by Credible » Tue Feb 11, 2020 10:04 am
I realise this is a year out of date, but I suspect it will be revisited by some for this year so I’d like to add a couple of things. As well as having a son there, I know teachers at Wilson’s personally and the pastoral care is wonderful - if there are concerns about any of the boys, the staff genuinely care and communicate with each other to try to get to the bottom of it. I’m not saying boys don’t feel pressure to do well, but I believe that pressure comes from home as much as the school environment due to their high-achieving peers. It is true that most will have had paid tutors because of the hysteria surrounding the competitive entrance exams (but not all - I prepared my son myself for the last two terms of Year 5).
The assertion that Wilson’s boys do nothing extracurricular that won’t help their grades is rather far-fetched - just take a look at how well the school teams fare in inter-school sports and chess competitions, just as examples. And their orchestras are incredible. The school really encourages and rewards effort and attainment in these activities.
Some boys do travel far to get there, due to no catchment, which may account for some not staying after school for the various activities on offer.
Also, Wilson’s outperforms Tiffins academically, not the other way around: for 2019 GCSE (91% 9-7 at Wilson’s and 75% 9-7 at Tiffins), A-level (96.76% A*-B vs Tiffins’ 84%) and all the performance indicators (progress 8 etc) on the compare school government website (I’m not allowed to post links).
Both great schools, nothing bad to say about them, but a lot of incorrect information on this thread.
I realise this is a year out of date, but I suspect it will be revisited by some for this year so I’d like to add a couple of things. As well as having a son there, I know teachers at Wilson’s personally and the pastoral care is wonderful - if there are concerns about any of the boys, the staff genuinely care and communicate with each other to try to get to the bottom of it. I’m not saying boys don’t feel pressure to do well, but I believe that pressure comes from home as much as the school environment due to their high-achieving peers. It is true that most will have had paid tutors because of the hysteria surrounding the competitive entrance exams (but not all - I prepared my son myself for the last two terms of Year 5).
The assertion that Wilson’s boys do nothing extracurricular that won’t help their grades is rather far-fetched - just take a look at how well the school teams fare in inter-school sports and chess competitions, just as examples. And their orchestras are incredible. The school really encourages and rewards effort and attainment in these activities.
Some boys do travel far to get there, due to no catchment, which may account for some not staying after school for the various activities on offer.
Also, Wilson’s outperforms Tiffins academically, not the other way around: for 2019 GCSE (91% 9-7 at Wilson’s and 75% 9-7 at Tiffins), A-level (96.76% A*-B vs Tiffins’ 84%) and all the performance indicators (progress 8 etc) on the compare school government website (I’m not allowed to post links).
Both great schools, nothing bad to say about them, but a lot of incorrect information on this thread.