Where in London is the best place to live for grammar options (boys and girls) and good state school fall back options.

[TuttleTree]

Please help! We are house hunting and torn between London and Chelmsford. Ideally, we would like to stay in London for work, travel, culture, things going on. Etc etc all the usual. However fully aware that as kids are involved we have to prioritise in the right way.

We live in East London at the moment and have great grammar options but not good state options. Feel like with Chelmsford there might be some good state back ups there? But before we do anything drastic and leave the big smoke, wondering where else in London we could go that have the option of both.

I know she also has a girl but surely it would be odd to move somewhere to be in catchment for Tiffin girls but not Tiffin?

I don't know about Tiffin Boys but was only pointing that out about Tiffin Girls because someone seemed to think it was about 15 miles away from Ealing and it isn't.

@TuttleTree I have only skim read the thread, but Twickenham/Teddington/Richmond/Ham are in the Tiffin catchment while having very good state schools. I saw Turing House was mentioned, but also look at Waldegrave, Teddington, Orleans Park, Christs, Grey Court, and The Kingston Academy. I'd be happy with any of them. There's Esher College too, for 16+, and the grammar schools take in a lot of externals for sixth form - Tiffin sixth form is mixed.

I know the discussion has focused mostly on London schools, but I wanted to mention that if looking at Chelmsford, the grammar schools there are very, very competitive as well. Even if you live within the 12.5 mile priority area you have to score quite highly. Also CCHS uses a different exam than the other Essex grammars, so your DD would have to take two 11+ exams if also wanting to apply to Southend / Westcliff / Colchester.

@Jackal313 thanks. Would you say ther is a difference in competitiveness between CCHS and the CSSE schools you mentioned?

She would need to live in Marble Hill, Richmond to be in Designated Area for Tiffin and at the same time catchment for Orlean Park ( 1km) and still in Turing catchment and Waldergrave as well as Grey Coat. St Richard Reynolds would also accept her kids if she is a catholic. I don't know about Christs catchment and Kingston Academy would not include her in the catchment.

Marble Hill is outside of the current Turing House and Waldegrave catchments. But in any case, I wasn't suggesting she could apply to all of them - she's moving house, so can choose to move into whichever catchment area she can afford.

... but of course all of Richmond Borough is within Tiffin's catchment.

yes but not Inner Area ( girls) just Designated Area that has slightly less chance. Inner Area* is on the other side of the river. For boys they usually take 1-3 from top performing schools in Richmond Borough.

• I dunno why when I say it I always thing about Inner Circle and de Niro in " Meet the parents" movie lol

Hampton Hill for Turing , Waldegrave, Teddington, plus the Tiffins

I'm not that familiar with it generally, and it is hard to compare with a different exam and scoring. But I would say - based on historical scores for KEGS vs other Essex boys grammars - that it is probably more competitive to get a place at CCHS than any of the other girls schools.

Not to mention Bushy Park and Hampton Open Air Pool. 😍

Teddington doesn't have that good results.

And in the last years there wasn't a single girl that got to Tiffin from Hampton and Hampton Hill Primaries. Some boys do.

No primary school is going to get a kid into a superselective grammar. That's down to tutoring. I'm thinking of places where the superselective outer catchments overlap with at least two decent comprehensives.

How do you know if anyone got in or not? If it's leavers' destinations, that isn't a good guide for a state school as they are unlikely to give the sort of breakdown that a prep school will (eg x offer, y acceptances). DD got into Tiffin Girls from a very much not high performing primary but I don't suppose she showed up on the stats (if they even published them) as she turned it down in favour of an independent school that she liked better.

Also, unless you look at the different cohorts, it's not really a good guide to rely on results alone. What you need is how your child's specific cohort does, whether that is high/middle/low attaining or whatever. And it's instructive to look at the difference between these cohorts. For instance, the figures for Teddington are decent for all prior attainment. The figures for Hampton seem to be better for prior high attainers than any other group. From that I'd say Teddington is probably a better school than Hampton though I only know a very little about either. If all children are likely to be progressing and feel successful, I'm guessing that is more likely to be a happy environment.

Personally I would look at curriculum/ethos rather than results. And how the school feels when you look round.

Not true. Hampton Juniors sent two to Tiffin Girls this year. The data is on their admissions page.

HHJS put their transfer data online too.

If you google, you can find a few FOIs with transfer data for other local primaries.

@soopadoopa that is a miracle. I have not checked yet admission for last year but for years Tiffin Girls was like a castle that no Knight or Dame from TW12 can break in

I expect quite a few SMSP families live in TW12 and they've sent up to 3 a year to Tiffin Girls in recent years.

@BonjourCrisette ....and where do you think I live and where my son attends primary? :))
Maybe they got in but they didn't inform both of the schools and ended up in private. Cannot imagine how otherwise the headmasters would not know, parents don't know.

Sorry but I have not said that Teddington is the worse in the Borough but there are better options even in terms of ethos not to mention results. I do not take into consideration HH or Twickenham High.

What do you base it on? I have copied pasted here in other thread of the postcodes of the girls accepted to Tiffin. This is from What do they Know website; a guy requested it from the school directly..No TW12 was there....

No, it is not outside the catchment but very much in catchment. And last year catchment is smaller than ever..I really live here and have son in Y6.

https://www.turinghouseschool.org.uk/documents/admissions/Admissions2023.jpg

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2019_2022_year_6_destinations_da#incoming-2327969

@soopadoopa since when TW11 is TW12?? I am talking about Hampton and Hampton Hill. Only last year maybe as I haven't checked. Since year 3 I observe schools in TW12 destinations and spoke to parents, teachers etc.

That map doesn't show any green spots anywhere near Marble Hill. They only go as far as South Twickenham.