Grammar schools: Kingston and Sutton areas

[Mintmallow88]

Hi, I am looking for advice on Tiffin boys, Sutton Grammar, Wallington and Wilson’s. Anyone have any experiences or knowledge of these schools? We have been to open evenings but finding it hard to choose. My DS prefers English over maths, and I find most schools tend to lean towards the sciences for boys. He is also not into sports. Any thoughts on which school/s would suit him?

A client of mine's son started Y7 at Wilson's and he found it incredibly unforgiving. The attitude at the parents meeting seemed to be "your child will be miserable and cry, and if you don't like it, sod off because we have a huge waiting list"

That was around 4 years ago, though. Kid moved elsewhere (into a Surrey non selective) and was much happier.

I have two sons at Wilson's and have been to many open evenings, parents' evenings, parents' information evenings and MrsBertBibby's description is absolutely not the school's attitude. It's a lovely school and they put a lot of emphasis on extra-curricular activities. It's not the crazy hot house people think it is.

OP, all the boys' schools go on about sports at open evenings, because they think all boys love sports. I have two non-sporty sons at Wilson's. They do the PE and games they have to do and there is no pressure to do any extra.

DS1's good friend goes to Tiffin. He loves it. It is very science strong - I think most boys' schools are, but it has great drama art and music departments, so I think the balance is there if you seek it.

Thank you KeepingTheWormsQuiet and OneStepMoreFun. That’s good to know.

I would be careful about putting a child who is more focused on humanities subjects into a school that's very STEM oriented. And saying this with experience of one of the above schools. Our DS is really only flourishing now that he's in the sixth form (he's not a scientist for sure). I don't think we could fault the school per se but if we had our time again we would probably have sent him elsewhere, knowing that his natural abilities didn't lie with sciences and maths.

Thanks for your comments NewModelArmyMayhem18. Yes, this is what makes it difficult because it’s not just grammar schools that tend to focus on science and maths for the boys, but also comprehensives. If a boy is more interested in the humanities then what school would suit him? Do schools not cater for those boys as much? There are schools that specialise in the arts/performing arts, but none that say they specialise in humanities. Is it just the case that they have some specialism in a certain area?...but doesn’t mean they don’t cater for everyone?

I think of the ones you've mentioned Wally Boys is probably less STEM oriented than the others. I do think there are comprehensives that are humanities specialists (Overton Grange is one I can think of in the locale) too but get what you're saying. DS was not brilliant at the three sciences and frankly doing triple science was a millstone around his neck and took up way too much of his revision time for GCSEs given that he clearly wasn't going to continue studying any one of them. I just think that in some ways he's been marginalised for not being a science/maths hotshot and that has dented his confidence, even though he's much more in his element (and doing so much better academically) for his A Levels (at the same school).

In an ideal school, they should cater for whatever the child would like to be. In the same way STEM subjects are being encouraged for girls these days, then there shouldn’t be the assumption that all boys are into the sciences and maths.

That’s great he is more in his element at A levels, NewModelArmyMayhem18, but a shame your son lost confidence in his GCSE years.