The Wallington Girls results are in

[whichwitch]

Sorry but I agree with Huntlie ( to a point) If Tiffin Girls operated the same admissions policy as Nonsuch and Wallington Girls then it would be fairer. As things stand, if you look at the catchment areas of both the Sutton girls' schools then there is an overlap. My mapping skills might be wrong but if you live in the central Sutton to Banstead areas you are in catchment for both schools.

If Tiffin Girls operated a catchment area similar to Nonsuch that gives local girls an advantage, this should be the case and TGS assertion that they just get or want the top girls is misguided, I don't think they get dramatically higher results than Nonsuch. If you live in Kingston your daughter has no advantage, if you live in Sutton they do. I'm using the Girls Schools as an example of how catchment works, non of the boys' schools use this sadly.

[Princess]

Hi Scoopy,

Please do consider the journey although your DD may be fine with traveling I do believe it will have a direct impact on homework and afterschool activities. My DD has just started Wallington Girls and we live in Wallington, with all her homework and 2 afterschool activities she has taken on more capacity then she is used to, but if we did not live in Wallington or had a journey time of 1 hour door to door then she probably would not be doing any afterschool activities at all. She has made friends and many of them seen to live in Wallington, Purley, Banstead which is not that far but I suspect there are also many who come from further a field, maybe someone who does can share their experience with you.

[Scoopy19]

Hi Scoopy,

Please do consider the journey although your DD may be fine with traveling I do believe it will have a direct impact on homework and afterschool activities. My DD has just started Wallington Girls and we live in Wallington, with all her homework and 2 afterschool activities she has taken on more capacity then she is used to, but if we did not live in Wallington or had a journey time of 1 hour door to door then she probably would not be doing any afterschool activities at all. She has made friends and many of them seen to live in Wallington, Purley, Banstead which is not that far but I suspect there are also many who come from further a field, maybe someone who does can share their experience with you.

Thanks for your advice Princess.

DD will definitely want to do after school activities at least 3 nights a week as she is very sporty although curently, through her own choice, does 2/3 after school activities a week.

The school with the furthest travel time is Tiffin as both Wallington and Nonsuch are about 35-40 minutes door to door (which incidently is about the same time it would take to get to the closest school that we have any chance of getting into either on catchment or selective - 2 buses and walk for one and long walk for the other).

If DD is incredibly lucky to get into any of the schools, we will look to move closer. The additional problem we have is DD2 who is equally as able but lazy. She is currently in year 4.

Even if we go privately, which we are looking at too, the ones DD likes are equal travelling time to both Wallington and Nonsuch.

[Princess]

Hi Scoopy,

If the distance is the same (bar Tiffin) then go with the school your DD likes the best as they are all fantastic schools, if Tiffin is the one then I would also consider moving, for us we put Tiffin 4th on our application due to distance.
I also have a younger child (yr 1) and only time will tell if the grammar school route is for him, if not then there are many other secondary schools in those areas which are doing great things!

One thing I must add, I do think these tests should be changed on a yearly basis, only advising what subjects will be tested a month before the test date, then I think you will get a clearer picture of the so called top 25% by not allowing too much time for preparation plus I'm sure it will be less stressful for some. What do you think?

[tiffinboys]

Scoopy, try having the stress suffered by the local residents who have to put up with people from Clapham driving to and from the GS! Not to mention the stress of the hundreds of local kids who really ought to be going to the Sutton schools but are denied places after the ruling that anyone from anywhere can apply!

In one of the thread, Huntlie mentioned that she was the part of the small army of tutors teaching english to those who are in GS by passing JUST the reasoning tests.

Going by her views about out of Sutton pupils in local GSs, does she tutor English to these out of Sutton pupils? and if she does, I wonder how does it effects the traffic around her home/tuition centre? Do the parents of her students always manage to find parking space and are they able to park legally?