of water, breathed deeply and counted to ten to settle himself then went back in for the last ten questions

Once we’d sorted these things out he was pretty much getting 95% on every test (Atom)

If he knows the content just get him going faster.

if you all like the school, then yes it is worth trying, regardless if he can gets in or not. kids perform up and down all the time, good and bad days.

Tiffin doesn't test NVR or VR does it?

Tiffin is incredibly competitive, your dc has to be not just bright but very bright & perform well on the day. Or you need to be prepared to tutor for hours every week.

I know lots of dc that didn't pass it or the Sutton grammars but got into excellent private schools.