Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

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tiffinboys
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Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:00 pm
Location: Surrey

Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by tiffinboys »

The draft admission arrangements for 2015 are now available on school's website.
http://www.tiffinschool.co.uk/_docs/adm ... 015-16.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1. PAN being increased to 180.
2. No change in tests. NVR/VR by GL.
3. A minimum qualifying score will be set.
4. Priority area of 14 km on straight line. (what a joke... covers almost a quarter of Greater London; while Governors want School to represent Kingston and surrounding areas, they obviously find Greenford/Southall/Croydon/Sheppards Bush/Heathrow to Leatherhead as Kingston's surrounding areas). Essentially, Tiffin has maintained the status quo. Lost opportunity for them to bring in any real change.
SunlampVexesEel
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Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by SunlampVexesEel »

I wonder how they come to these conclusions... 14km is a vast number.

I think the analysis must be flawed... I would love to see the underlying numbers and have a go myself.

My simple observations are that there are basically three groups applying... those who are super smart, those that are of selective ability and those that are not. The number of candidates in the selective ability group must be hugely more than enough to fill PAN and the absolute differential between them is probably surprisingly limited. (Remember we see the 70...280 scores... not the raw scores)

I would conjecture that if you radically reduced the school range permitted to say 6km then the actual RAW mark required to fill PAN would hardly differ and every student would have a much more reasonable journey.

To keep up the achievements of the school you could also have a super-smart category where if you score very very high the catchment area is more flexible (and hopefully those people would subsequently try and re-locate).

In fact... the Nonsuch policy looks pretty good to me!

It seems madness to give a place to someone a long distance away unless there is a significant (in terms of academic outcome) difference to someone located nearer and a raw score difference of a mark or two can't be considered significant.

14km!

Regards
SVE

PS
I'm starting to sound like TB
Animis opibusque parati
tiffinboys
Posts: 8022
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:00 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by tiffinboys »

SunlampVexesEel wrote:
PS
I'm starting to sound like TB
:lol: :lol:
Many moons ago, TB sounded like SVE too. Just the experience gained along the way forced to accept the reality.

SVE is quite right that there is not much difference between the raw scores or children's ability in 220-240 band or 200-220 band or 230-250 band. Most successful children, whether their parents admit it or not, are being heavily tutored and practice VR/NVR papers for years. Admittedly, some are super-bright; but experience shows that not many fall in that category. Tiffin School, unlike Tiffin Girls, has failed to see the reality of their testing methods. Children, who do not practice these papers like mad and mainly rely on their being bright and some familiarization, fail to get place in Tiffin, even if they are at level 5A or 6. With the changes in tests in Slough, I expect that there would be even more applications and pressure on Tiffins next year.

Totally agree with SVE, that it is madness to offer place 14 km away at 229 and turning away some one at 228 living much nearer. The consequence is easily seen in tired children, low participation in before/after school activities and minimalist parental support for the school.
tiffinboys
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Location: Surrey

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by tiffinboys »

Tiffin's so called priority area of 14 km seems even more ridiculous now in view of Sutton Grammar catchment of few postcodes closely identifiable with the School's locality.

Tiffins need to consider how other schools support their local community.
sgsgirl
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Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:47 pm

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by sgsgirl »

I believe this can only be done if the local parents respond to the admissions draft. There are email addresses and postal addresses where comments can be sent. There is still time for voices of local parents who wish to help change the admission policies to be heard, but you need to send in your suggestions. It will only work if enough people raise concerns.
tiffinboys
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Location: Surrey

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by tiffinboys »

Well reminded, sgsgirls.
panicattack
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Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by panicattack »

As I've mentioned on another thread, the Nonsuch catchment model means for 2013 the lowest offered score within catchment was 298 out of 420, for a top 80 place it was 342 (standardised scores). These are pretty significant differences. I don't know if it creates a difference ultimately in results (not the be all and end all I know) but Nonsuch is consistently out performed by Tiffin.

In a way, the Tiffin proposed changes are quite a big change. The doors are firmly shut if you're c. 9 miles or more. What's fairer than Nonsuch is that if you're eligible for a place it's a fair fight - not lower entry requirements based on where you live. It also stops the v long distance travelling which has alarmed some on this site.

The info provided by the school shows that around 90% of current school live within 9 miles- you'd expect that say at least 50% would be within 5 miles which isn't bad. There are a few long distance travellers but I think this has been exaggerated a little on this forum. The London Schools Atlas reveals that the largest contingents of children come from Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow, not the places often mentioned on this forum.

So overall, I think the new catchment proposals are not unreasonable.

I think sticking with NVR is a bad thing. This isn't taught on the national curriculum and coaching is a must- excluding those without enough money to afford it (and keeping the legendary Kingston Tiffin tutors in business!). A missed opportunity to introduce something fairer.

I would be very interested to know from existing parents at the school, how they think the school will cope with expansion? Is there enough space etc?
tiffinboys
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Location: Surrey

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by tiffinboys »

(and keeping the legendary Kingston Tiffin tutors in business!).
Now the business has moved to Ealing, Hounslow and Slough. The Kingston ones, specially the famous Ws, have retired.
A missed opportunity to introduce something fairer.
Agree with you. Just NVR/VR tests have lost their value. With extensive over-tutoring and hard practice, good score could be achieved.
So overall, I think the new catchment proposals are not unreasonable.
Alas, here I would agree to disagree.


Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
panicattack
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Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:28 pm

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by panicattack »

How do existing parents feel the school is equipped to expand?
Snowdaddy
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Location: Kingston upon Thames

Re: Tiffin School - draft admission arrangements for 2015

Post by Snowdaddy »

panicattack wrote:How do existing parents feel the school is equipped to expand?
The school obtained the planning permission in 2012, this is just formalising the application PAN to fill the new buildings

http://maps.kingston.gov.uk/ISIS_Main/p ... trHeader=Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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