Winchester college v canford?

[yotty]

My DS1 is pretty bright but not a genius, not sporty, but loves drama. Can't decide whether he would be better off at Winchester, as he is a bit of a quirky character. Or go to canford and know that he would be in the top 30 percent of the year group, so could feel he could excel in something. Anybody got any thoughts/knowledge of these schools.

hi. they are very different schools. Canford is co-ed, Winchester boys, Canford campus based, Winchester in town etc. Canford quite rounded, winchester rigorously intellectual

from my experience Wykehamists are more quirky, always exceedingly polite and "intellectual". i would imagine that if he was likely to get into winchester he would be higher than the top 30% at Canford.

if he has been in the top range at prep school and then finds himself in the lower levels at winchester it can be hard (similar to the transition between being a prefect of a prep school in the June then finding yourself the lowest of the low when starting at 13 in September)whereas being in the top ranges can be easier.

winchester is definitely more "old school" and inevitably produces a different "product" from the newer public schools, especially co-ed.

go and look at both places and get the feel - you will know your child. also try and meet some of the alumni and look at what they are doing with their lives!

good luck

Thanks for your thoughts. I vacillate between all boys and coed. My son is physically small and puberty will probably come quite late. So the advantage of single sex school would be he won't have the issues with who is going out with who in an all boys school. But I worry about the rough and tumble in a very male environment.

from everything i have heard the advantage of the single sex issue at winchester is that a lot of the boys find it easier to concentrate on impressing peers/teachers in lessons rather than impressing the girls!

they get plenty of time to spend with girls both officially and unofficially so there is not the fear that they are locked up and do not know how to speak to girls when they are released.

i would imagine that the physicality is no different in a boys' dorm at a co-ed to a single sex school.

wykehamists seem to prefer mental sparring to physical sparing which has set up those i know for very good careers in law!

If he is quirky and into drama, have you looked at Bedales?

Glad to hear they get some exposure to girls at Winchester. He does like expressing himself verbally! Actually he tends to seek out adult company to have what he calls a chat. This is generally quite a deep and meaningful conversation which could be about current affairs or this weeks question was 'why is it socially acceptable not to go to church on Sunday in this era while it was not 100 or more years ago?' He is 9 years old!

Re Bedales. Like the ethos of school, but worry there would not be enough really bright children to challenge him.

what do his current school say ? I have friends who have been told their sons would not suit Winchester as even though they are bright they are not 'independent thinkers' (whatever that means...) and not quite right for Winchester. also Winchester doesn't play rugby (big deal for some boys!) Canford more real world I think than Winchester - still very elite, academic, traditional.

Have meeting with his headmaster next week. He is so small that avoiding playing rugby will be a blessing in my opinion. Having said that, at the moment he quite likes rugby, but he is in the duffers group, so he doesn't get flattened that often. Probably because he rarely actually gets hold of the ball! Amazingly his PE teacher loves him because he has got a wacky sense of humour.

Winchester boys always look SO scruffy when they wander around.
Not a shirt tail tucked in between them most days.

he will have to play winchester football though at least for first year which can appear slightly more grim than rugby! otherwise they seem rather useful at individual sports.

as i said earlier, try and go and see the schools and see what they feel like - for example canford eat in one dining hall for the whole school whilst winchester the boys eat in their own houses. you might prefer the large scale dining as an opportunity for greater mixing or prefer a smaller less intimidating approach.

he might just find his best friend is going to one particular school and that makes his mind up!

Sorry to slightly hijack but is the gist of this thread that Winchester is the place for exceptionally bright, very academic and also sporty boys?

probably not best for sporty boys which means that those who were not sporty at prep school can probably find things to their level and perhaps enjoy them more.

it is undeniably academic though.

Not too worried about being scruffy. As long as they know to smarten themselves up when it is important, that's fine by me and would probably be a great relief for DS who has no interest in being tidy.

A good point for Winchester - Kings, Westgate and Peter Symonds Sixth form are all (at top sets) academically on a par with Winchester and the kids all mix socially - usually on the Buttercross or in the Cathedral close in the summer!

wykehamists are very intelligent, inquisitive, quirky and individualistic people. however you have to be sure he is bright enough. you don't want him to be seen as a thicko. having said that it is a brilliant place for boys who might just get beaten up for being a bit different in other places.

Canford not at all the same sort of place and I would struggle to see any overlap at all between the type of child who would be happy at Canford and the type who is a natural wykehamist.

Of course you have to look at both schools but if your ds is only 9 I'd say it was completely pointless doing that for at least another 18 months or more ...

Freshmint, I agree 9 is young, but he is in year 5 and Winchester test in year 6, so I am afraid we have to have at least put his name down by the end of this academic year. The registration fee is about £200! I am far too tight to keep writing cheques for that kind of money until I am convinced it is the right place for him. He is at a non selective prep school and is generally in the top 3 or 4 in his year group of 46 kids. It's just hard to tell how brainy that is until you get into a bigger pier group. Also do not live in UK. I have visited several schools including Winchester and canford, but not really in a position to keep revisiting, so it's quite hard.

Let's look at it a different way. Would he survive at Canford as a small, non sporty boy?

Agree with freshmint

Canford not at all the same sort of place and I would struggle to see any overlap at all between the type of child who would be happy at Canford and the type who is a natural wykehamist.

So are you saying that if he is quirky and not sporty then Canford is the wrong place?

Canford is your jack of all trades - if you have a child that can hold their own in the classroom academically, throws themselves into school life - sport, music, drama, and is an all-rounder then Canford is an excellent choice.

If you are academically gifted, question the world around you, as someone else mentioned, enjoy mental sparring, enjoy the company of like minded fellows but don't need to roll around in mud to do so, then Winchester is your school of choice.

Out of these 2 schools.

does that mean that boys have to be quirky to suit Winchester?

No - they have to be academically studious - the two aren't mutally exclusively but often are found together.

My post doesn't make sense - I'm tired - quirky and academically stuious aren't the same thing, but are often traits that are found together.

Can I ask why you've narrowed it down to these 2 already? Esp if you live out the cuontry and maybe geography is quite flexible? Would strongly suggest there are lots of other schools to consider in the same vein. Greshams are v good at the drama and theatre, as are Oundle, both sporty but with a wide variety of sports and prob slightly more academically inclined than Canford. If you do want south / southwest then Sherborne worth a look, and all boys but with a sister school so mixing opportunities. Or Radley, although prob quite sporty. Eton are always good for quirky - if you're happy to consider Winchester then you might manage to consider Eton without the widespread prejudice!

how can you suggest greshams to someone considering winchester?!?! ditto oun dle. unless you live in either norfolk or northants and don't want to travel far there is no reason to go to either!!