Wilson's vs Tiffin Post Reply

[Amy]

My DS got an offer from both of these top Grammar schools but do not know which one to choose from - help! It is such a difficult decision even after visiting these schools. We are prepared to move near our chosen school so our son will only have 30-35mins daily journey. We very much appreciate any recommendations from parents whose son is currently at these schools.

[Goldhawk]

How did you get two offers?
Are they not both under the PAN London Admissions?

[RumourMill]

I know I'm going to get shot down here but I will tell you what I know.

I have friends with a son who left Wilsons a few (2) years ago. The school is very good academically but they said that there was almost zero after school activity. They felt that the children had worked so hard to get there that there was almost no interest from them in terms of sport music etc after hours. That's not to say it wasn't offered but that there was almost zero take up. 

They also went on to say (and I'm only repeating what I was told) that the profile of the intake means that most of the boys were then being pushed every evening to work silly hours with the sole aim of medicine/law/accountancy and that there was very little socialising outside of school hours as all the boys did was work. My friend felt that this was because the backgrounds of the children were mainly low income with an overriding desire from their parents to better themselves via education.

In short, if it wasn't going to get them a better grade, it was a waste of time.

This actually worked for my friend's son - he is at a top university studying for a competitive course, but the mum did miss the broader church that other schools could offer.

I don't know anything about the other school...

[livegreen]

@ rumourmill or is it @ fakenews

Couple of simple clarifications. The intake of Wilson’s and tiffins is dominated by middle class parents with many of the children attending private primary schools. All will have employed private tutors.

Both schools are harder to get into academically than the private London day schools - so the idea the boys do nothing but work in the evenings to obtain good results is nonsense. In fact both schools have in the past had a policy of less homework than other schools.
The children at grammars will often be naturally brighter than other schools so do not have to work as hard to get good grades. As a result the children have more time in evenings and weekends to pursue other interests.

That said most children will travel longer distances to these academic schools so you will not get the feeling of a great local school full of local children.

Tiffins has a better academic record and is traditionally more difficult to get into.

I would have thought that most parents send their children to schools to better themselves and do as well as they possibly can. So not sure I understand your reference to low income families.

[RumourMill]

Not fakenews just repeating what I’ve been told by parents whose child was a pupil.

They had children in a number of different schools so I suspect they were able to comment first hand on the differences with other schools but happy to be corrected if that’s not the case.

[Amy]

@RomourMill & livegreen. Thank you both for your helpful comments, you have really considered my query.

[betsyboop]

We have been in a similar situation and couldn't decide. 

I would say to look at other things like :
Tiffin is very much a city school, is your son sporty ? as far as I know they shuttle the kids to their sports grounds which are not onsite. they are strong on dance and rowing. 
Wilson has beautiful grounds but not much going on in the area. As opposed to tiffin which is in a very lively environment with lots of school around tiffin girls or KGS. 
what about the curriculum ?
Some grammars school aren't great on the classics/latin or Modern Foreign languages, as they focus on science and maths. is that important to you or not ? or what is important ? 
Wilson is very strict and prescriptive, will that suit your son ? 
look at the specific threads on mumsnet, I have learned a lot !
Good luck ! you have all done well. 
 

[Credible]

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.