Tiffin Boys Sixth Form - Heads Up please

[damepeanutbutter]

DS wants to apply for 6th Form at Tiffin Boys. We live a distance away and will go to the Open Day in October. He is currently at a co-ed school and I am wondering what an all male environment would be like. Is it very competitive (not to get into but between the boys themselves when there) in an unpleasant way? Is there a lot of bullying? Some friends with sons at private all-boys' schools complain about the alpha male thing.

Also what is it strong at and not so strong at (Sciences? Languages? Art?)

Thanks for any advice offered!

Sorry, no advice at all to offer but I'm interested in this as well. Ds is also at a mixed secondary and very happy but recently he has been wondering whether he should go elsewhere for sixth form. He actually scored high enough for a place at Tiffin for yr 7 but it was our second choice and he also got a place where he is now which was much closer to home and altogether a better option at the time. However, ds is very academic, wants to do medicine and says he often finds himself wondering if he should have gone to Tiffin. I think he is better off in a mixed environment and should stay where he is but I think he worries he would achieve more at Tiffin. My worry is that he would lose out socially and get very bogged down in studying.

It would be great if someone could give us an idea what it is like for sixth form. Ds would not be happy in a very competitive environment but he is happy to work hard.

I don't know the school at all and this is hugely anecdotal, but a friend's son went there from a mixed community comp and hated it. He'd left within a week mostly for the reasons you're worried about. He's a sociable kid, great at sports so you'd have thought he'd have fitted in lots of ways. Also he really wanted to go there, so it was very much his choice.

smee thank you for your comment. Are you saying that the boys are very competitive (even at Sixth Form level where you would hope they would have matured by then) and that there is unpleasantness and lots of Alpha Male behaviour?

One of my Ds's moved to Tiffin Sixth Form from a co-ed, non-selective school - my experience is recent.

To be honest it wasn't at all what he expected - they take in very high achieving boys from elsewhere but not all of the boys who have been there from Y7 are bright so he was easily able to hold his own academically.

He has not found it particularly competitive - most boys do want to do well but not in a nasty, putting-everyone-else-down sort of way. I'm not aware of any bullying - not every boy is a paragon, of course, and there is some bad behaviour just as at any other school.

The school is very Maths/Science heavy - the vast majority of the year group (about 75%) took A-level Maths and many do the sciences. Classes for humanities/languages etc tend to be smaller but Latin is popular.

Maths teaching overall is very good although there is one teacher every boy despises as that teacher is useless. Physics teaching is generally weaker than the other sciences. I can't comment on any of the humanities subjects I'm afraid.

The current headteacher is highly respected but she is leaving at the end of term. She is being replaced by the Deputy Head which will be good for continuity.

At some point they will (hopefully) demolish the horrible shed-like thing which serves as the dining hall - the food is rubbish, though, so some boys like to wander off to the joys of Kingston's cafes.

If your ds will be travelling far it is worth knowing that in U6th they can come into school at 10.10am rather than 8.30am if they have no earlier lessons.

Hope this helps.

A couple more things spring to mind:

• notcrossatall, tons of Tiffin boys apply for medicine so the school is very good at preparing the boys but there are no guarantees, of course.
• the school culls at the end of L6th so bear that in mind.

Raidne - thank you so much - great feedback. Shame my son wants to do Physics! Is Deputy Head respected too? Also what do you mean by 'the school culls at the end of L6th'? Do they ask boys to leave mid A2 courses?

damepeanutbutter, not all of the Physics teachers are poor but they are not quite of the calibre of the Chemistry teachers, for example. Ds had poor Physics teachers in his old school too!!

Re "culling", boys have to get certain grades to be allowed to continue into U6th - in ds's year they had to get Cs in any subject they wanted to take to A2 - that may be different in the future but the school is completely upfront about it and other schools do the same thing. Ds said that about 20 boys didn't return for U6th in his year. The school did allow one boy to return with lower grades because he had been ill in L6th so they aren't completely ruthless!

The Deputy Head is liked and respected - it is a relief to many parents that he will be the new head.

Lots of the boy mock the pupils' sporting abilities (or lack of them ). Technically they are supposed to do some sort of sport in Sixth Form on Wednesday afternoons but no-one checks if they aren't in teams - lots just go home!

At Open Evening ask if they are still doing Tiffin Tuesdays for L6th (definitely ask a pupil) - the boys hate them. They are joint activities with Tiffin Girls which take on the appearance of some sort of torture for most of the boys.

Overall, it is a good school but no school is perfect.

dame, my friend's son said he felt like an outsider who would have to prove his worth rather than be welcomed. He also didn't like the sense that they all thought their school was far better than his old one. He may well have just met the wrong boys though. It was 3 years ago now.

In fairness, smee, if your friend's ds stayed at the school for less than a week, I'm not surprised he felt like an outsider!

Saying that, of course he may have met some unpleasant boys and, no doubt, he missed his old friends.

Ds did not feel the need to prove himself. Luckily no-one had heard of his old school but the boys do have views on other local schools.

I hope the boy was happy at his old school.

Raidne, yes I agree that's why I said it's purely anecdotal and that he might just have met the wrong boys. Having said that he's a very tuned on sociable lad, so not normally a square peg. After a bit of a panic he got into a local sixth form college and had a great time, then went to a top Uni with all A*'s.

I can't comment on Tiffin specifically but, as an employer, I've found children who attend single sex schools leave totally unprepared for the modern, egalitarian, workplace.

Another problem we're finding now is that some schools are treating sixth formers (years 12 & 13) like much younger students. We need young people able to "think outside the box" and not be constrained by outdated conventions. Until fairly recently, a couple of years in the more liberal setting of sixth form was sufficient to free their minds. That's no longer true, they are leaving sixth form believing the (now often unlawful) practices of the past are still acceptable in the modern workplace.

Sixth form colleges and some schools are fine but the "rogue" schools are making things very difficult for both their students and potential employers.

Wow, well done to him smee, he is obviously a boy who will go far!!

Raidne - I wonder what they will do now that AS levels are no longer around? This year is the last year to take them. How will they 'cull' then? Very difficult for a boy to then find a school to take him into U6th and do the same exam board in each subject to complete his A2s. Wowee!

But thank you for your very fair feedback. My boy isn't sporty so he'll be the one skiving off on Wednesdays! Tuesdays sound mortifying!

That's no longer true, they are leaving sixth form believing the (now often unlawful) practices of the past are still acceptable in the modern workplace.

What sort of (unlawful) practices are they being taught at single sex schools?

I think there is an argument that sixth formers are being treated as less mature than they used to be.

What sort of (unlawful) practices are they being taught at single sex schools?

My observation relates to co-educational schools.

Single sex schools can lead young people to believe the other sex is inferior and give the impression that men and women cannot work together as equals.

Some, what I call rogue, schools attempt to give young people the same impression by deliberate sex discrimination. As you probably know, sex discrimination is unlawful but the students can come to see it as acceptable. In the work place, that can cause very serious problems for their employers.

We should also question whether schools that practice any unlawful acts are really suitable places to entrust our children to. The attitude of their teachers towards the law must surely rub off on them, leading them to have the same lack of respect.

I think there is an argument that sixth formers are being treated as less mature than they used to be.

I'm sure that's true. Now sixth form is not really optional, some schools are abusing their power and treating sixth formers as young children.