Tiffin - top ??? gets you an offer

[laretta]

Hi

my earlier figures may not have been correct i.e. no of boys sitting test - I found them on various threads on this forum, but I do think that the maths is there abouts. It can be applied to the above posters figures - which look like they may have come from a more official source. However rank order 169 does not make any allowance for any of the boys to have chosen another first pref school, which would be incredibly unlikely and therefore does not fully answer the fist posters question.

228/2 = 114 = 82nd percentile 18 x 1367 / 100 = rank order 246.06 for first round offer.therefore over 100 boys had another 1st pref school allocated.

Then after all waiting list places were finished being allocated, final cut off was 226

226/2 =113 = 80th percentile 20 x 1367 / 100 = rank order 273.4 final cut off

[pheasantchick]

Wow - 1600 applicants!

[ThreeKids]

May or may not be helpful. When I asked this question at Tiffin Girls - worded that I knew that because many of the girls will sit multiple tests and therefore not all of them might put Tiffin's first - so where was the approximate cut-off - they answered about 130-140! Basicaly implying that most people put TGS as their first choice. Thereafter they reckoned the next 10 might be offered a place off the waiting list.

That was at least a year ago I asked, so things may have changed, but I would hazard a guess that they haven't changed dramatically, and this is quite different to the Sutton Boys grammars which go down to about rank order 300-360 I understand, or at least a couple of years ago they did.

[999 mum]

That was at least a year ago I asked, so things may have changed, but I would hazard a guess that they haven't changed dramatically, and this is quite different to the Sutton Boys grammars which go down to about rank order 300-360 I understand, or at least a couple of years ago they did.

Could that be because there are 3 boys grammar schools in Sutton and the same boys (generally) are passing all 3 exams?

[ThreeKids]

Could that be because there are 3 boys grammar schools in Sutton and the same boys (generally) are passing all 3 exams?

I think the answer to that is kind of both yes and no. Certainly it's my experience that the results are fairly similar for any given child across all tests. It's unlikely, but not impossible, that a child will do spectacularly at one test and then fall well outside the cut for the others, so yes the same boys who sit all the tests will tend to be in roughly the same position in all the tests. However whilst many do sit all 3 sutton tests, many do not, and there is a large cohort of mock takers who never intend to take a place. So it's not quite as simple as the fact that there are 390 places up for grabs between the 3 Sutton Grammars - ergo the top 390 will get a place at one of them. In fact once the Mock takers are factored in the list ought to go down to probably the mid 400's if not further, and I don't think it does - indeed Wilson's better hope it doesn't this year as not enough passed the test if that's the case!

I think that there may be a geographical element to TGS only taking the top 140/150 - it quite possibly attracts more for whom there is no other better daily commute, whilst SGS and WCGS are on the same train line and therefore realistically only 5-10 minutes apart. TGS is also perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be a premier school, and I have to say that in terms of 'selling' themselves they were in a completely different league to any other Grammar I went to this year. That's my personal opinion and others may feel differently, but I haven't heard of anybody who was put off, whilst both Nonsuch & Wallington Girls had very mixed reviews. That of course deosn't mean that any school is actually better, but it does stand to reason that if you consistently attract the top intake your results 7 years later should be fairly momentous, and TGS does seem to deliver on that front. Also bear in mind that the test itself is later and therefore less likely to be used as a mock, and by the time the test is taken many already know what their results are elsewhere. I think it is a combination of these factors which result in a very high propertion of the top ranking girls putting Tiffin first on their CAF, whilst the Sutton boys grammars seem to split loyalties more evenly.

[mynameisbond]

Three kids - thanks for all your responses (and everyone else's as well). It's an interesting point you make about the number of boys passing Wilson's this year. Do you really think there is the possibilityof them having passed too few boys, or maybe Wilson's are aware from past data that a large percentage of those passing have them as first preference, hence the fact that they can afford to pass fewer boys ? Brings me back to one of my original points in that some of the boys' grammars are slightly more popular than others and the schools know that, hence larger numbers passing some and fewer passing others ?

[ThreeKids]

Do you really think there is the possibilityof them having passed too few boys, or maybe Wilson's are aware from past data that a large percentage of those passing have them as first preference, hence the fact that they can afford to pass fewer boys ?

I'm watching with some interest to be honest. I would guess they know what they are doing, but they take 150 I think rather than 120, and when I saw the number that passed quoted I did wonder if that might be a little tight. Just a few days left until we find out! Would certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons if they fail to fill their places though.

[mynameisbond]

It does seem pretty tight. If out of their 367 passes, say 150 go to their higher preference schools, 40 go the independent route and 30 were doing it for practice this would then take them over 367 (150 places at Wilson's). Pure conjecture some might say but it is interesting nonetheless.

Does anyone out there know how many passed Wilson's last year ? Would be interested to know that.

[London_Mum]

I don't know how many passed last year but they must be fairly confident of filling places judging from a quote on their website which states: "Please note that, because of oversubscription, many candidates who pass the test will not be made an offer."

The word "many" seems to imply that they are certain that more will choose them as a preferred option than they can accommodate from the numbers who pass even though that number does seem quite low.

[London_Mum]

From a past thread on this forum, in 2010 parents reported that 445 boys passed WCGS and 392 passed Wilsons.
The 392 figure was commented upon as, with a total of 390 boys' Grammar School places in Sutton, a 392 pass rate seemed low.