Tiffin boys year 7 , 2025

[Shahriz]

Hi
My son is in a state primary in year 4. Now when year 4 is ending (well almost) we have started thinking of preparing him for Tiffin boys. Anyone else on the same journey ?
Don't know if there is already such a thread . If so please guide me. Otherwise let's navigate this journey together.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Best wishes

Hi @Shahriz , my DS has just got a place at Tiffin to start in September. I’d didn’t find much in the way of support/interaction from other parents online. Let me know if you have any questions though. Bedr of luck to your DS

Congratulations to your DS and thankyou for replying. Did you hire a private tutor or home tutored him
?At the moment I'm thinking to start working with my son on my own.
Can you guide me about the vocabulary list ? Where to get the vocabulary list from that will best suit for Tiffin prep?
Thankyou.
Once again well done to youe DS. Wish him a great start in September.

I didn’t do vocab list or anything. Just made sure he read every day before bed and kept him supplied with good books! I did find a reading list for 11+ and he read Animal Farm but then I forgot about it.
He had a tutor for an hour a week from about mid Oct in yr 5. Every week she also gave him a paper (either English or Maths) to do and some vocab. Then from about March he knew all the concepts and then it was just doing lots and lots of papers from different schools. From then he had a maths and an English paper to do every week.
In around June he sat a mock with the tutor at her house. Didn’t do great.
I booked him a couple of physical mocks with a company called examberry. Again, he did OK but not great. Felt a bit downhearted.
Over the summer after our holiday he started doing Atom learning. Just the MCQs for stage 1 Tiffin, which really helped us iron out exam technique and eliminate most of the silly mistakes. He also still did the tutoring but didn’t do her homework for about four weeks whilst we just did MCQs on Atom.
Sat Tiffin and Sutton tests and passed both stage 1. We then stopped Atom Learning and went back to doing long form practice papers.

In the end the English paper was nothing like what he’d been practicing!

I don’t think there’s any sort of secret to it really. Just make sure he reads plenty and widely. Get your exam technique sorted and make sure he’s happy producing long pieces of creative writing. I was much more comfortable outsourcing the whole thing to a tutor tbh and at times I think I tried to micro manage the situation but she had it in hand. It’s just learn the concepts and practice doing them with past papers and read a lot. That’s it.

@FlamingoSocks that's really helpful. Can I ask where you found your tutor?

Thankyou so much for a detailed response. It's really helpful. Did you get the tutor through an agency or personal recommendation ? All the tutors I have been recommended are charging £100 per hour.
Is it a norm for Tiffin preparation?
Thanks

I found her on one of the sites like Tutorfair/First Tutor or similar, she charged £35 an hour face to face and she came to us. I don’t think I can recommend her as I think MN will delete thread if I do! But make sure your tutor covers maths and English (all you need for Tiffin)
as the first guy I spoke to I understood was going to prep for 11+ but at the last minute I realised he only did Maths. Again you just need someone who can teach the concepts and has a really good library of past papers I think. Exam technique is really something you can nail down using Atom in the last few weeks.

much appreciated

Thanks. 👍👍👍

Anyone knows how many maths sets in the Tiffin 2 or 4

@Zadiebyname can you clarify the question?

I think @Zadiebyname should be more conerned with how many Ennglish sets there are. 😁

However, I assume they mean:
"How many maths sets are there at Tiffin? Is it two, or four?"

I assume they create sets according to the needs of the cohort, so the answer may be different depending on the year group. Can anyone confirm?

I do know that there are plenty of opportunities for gifted mathematicians.

may I please ask which provider did you use for practice papers? EPP?

It is better to use Atom Learning online as it helps with speed. And a lot during those exams is about speed. Plus get a tutor. Groups have advantages - motivation and competition. But also 1:1 option has strenghts. Please look at Mrs Burgess 11+ online
Consider Wilsons and other schools in that area and not only Tiffin that past its best times

@JustWingItLifeEyelinerEverything agree with you about Atom learning. Interesting you say Tiffin is past its best times. I would argue they have a lot to prove given their recent down grading with Ofsted. So could be better times are on the horizon? But yes definitely agree that people should consider other schools that are just as good if not better.

"not only Tiffin that past its best times"

I think this is partially due to Tiffin introduced its 10km inner catchment few years ago. So a lot of parents that obessed with superselective admission rank by score will go to other South London schools instead. This should be reflect in the league table soon. But it probably doesn't matter to the right boy that fits in though.

@12345change

would argue they have a lot to prove given their recent down grading with Ofsted. So could be better times are on the horizon?

That is a very nice way of putting it. Positive thinking:)

may I please ask which provider did you use for practice papers? EPP?

@FlamingoSocks do you mind my asking which practice paper/mock papers dud you do? EPP?

We had a tutor who had loads of papers and DS worked through about one a week.

They were mainly mocks/past papers from independent schools.

Hi is Atom Learning specifically for grammer schools or can be used for 11+ for private schools in London as well?