LEH or Tiffin Girls

[Peiginichearnaigh]

Hi - wondering if any parents have recent experience of both and could share experiences and advise preferences? Thanks in advance….

It is extremely difficult to get to Tiffin girls schools.

Tiffin Girls is for very resilient, academically brilliant kids that are able to do a lot of self study with little support and limited pastoral care. Kids that are able to accept that are not the top of the class as the geniuses are also ending up there. The same kids in comprehensive or private would be at the top. Ans it is very important factor in stimulating self confidence in more timid girls. It is not all about education but also about personality development so they don't have some sort of inferiority complex.

LEH doesn't have that amazing results but still good. However, as with any private vs grammar or in general state school comparison, LEH has better teaching provision, pastoral care, facilities ( e.g they have pool) after school clubs.

LEH is a very caring school that will provide guidance throught education. The school is attentive to any needs the girl would have.

People often don't understand that grammar schools are full of very capable kids but the provision is not bettger that comprehensive schools or very often worse due to less funding per pupil than in comprehensive schools. ( No, no because of SEN kids. This is estimated per school needs and not per pupil.)

Grammar school offers fierce competition which is great for some and not the others

Agreed, Tiffin is very difficult to achieve a place at. Wait until you have both offers before entering into making a decision.

Thanks all - I was wondering if anyone had experience of moving a child from LEH to Tiffin or vice versa also….or having one child in each….

moving a child from LEH to Tiffin or vice vers

More likely from Tiffin to LEH. You have a waiting list at Tiffin. If a child moves then the next person from the waiting list with the best resultvat 11+ jumps in. At a later stage they also have tests.

At LEH you have entry point for primary, then 11+ and then 16+ to Six Forms. Rarely, if there is a space at LEH suring 7,8 or 9 year they test candidates at Maths, English ans foregin language

And btw the reason why there is so many candidates per place at Tiffin is that from the west side and north side of catchment the closest grammar school is in Slough, which is miles and miles away without direct transport

I have a child at Tiffin and more than happy to answer any questions about that, afraid no experience of LEH as a comparison though. But do feel free to PM me if you want.

Thank you for your kindness to share. My DD is preparing for the 11+ at moment, everything is going ok I think. But just wondering how well have to be to able to get a place in Tiffin Exam? Thank you in advance.

Hey @Pockmon . Do you mean how well you have to prepare? I suppose the answer is (not very helpfully!) dependent on your child and how they feel about it, or where you feel they are with it now.

For my daughter, the main thing she needed to practice was not so much maths and English itself (though of course she did that too) as doing it under timed conditions. I think there's quite a big difference between being comfortable with the maths and answering questions in your own time, and in having to do it under "pressure". At their age it's something they so rarely have had to do at that point, after all!

Depending on how long you have (eg what year she is in now) I'd say a little and often is probably better than trying to do anything too intense. For so many of them it's just not a 'reality' in the same way as it is for us until they get a lot nearer, if that makes sense!

We found that once we got a tutor, for the last few months before the exams, she focussed much more. I suppose it's always better to have a non-family member in the role of teacher, too easy to ignore your parents! (certainly in my DD's case..!)

If we get a Tiffin offer on Monday we are squarely in this dilemma or whether to say yes to Tiffin or LEH! Argh!!!!

Hey @MysticMole - I can’t offer a comparison but I do have a DD at Tiffin so if you would like any info or feedback happy to answer anything.

good luck!

Wherever she ends up, my DD is likely to be the only child that attends from her current school. The main concern in the house at the moment is friendships. I really like how Surbiton High try to put girls who live in a similar area in a form together so they know people to travel to school with. Does anyone know how LEH or Tiffin Girls help the girls make friends and settle in? Also, I imagine that both LEH and Tiffin Girls have wide catchment areas - do the kids manage to socialise at the weekends?

Hey @Whattodo303 - I can only speak for my DD experience at Tiffin. She was not only the only girl from her primary but only within let’s say a train stop distance. From the beginning was clear who was coming along same commuting route too help her make “commute buddies”. Plenty of socialising at weekends for birthdays/ organised stuff. I think there would be more but my DD actually likes a little downtime at the weekend with just family and very/ local bestie. So essentially I’d say no problem at all that we’ve experienced tho of course every child and friendship group is different!

We’re in the same boat as well. Decisions need to be made fast with LEH deadline on Tuesday at noon.

Thank you so much! I’d love to hear whether your daughter enjoys co-curricular activities as well as the obviously excellent academic environment and whether despite the relatively diverse geographical areas from which the girls travel they form friendships and can socialise sometimes outside school? Thanks so much again ☺️

It’s so tricky!!! Do you mind if I message you to see which area your child will be travelling from? Logistics are a part of the ever expanding equation for us. ☺️

Sure! For some reason my private messaging is disabled. not sure if it is me or the site. She will have to take the school bus to LEH

Yes to both! She is quite sporty and loves the sports clubs she is in (I wouldn’t say she’s amazing or super talented at any of them, she just loves them so it’s not just for the super talented girls). Socially she’s got lots of friends - yes, they are generally further away from us (we are probably the furthest from the school in our particular direction) but they will often meet up somewhere convenient between houses or actually in the hols they will meet in Kingston which obviously they all know in their sleep how to get to!

she socialises less outside school then my other daughter who is older and at a different school but in our case that’s really personality based rather than because of logistics.

in terms of diversity - she’s in the unusual position I suppose of being a minority by being white European in origin but this has made absolutely no difference to her friendship making. I would say - and this is similar to her primary to be honest - that she had less close friendships with those girls of Asian Muslim families. I would emphasise that this is NOT a choice or because she’s biased in some horrible way, it’s just that these girls do seem to socialise less outside school, for family reasons. I hope that’s not a gross generalisation but it’s true from my personal experience. by contrast she has lots of close friends whose families are from non Muslim Asian backgrounds.

Super helpful - thanks so much! Sounds like your daughter is having a lovely experience there! :-)

Thanks! :-)