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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Tiffin stage 1

42 replies

buggybored · 19/10/2015 19:13

Hi, DS got 196/ cut-off mark for invite to stage 2 was apparently 218. Just wondering if anyone knew if he was miles off or a credible effort (no multiple choice prep as we did it more to see if he was alright with the whole exam scenario!). Any ideas?

OP posts:

lilybetsy · 23/10/2015 11:26

ok, sorry. Its not I think the children are a problem or that EAFL is a 'problem' is more that many children speaking other languages might lead to kids who cant speak that language being marginalised ?

Anyway, thats not my main concern; my main anxiety is a) class size b) pressure on the kids c) I have heard that there is not a lot of pastroral support d) prioritisation of academic success above all other educational goals e) narrow curriculum becaue of d

any thoughts ?

Zhabr · 23/10/2015 14:58

Marginalised?! All children speak English at school. At that point several years ago my main concern was if my DC will get into the school or not.

Strix · 26/10/2015 09:44

Does anyone know how the next tests will be scored / weighted. I believe there are three tests (Writing, Comprehension, Maths), do they have equal weight?

Waitingandhoping2015 · 27/10/2015 16:44

The only info is on the website and in anything else received from the school. TS hasn't done this style of tests before.

Arsp · 27/10/2015 17:56

My son has passed tiffin first exam . Any one got private schools English and maths papers answers.

Waitingandhoping2015 · 27/10/2015 21:21

Which private schools? A tutor will usually provide you with model answers as ours did last year.

Arsp · 27/10/2015 21:34

Any independent school entrance exam papers. U can find lots of independent schools paper but some of them don't have answers .

Waitingandhoping2015 · 28/10/2015 08:35

The maths ones are pretty easy to work out. They don't have answers for English mainly because it is too subjective for inference questions, there is more than one right answer and variants within those.

DaffyDodo · 18/03/2016 00:31

Waitingandhoping you just sound racist. If the children are able to get into the school then their English is of a high standard - certainly not one that will impact negatively on others around them. As tiggytape says, the term you are struggling to find is 'bilingual'.

Also don't see why it's relevant that 'hardly a white face to be seen' at break time. Is the race of the children that go to the school of your child a big consideration for most people? Ds is mixed race, he is one of three mixed race children at his school of 400. The race of the children at his secondary school will not be a consideration for us.

Itsneverlate · 18/03/2016 12:50

My concern is that if my DC will get into Tiffin, won't he/she be socially excluded because of the different culture (continental european)? So I hesitate if we should apply.

1mum2boys · 19/03/2016 19:31

Happy to have found this post as just today we have decided to turn down Tiffin in favour of Hampton. We were very surprised that my son was offered a place as we had only started preparing him for exams at the end of June 2015. He took some group lessons, 3 one to one English session and one mock exam. That was all. No drilling, no pressure. Although he is born and brought up in the UK, we are both Eastern Europeans and therefore he would be considered as with English second language. It takes a bright child, a high degree of determination, reasonable and consistent amount of work, support from parents and exposure to challenging Maths / English questions. My son's scores were 232 in first stage and 203 in stage 2. I do not know where he would be as compared to the others. We initially accepted the offer , went back to see the school and without being racists, it is obvious what the majority is made up of. They all deserve respect, though, both the children and their parents.

Greenleave · 20/03/2016 12:51

Some comments here really make me sick

whatwouldrondo · 20/03/2016 17:47

The issue at the Tiffins is not about race, it is about a culture of intensive tutoring both to get in and once there. I know parents there who have kept up a sort of boot camp for their twins Since they were 7 to get them into Tiffin and medicine, home from school and it is on to specialist tutors to help them at every stage even filling out their personal statement on their UCAS form (which we were told by DDs school was an absolute no no but seems to have worked) and they are part of a network of parents embarked on similar projects. The proportion of BME pupils in the school compared to the local community, around 70% compared to just under 50% in other Kingston secondaries is a result of that culture not the problem, in fact the number with EAL at the boys school is about the average for the boys school, a little higher at the girls school but then being bilingual has lots of benefits www.kingston.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/324/jsna_core_data_set_201314.pdf The previous testing regime didn't help with predictable reasoning tests spawning a specialist tutoring industry, hopefully the new tests are actually focusing on ability. I would sympathise with parents who do not feel comfortable with that culture and do not want their child to be in that sort of hothouse atmosphere,why my DD did not want to go there vehemently, but not with parents who bring skin colour into it or other cultural issues into it.

Strix · 20/03/2016 22:00

I would just like to say that my blond(ish) blue eyed white boy has been accepted to Tiffin. And I am absolutely delighted. I accepted the place immediately and without reservation. I know a couple of people who got into Tiffin (not this year) who ran off to pay for Hampton because the didn't like the racial make up. I was and am appalled. If Hampton is a place where white people go to flee exposure to other cultures/races then that's not a place I want my DS to hang out. I am so proud of DS for getting a place at Tiffin. And as a white British/American family, I can't wait to be a part of Tiffin myself. We are so fortunate to have this opportunity. If all the people getting into Tiffin are Asian, then perhaps the white population has something to learn from them... (like an honourable work ethic).

whatwouldrondo · 20/03/2016 22:25

Well if they did flee to Hampton to escape other races and cultures then they wouldn't have had their eyes and ears open when they visited since the proportion of pupils from other cultures and races is high at LEH and Hampton too, far higher than in the state school next door. However very few are being tutored outside school.

whatwouldrondo · 20/03/2016 22:26

And of course the tutoring culture is far from restricted to any one culture or race.

Vietnammark · 23/03/2016 19:09

No experience of Tiffin, but lots of experience with teaching foreign languages and have a son whose dominant language used to be one other than English.

I suspect many of the Asians referred to in this thread have a "mother tongue" other than English, but as they have passed this exam I assume that the majority would have been studying in English and therefore their "dominant language" is probably English.

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