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Secondary education

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Original poster

As the Tiffin deadline looms, is there a girls SW London grammars / indies thread yet?

969 replies

FlumePlume · 26/08/2018 18:15

I just realised that I need to get the Tiffin Girls form in ASAP, and wondered if anyone else is in the same position? I could do with company in this process!

We’re not yet decided but probably applying to Tiffin, WHS, SPGS, Sutton High and maybe one of PHS / Emanuel / KGS.

OP posts:
Glaciferous · 05/09/2018 12:36

I think roughly half the girls get through to round two, from what people were saying last time. No idea what that means on actual scores!

TheExtraGuineaPig · 05/09/2018 14:27

Thanks Montenuit - we are in Molesey/ Thames Ditton.. not dead set on all girls so I'm going to look at KGS this month. Had forgotten about Radnor House and St Catherine's, will also look at WHS. our state option is Esher High which is pretty good too and still very much a possibility

montenuit · 05/09/2018 14:54

no way is it half the girls getting through to the second round of Tiffin!
Only 400 get through.

They also have an inner catchment and a pupil premium priority too, so if you are outside those you have to score incredibly highly.

Glaciferous · 05/09/2018 16:09

Oh really? I had the impression there were a lot more last year. It's certainly not impossible, though. We are neither pupil premium nor in the inner area and DD got a place.

User19992018 · 05/09/2018 16:38

This reply has been withdrawn

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Jimjam68 · 05/09/2018 17:35

The admissions policy says up to 60 places are allocated to girls living in the inner area. Ranked by 1) looked after children 2) pupil premium 3) resident in inner area. Then they allocate the remaining places (incl any of the 60 not filled) to the designated area

User19992018 · 05/09/2018 20:35

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

Greenleave · 05/09/2018 21:22

Ha! We are in designated area, didnt even know about this at all, just made a big assumption that we are only 3 miles away which means we are within catchment.

Glaciferous · 05/09/2018 21:46

You must be very near me, Greenleave. We are also about three miles away!

Greenleave · 05/09/2018 22:17

I think so as I dont live far from Kew @Glaciferous. How has your daughter journey to Hammersmith been?

Glaciferous · 05/09/2018 22:25

Yes, I am near Kew too.

The journey has been fine. To be honest, it's less stressful for her than the journey to Tiffin or Waldegrave would have been as she goes on the tube so no worries about traffic and buses not arriving. I took her to school on the first day for her induction session and collected her, but she's done the journey alone with no problems at all since then. She likes to text me when she gets to the station and will give me a call to say she's arrived. I collect her from Kew at around 4.30ish when she gets off the tube, as she's tired by then and it just makes life easier. When she gets more used to the demands of the day, I'm hoping she will use her bike to get to and from the station. But this works OK for us now as I work from home so am able to collect her.

Greenleave · 05/09/2018 22:38

Thats great to hear Glaciferous! Hope she will have a great fun time in the new school.

themagicamulet · 05/09/2018 23:33

Dd is at Tiffin & in her cohort about 30% ish got through to stage two. The cut off was about 76% iirc, and was given as a qualifying score not a percentage. Once through that the chances of getting a first round offer were I think around 1 in 3 again. A bit hazy on the detail as it was a while ago. We think it's a fab school and turned down good indie offers for it.

Original poster
FlumePlume · 06/09/2018 06:51

@TheExtraGuineaPig We’re having a ‘do we need to apply for more’ dilemma, too. It’s hard with no advice from school and no tutor. I don’t want to overwhelm dd, but Tiffin, Sutton High and stage 1 WHS and SPGS are all in the autumn term, so adding an exam in Jan hopefully wouldn’t be too much. At the moment it feels like we have three stretch and one back up, which feels a bit risky. Though it’s based on where we have visited and liked the feel of the school.

OP posts:
Original poster
FlumePlume · 09/09/2018 11:21

To those who have done Tiffin in previous years, do you have any practical tips for the Stage 1 day?

From what @Glaciferous said, taking an umbrella sounds like a good start... But does getting there early help, or not? And do the kids need to take a full pencil case, water bottle etc or is it easier if they’re not carrying stuff, as the whole thing is such a scrum. Presumably they can only be in there for a couple of hours, not all day?

OP posts:
montenuit · 09/09/2018 12:02

Just be prepared to queue. You queue down the road, then snake through the car park. Be prepared to be ordered about "walk right around the cone" that sort of thing...
Then once inside the gate the kids go off and have to queue for longer in various playgrounds/zones. So weather dependent be ready to be outside for quite a while standing still.
Picking up is just as bad... I would have canned it if it had been cold and raining!

You get an instruction sheet telling you what to bring but yes a water bottle, snack and clear pencil case with not too much in iirc. They may even have had to just bring a pencil. I can't remember but the instructions were clear.

And yes - you get a morning or afternoon session, not all day.

themagicamulet · 10/09/2018 10:03

You do have to queue up a lot. Best to walk down from the station if you can as there is no parking. They'll send you a letter about a week before with exactly what to bring - water, small snack, pen and pencil in plastic bag if I remember rightly.

Glaciferous · 10/09/2018 11:07

I don't think there's any advantage to getting there early, tbh. There will be lots of waiting around for the kids anyway - it's just either going to be inside or outside! DD preferred being in the queue with me and able to chat than sitting in a hall in silence.

They did send very clear instructions - probably the best organised bit of the whole process!

ChristopherTracy · 11/09/2018 12:09

Well we received our SET email. I cant quite believe that it is next week.

Glaciferous · 11/09/2018 14:20

Best of luck to all of your children!

whenwillsummerend · 12/09/2018 14:11

Yes- good luck to all.
We are a week into Year 7- bit of a rollercoaster- and my top tip (which everyone always says but we all ignore!) is DO NOT underestimate the importance of the journey/commute etc.

Sweetnhappy1 · 12/09/2018 14:31

Whenwillsummerend - what's the commute like for your child? Which school did you go for?

Original poster
FlumePlume · 12/09/2018 20:56

Our preferences are in travel time order (with SPGS as an outlier / nice if we have that decision to make), based largely on that advice.

My own experience of public transport as a teenage girl was that it was usually fine but that inevitably you got groped / harassed / creeped out at times. So best to minimise the time spent on it.

OP posts:
Glaciferous · 12/09/2018 21:06

DD has been finding her journey fine so far. It is about 45 minutes door to door. She meets up with other girls in her year at the station, and also knows a couple of older girls from things like local drama groups. We did a few dry runs during the summer so she felt confident at the start of term and I only went with her once for her induction day. After that she was totally OK on her own. It's so much easier now with mobiles etc as she knows she can call me if she has a problem.

I did the same journey as a teenager and don't remember any harassment, sexual or otherwise, if that helps at all - I think, like DD, we were always in a group so we felt confident and would have stuck up for each other if there had been a problem.

whenwillsummerend · 12/09/2018 21:25

DDs journey also about 40-45 minutes by bus. She's finding it ok as well so far- there are others on the bus. I don't think she talks to them but they are familiar faces should something happen!
I'm already thinking about next DD who is unlikely to go to the same school ( less academic) and journey proving to be an issue although I think it tends to be worse for boys.