Tiffin vs Wilson's vs Sutton Grammar

[Justarrivedlondon]

My son has passed stage 1 of Tiffin and stage 2 of Wilson's and Sutton Grammar and we are considering which one to put as first choice. Being new to UK, we have limited knowledge, only knowing these are top grammar schools. Tiffin stage 2 is in November and we have no idea as to where my son stands among those that passed Wilson's and Sutton. Both passed quite a lot more this year than last year.

Sutton is slightly closer, about 30 minutes travelling time, while the other 2 I guess about 10-15 minutes more. But we can move over the long term.

Can anyone shed some light as to the main differences between these schools? What factors should I be looking at?

Wilson's is a phenomenal school. When I read on here people's perceptions of grammar schools being that the focus is purely on academics and results, etc, it's not something I recognize at all. There is so much on offer as extracurriculars and the pastoral care and work that goes into guiding the boys to being good people is very impressive. The SLT is wonderful and so human in their approach.

I know people happy with SGS too and I'm sure you'll find parents who rave about Tiffins. You can't really go wrong.

What are your DS's interests? When we were in your position, it was the school's strengths aligning with our son's (music, chess, football) that helped us make the choice.

On music, they have just built a new music building and Year 7s all have tuition in a new instrument or voice, with many of them continuing through the school.

I would go with the easiest journey, they are all great schools. Don't over think it!

They're all much of a muchness.

Wilson's is probably the nearest thing to an outlier amongst the three - it's not different as such, just the most 'extreme' version of a boys' grammar school in that part of the world.

The obvious example is that there's I suppose a self-reinforcing thing among the intake, whereby the school has become very very STEM focused. You might see this as a good [in terms of 'vocational' focus] or bad [in terms of breadth] thing.

e.g. at A level nationally traditional mainstream 'arts' subjects like english lit, history, and art/design are let's say around three or so times as popular as further maths.

at Tiffin or SGS those subjects are around half as popular as further maths.

at Wilson's they have about one quarter of the popularity.

Do you mean Wilson's is much more stem/math focused?

What about the competitiveness culture? Exam factory? Stress level etc? I mean comparing these schools.

I know the academic ranking of the 3 from various websites, FT, etc. But is the difference that significant?

My boy is not sportive. He likes sports but couldn't play well in any. Which one suits him better?

Would the culture in Wilson's means that most boys would unlikely to take on humanity subjects in University applications?

I think they're all competitive schools, think about how hard it is to get in!

More boys (and their parents) favour the STEM subjects, but this isn't pushed by the school. The school sends a clear message to parents to let the boys choose what they enjoy at GCSE and beyond. Boys do choose the other subjects, just not as many. Their Oxbridge offers last year included 3 geography, 3 history, 1 English, 2 music, 1 modern and medieval languages... As well as the STEM subjects.

My DS is doing GCSEs now and his favourite subjects are currently Music, English and Geography, although he is strong in and really enjoys the STEM subjects too.

I would ignore the rankings. If nothing in particular calls to your son about any of the schools, choose the best journey for him so he can make the most of what the schools have to offer.

The sports question is hard to answer, I'm not sure what you're after. Wilson's has more kids to put into teams and and more room to do sports onsite than the other two. All three are really about academics first, other stuff second. I suppose Sutton might have the smallest number of kids who are really into sports?