Winchester College - Winchester entrance and Election

[Beyondthesea123]

My DS is unexpectedly got an offer from Winchester College. We were not really preparing for this since he is much more of middle of the road kid rather than an academic one. I guess he did interview well. We only applied because our DS ‘s headmaster think his character is suited the school.

I have heard that Winchester entrance and Election are extremely hard. How should My son prepare this?

What the school is liked for someone who will be in a middle to lower quartile academic set while good at sport and having a good inter personal skill. Are there any intellectual hirachy in the school?

Congrats to your ds, he has a school head who knows him well which is a brilliant guide for your preparation. There is a very knowledgable Mumsnet poster called @happygardening who I'm sure will comment in time but your son wouldn't have been offered the place if he isn't academically able to thrive at the school.

Hi before I sat anymore just need to say my DS left in 2016.
If youre correct and DS really is “middle of the road” then you’ll have to decide how he’ll feel if he’s in the middle or more likely lower sets? When DS was there I talked to quite a few parents who felt that their DS’s would have been happier in a slightly less academic environment where they would have been top of the school rather than near bottom and that their DS’s felt under significant pressure to achieve. My DS was considered by the school to be exceptionally good at math but there were a few who were better my DS therefore didn’t think he was that good he wasn’t bothered but some might be. Ditto English (he has dyslexia) he felt he struggled in comparison with some and because of this he “only achieved an A” again he’s not bothered but some might be. Before DS went there I was told by a member of staff that the only “snobbery was intellectual” and I think there is a slight how little work can you do and still achieve top grades culture? I once read that over 2/3rds are in the top 3% if that was true then I doubt that’s changed. Academia is always going to take priority at Winchester (that is its USP) and sport drama was always third/fourth in the schools priorities music coming second. You need to decide how your DS will feel it this sort of environment. Over the years FS was there I heard a few parents moan that there wasn’t much “fun” at the school in comparison with others, I asked my DS he couldn’t see what they were complaining about but having worked in other boarding schools I can see what they mean it didn’t bother me because that’s not what we wanted but I do u sets and what they mean.
With regard to sport there are some top sportsmen there but DS who was particularly good at a particular sport although got a chance to regularly play it at school because of the restrictions applied by the school could get beyond a certain point (with regard to GB league tables) because he just couldn’t get the essential experience for example boys are really not allowed to regularly miss lessons to attend a sporting event. His old coach works at another big name boarding school and said that he regularly takes his tetanus out of lessons to attend competitions. Again we’re not bothered because we didn’t send DS there to get him into the top GB top five for his sport we choose it because we liked the atmosphere there, it offers an broad academic and intellectual education and allows boys to be who they are as one teacher said before we went “we like lone wolves here” and its was full boarding f and liberal with no ridiculous uniform!

Team not tetanus!!!!

Sorry loads of typos am on phone please PM me if you want to know more.

Huge congratulations to your son @Beyondthesea123! It's such a lovely and very different from others school.

My son was offered a place on a reserve list, fingers crossed it will work out. @happygardening I've sent you a PM, and would be very grateful if you could have a look.

Congratulations to your son OP!
My DS just got an offer from Winchester too. He loved the school when we visited and is super bookish. Of all the schools we looked at, its peaceful atmosphere and focus on knowledge for its own sake seemed the most natural fit for him but I have reservations about full boarding. Trying to decide between Win Coll and a couple of day schools so any feedback on the pastoral side of the school would be really helpful.

Thank you for all your kind recommendations and information.

Thank you Gingercat for an encouragement. You give us much more confidence.

Happy gardening, thank you for such an insight information. I think my son will not feel anything if he just stay in a mid or lower set as far as he does not get nagging by his friends or there are intellectual social hirachy between peers. Do different set of boys mix? I am just afraid of the total reverse of other school where the cool guys are the sporty people and bully the non sporty people ( in this case it would be a scholar bullies non scholar with words). My son is very at football ( a few things that give him a confidence), do people in school really care about sport team at all since it is the third priority or do they still recognize good sportsman?
I would like to personally message you if you don’t mind. Thank you so much for your help.

Question time, thank you for your kind message. I am sure your son will get in eventually.

Notmymum, congratulations to your DS! Full boarding is not bad, my son just full board in year six and really love it.

@Beyondthesea123 I could have written your post myself!
We found out that our son has been offered a place at Winchester (2021), subject to scoring well in the entrance exams. He's very bright, but lazy, and I'm not sure he would do well in such an academic environment. He has his heart set on Radley or Eton.
He's got a place at Radley, so we're just waiting on Eton. I think we find out on 7th July, is that right??
Congratulations to everyone !!

I’m sure good sportsmen get some recognition but because it’s very house centric probably not to the level in other schools. I only ever heard comments from my DS or others about the super bright in particular someone who was good at math.
It’s inevitable that boys mix with those they know either in their houses or those they meet in lessons or other activities. But that is how I suspect it is in all schools. Although my DS said of boy in his house he liked him but didn’t know him very well because he wasn’t in any of his classes and he’d made friends with those in his classes who were in other houses. Does that make sense?
We found pastoral care to be outstanding but it’s very HM dependent although my DS noticed staff who he thought didn’t know him approaching him and chatting at times. I saw his HM give him a hug and say how much he cared about him. ButI know someone on here once told a different story. I’m happy to discuss it further if you PM me.

Thanks happygardening I have PM'd you.

Spoon1 Congratulations
Happygardenning, thanks again for answering with details. I will PM you.

Does anyone know how you can prepare your child for election. Schools cover the normal year syllabus but from what I have heard election papers are more like AS papers

In our case our prep school will help us with the preparation if our DS choose to do an election. Our DS might choose to do Winchester entrance exam instead, from what I’ve heard you can get into a good set even if you are doing the normal entrance exam.

DS is currently at WinColl.

He didn’t sit election and is in top (or one of the higher) sets for subjects.

If your child is middle of the road then he will not be doing election! Entrance is like a scholarship to some schools, but very formulaic so you can learn to pass!