Moving Welad to Tonbridge Girls Grammar school in Year 8

[happymum07]

We are thinking of moving our child from Weald to Tonbridge grammar school for girls in Year 8 after giving in year CAT exam. Has anyone done this before and did it help your child?

They have to because the government removed the IB top up funding. It's unaffordable now as IB is more expensive to run than A-level.

In your position, I think I would put her in for the TGS in year assessment. See what that brings. It may well be that she doesn’t score high enough for their waiting list. Or that she does but there are no places available. Or if she does get offered a place, you can then make an informed decision.

Indeed, applying for a 6th Form
place at TGS or Judd is also a good idea. She would apply in Year 11 but check the admission requirements as this can be very tight.

I knew the extra funding had been removed; I wondered/hoped some schools might be able to continue to run it somehow. It’s such a good option for the all rounder and it was a nice additional choice when one school in the area offered it.

@WW3, the funding is £2400 per student, the cost to the DfE is tiny compared to the big picture, ie £1billion spent setting up T levels. Apparently there was a programming error predicting the number of pupils in education and a saving had to be made to balance the books - it’s nothing to do with the opportunity or quality of the global IB course - instead the DfE have turned it into a qualification for the wealthy only.

It was always a bit iffy financially in the UK, the IB. It was roughly equivalent to running 5.5 A levels per student because of the requirement for 6 subjects plus ToK (philosophy), CAS (volunteering/activism) and extended essay. Plus you needed a heck of a lot of languages and Maths capacity to carry those on to 18 for everyone. Plus the IBO requires specific training for teachers and certification for the centre. It's hard to fill vacancies because few staff have the right experience/it's not attractive as so niche. It all costs.

Schools abroad get more mileage by doing the MYP too but UK schools in the state sector need to do GCSE.

I have taught both IB and A-level and they both have plusses and minuses. IB absolutely broke some students!

State schools have had falling funding in real terms now for 15 years so sadly doing anything out of the ordinary or even less popular (A level Music for instance) is no longer viable in most cases.

From my experience, grammars are often not too challenging in year 7 especially when you consider how hard the cohort's been worked in years 4-6. The students come from all over so getting them all pointing in the same direction so to speak is key.

Long story short: I wouldn't do anything hasty if your daughter's happy, OP.

TGS is extremely academic and the girls come under a lot of pressure. We chose Weald over TGS for this reason.

Went to see WoK today, we weren’t highly impressed. It felt more like a comprehensive than grammar

What exactly were your expectations for a " grammar school"? Were u hoping to see it to be more academic? We find the school good with great infrastructure , holistic environment

Hi op, I don’t want to go into too much detail but I just didn’t get the same vibe as the other two girls grammars in the area, both in terms of student quality and teachers. I was very impressed with the air con in some of the rooms/buildings though, particularly in the heat!

Also, it’s a bit of a lottery when you’re being shown around by only 2 girls out of however many girls in the year group. Still, when doing school tours I always tend to look at other students too, to see if my DD would be a good fit. In the case of WoK, sadly it wasn’t.

I wanted to highlight the student ambassadors are Year 7 students . May not be a great benchmark to make a decision as girls are still young.

Yes agreed, but that’s actually the norm these days. It’s great as it makes it easier to imagine what it would be like in the first year at the school.

Are you and daughter happy with the school now, and are you not considering moving to TGS anymore?

Well it won’t be like TOGS or Newstead as those are superselective and far harder to get into.

We’re also looking at TWGGS which is not a superselective

Yes we are..Weald is joining GLT and its on path to get better. The concerns I had for Weald wont get resolved with TOGS as similar challenges exist there. TOGS is not having IB, a new principal and I personally found the girls there more academic. We have decided to stay with Weald - better infrastucture , joining a bigger and better trust so access to better resources. I cant comment on TWGGS as we live in Tonbridge.

Thanks for the insight - I didn’t know about GLT, I’ll look into it. I’m happy TGS dropped the IB as would have probably moved at sixth form to do A levels.

Can I ask what are the advantages of joining GLT?

• Collaborative Student Networks: Students can expect to see initial joint events introduced. This may include cross-trust student leadership forums, subject masterclasses, or modern pastoral support initiatives coordinated alongside the Trust's existing schools (such as Nonsuch, Wallington, and Carshalton High School for Girls).
• Shared Educational Frameworks: Departments will begin aligning curriculum enrichment strategies. Students may gain early access to digital learning repositories or specialized STEM and arts resources developed collectively by GLT.

The maximum benefit of joining GLT becomes fully realized at the start of the next complete school year.

• Trust-Wide Competitions & Events: Inter-school challenges—such as trust-wide robotics leagues, sports fixtures, debate tournaments, and collaborative music ensembles—are integrated into the calendar from day one.
• Expanded Sixth Form & Career Horizons: Sixth-form students will see wider benefits through cross-trust university preparation schemes, shared medical/oxbridge application tracks, and collaborative careers networking events.

Please search online Weald and GLT you will find details available in public domain. Also TOGS u need to learn 3 languages my daughter was not keen on thaylt.

Thanks for taking the time to reply OP. Yes will look into it. Glad your daughter is happy there

Just a heads up that TWGGS has a very tight catchment, you may get in if you have a v high score out of catchment but I think it's only around 20 places they allocate to that.

This is just not true. The school does the opposite of putting the girls under a lot of pressure. It’s just wrong. I’ve had two DDs go through recently. Op has nonetheless made a good decision and I’ve no doubt at all that Weald is a fantastic school too.