Winchester vs Harrow vs Tonbridge

[confused42]

My son has recently just received offers from all three of the above schools for admission into the Sixth Form. From Harrow and Tonbridge, he received Academic Scholarships.

My son is quite academic but is willing to play and enjoys playing sports. He is particularly interested in Chess, Debating, Tennis, and Football.

Could anyone please provide some input as to how to make a decision and what schools they would personally rank?

isn't Winchester notoriously unsporty?
as it's for 6th form, you should probably speak to the departments he's likely to be taking A levels in, and find out what their university entrance stats have been for related subjects?
An academic scholarship from Harrow sounds like the cream of the crop - congratulations to your son

Winchester only offers the harder Pre U (some of the boys moan about it). Sport is never going to be big at Winchester academia will always take priority.
Winchester is very big on debating at least it was when DS2 was there lots of prizes including international ones. Also the boys have daily DIV lessons where subjects chosen by the DIV don (so could be anything) are debated and Wykehamists do love a good debate.

Winchester is very civilised the atmosphere that pervades is quite unique (Ive worked in other full boarding schools) but its not to everyones taste. If you want traditional some might say undated uniform then Harrow is a better choice if you went weekly boarding then Tonbridge both are more sporty than Winchester or if you need lots of parental involvement again don't choose Winchester. At Winchester your house those who live with you and your HM are everything. Ive heard parents say that their DS found it hard starting in the 5th form to make friends as existing friendships have already been very well established but obviously this doesn't apply to all.
Can you go back and meet your DS's prospective HM and talk to some of the boys in the house to get a feel for it? Lunch in the house s a good way of meeting people informally then you'll get a good idea if its for your DS.

Confused I can't help you with your decision but if you decide on Tonbridge, please get in touch as my son will start in the sixth form in 2019 too.

There is no right or wrong. You need to get a feel for each school.

Your DS is obviously academically very capable.

For what it is worth, one international parent and their DS who moved to Winchester for the sixth form (as parents were n’t in UK then) told me that he had an unforgettable time at Winchester, the highlight of his school years. They thought this was a result of the Winchester full boarding environment, combined with a liberating education, broad culture and the other sixth formers. This boy had previously attended a rather well know school in central London also starting with W.

They were certainly very enthusiastic!

Thank you all for the kind responses. They have all been useful in helping us make this tough decision. I have asked for the the thread to be deleted as, on reflection, I felt uncomfortable about the amount of information disclosed here. Thank you once again.