Winchester College Sixth form entrance

[eduneering]

Dear Mums.

A boy is sitting the Sixth form entrance exam in WinCol. He's currently in a day inde school and has been doing good. Previous papers are available, but simply doesn't know how deep knowledge the WinCol expect, especially in subjects with essays. Are they generally within secondary schools' curriculum? All I could say is to read newspapers for the current issues in the world.

Suggestions or experience would be appreciated.

personally I'd opt for Peter Symonds!

I went to Peter Symonds and would say the same!

I've got the similar impression to PS.

The parents are looking for termly bording school as they plan to work abroad. At their DS's age, it'd be ackward to move together.

Board at PS
www.psc.ac.uk/sfc/boarding/
they are the 6th form college for the Falkland Islands after all !

Rubbish friend DS is at Winchester College when I hear what goes on there Im so impressed so much better than what PS offer.

You are right,
PS is a crap choice for those who have a spare £31,350 after tax per year

academically and sports wise I suspect there is not much between them in the upper sets at PS

Just looked at the two websites (freely available to all who can be bothered to look) Winchester College results are significantly better than PS. The OP obviously does have the money or she wouldn't be asking about it.

highly selective will ALWAYS have a better average than less so
but whether they actually get better results out of the bright kids is moot point
and darned hard to test in the UK

My friend says Winchester offers so much more than exams when she tells me what her DS does it makes my independent school look positively mediocre.

such as?
my nephew is at Winchester and friends of mine teach at PS

With more than 50% getting A or A* in the much harder Pre U and nearly 40% going on to Oxbridge I think it safely be said that Winchester is "getting better results out of the bright kids".

The things that winchester offer is a very high standard of pastoral care related to its house system, the house masters have loads of autonomy right down to the menu, and take their responsibilities very seriously. As I understand the boys spend most of their time in the house only going to the school for lessons. The staffing ratios in the houses are much better than others I know of. Secondly Winchester only do the Pre U which is as far as I understand much more appropriate for the really academic. Thirdly Winchester do this thing called "Div" a daily lesson with no examination just discussing and learning subjects that interest the boys. Fourthly there are loads and loads, I think my friend said nearly of 100, extra curricular activities there is something for everyone and then regular plays concerts speakers I've been to a couple of plays this term they were fantastic. Finally the facilities are amazing for example the school has its own observatory and the environment is just stunning.

Appreciate for various opinions about WinCol. As many seem to have real experience there, it'd be grateful if you can share information about sixth form entrance or boys joins for the last two years. Are they mingle well with the existing boys wrt classes and house?

Win Coll is very house centric and obviously most of the boys have been together since year 9. I suspect it?s not easy to start three years later but this would apply to any school state or private.
I don?t know "how deep knowledge the Win Coll expect, especially in subjects with essays" is at that age but certainly for many subjects the boys will be significantly ahead of their counterparts in both the state sector and in many independent schools. The school places a lot of importance on literacy and writing skills.
It is a wonderful school providing an outstanding education fantastic dons (teachers) who really care about the boys I acknowledge it?s not suited everyone but for those it works for it cannot be beaten.

many many years ago I had a boyfriend who went to WinColl for sixth form from a comprehensive. He seemed very well-integrated and happy

It's been a while left this thread alone. My interest were,

1. some hands-on information about the sixth form entrance exam. Any perparation helps at all, such as tutoring, etc? Or, is it going to be like IQ test?

1. how it is gonna be like joining the last 2 year in 5-year long school. Obviously, majority would have known each other last 3 years, let alone prep school experience. I guess fair number of sixth form applicants may likely not have any of these, plus new to any bit of WinCol life. Also, would they been genuinely treated as one of them later on?

I was told that this year competition is like 20-ish invited applicants for 10 boys. Sounds feasible, but WinCol may not entirely rely on exams results.

Questions the college could probably answer for you ...
Are the ten spread around the houses or are they in pairs so that they are not the new boy on his own?
How many come from other boarding and from day (or even state)?

Winchester is a very sociable town - the PS and College students mix a fair bit - especially hanging around college green of a sunny Saturday afternoon when I am in a hurry!

I'll ask one of my yoga buddies tomorrow as her son went there and she used to live in Winchester

From my recent reading of MNet, I have come up with the following league table of schools (according to some): Winchester 1st, Eton and Westminster 2nd, Maybe St Paul's, NLCS, Habs next (fist mention of schools which take girls). Then an assortment of also runs. Charterhouse and Bedales both have people laughing in derision. State school, might be okay if its a Grammar (preferrably super selective), surely child abuse if it's a Comp?

My DC are at a State Comp, and even when I thought about private schools, we didn't really consider any of those listed.

mummyyime whats your posting got to do with the OP? Or the questions raised by enduneering yesterday?

Sorry gotpostedtothe wrong Winchester college thread, and I don't know how!

TalkinPeace2 - Much information for 13+ entrance is available in MN, but not for sixth form entrance. Let alone how they're getting on with the new environment for next two years. I only have a friend of mine, whose son went for sixth from in WinCol but failed about 10 years ago. He was one of the best in his state secondary. Looking back, he could have been lack of kinda attitude and extracurricula experience, such as sports and music, that WinCol would have weighed equally as his academic ability.

eduneering - fair point. Have you asked the college?
with PSC and its boarders, central Winchester is rather overendowed with displaced motivated A level students
I know that the rest of WC is very house centred but for 6th form only it may be less of an issue so long as he finds the Buttercross quickly!

I forgot to ask my friend - we were too busy doing headstands - I'll try to remember on Friday.

I understand from my DS that Win Coll is house centric for all age groups. I think you'll find that extra curricular activities etc don't weigh equally with academic ability but boys will be expected to offer both.

For entry to sixth form it's not just enough to be top of your year group. The child needs to be markedly way above his peers, probably sat the senior maths challenges (if offering maths), pursued academic activities outside of school and have an exceptionally high IQ. It is a risk for a school like Win Coll to take a child into the sixth form who may not cope and bring down the A'level grades. They will be looking for a child who would have won an Election at thirteen had they applied then.

What a lot of twaddle.

Winchester College pupils are mostly not exceptional at all: they are all taken from the top quartile of MidYis scores which is broadly the same standard of cohort cut-off as a bog standard grammar school.

do a control f on this document and put in MidYis