Twggs V Togs

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twmum
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:20 am

Twggs V Togs

Post by twmum »

If you had an open choice which school would you send your daughter to and why?
neurotic kent mum
Posts: 970
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:40 am

Post by neurotic kent mum »

The one closest to home. Daughter loves tgs but have happily chosen twggs if we had been in catchment.
TinDad
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:34 pm

Post by TinDad »

Eldest DD goes to TGS, visited other schools while looking for younger DD. Eldest reaction on visiting TWGGS "this is my school just in a different town!" Go with previous advice.
twellsmum
Posts: 349
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:16 pm
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Post by twellsmum »

We are going for TWGGS as we live a short walk away. My DD does not have enough points to go for ToGS anyway but even if she did, I would still go for TWGGS as the HM seems so enthusiastic and proud of "her girls". I also like the ethos of TWGGS in that it is "a local school for local girls" (at the risk of sounding like an escapee from League of Gentlemen). This would mean that virtually all my DD's friends will live nearby.

I know a lot of people who are out of catchment for TWGGS but are hoping for a foundation place there in preference to ToGS and their reasons are that it does not seem as pressurised academically (although the results are pretty much on a par with ToGS which is good considering they accept any girl who passes and not just the highest passers) and also they were really impressed by the headmistress of TWGGS.
ergo
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:35 pm

Post by ergo »

We had a choice of both schools last year and chose TWGGS as local school and I liked the Head's approach not to 'push' the girls too far ahead of themselves so that they could enjoy the breadth of education within their year group. TOGS was very impressive and had a wider curriculum which will suit some girls and again the HT is very impressive. I did feel, however, that there was an impression that girls keep moving forward without the chance to stand still and take stock (just an impression).

This year, due to geographical limitations TOGs will be our first choice. Both schools offer a fantastic opportunity for any child, but with most choices it comes down to what suits the individual child and how they might or might not cope with the travelling and the length this adds to their school day.
Exhausteddad
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Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:00 am

Re: Twggs V Togs

Post by Exhausteddad »

I'd choose TOGS. My daughter has been at TWGGS for three years now and I'm not overly impressed. She was a high scorer and we had a choice of both, but we chose Twggs as it was more local and we thought it would be less pressured, etc, as others have said above. However, she has not been stretched enough, and consequently has started to "drift". They do very little in terms of extra curricular activities and are not really encouraged to do much unless they're good enough for teams. We're now faced with a stroppy teenager who is going off the rails and the school seem unwilling to do much to help or to bring her back into line. Communication between school and parents is so lacking that small issues can develop into major ones and you will have no idea what's going on until the end of year parents evening by which time it's often too late! Twggs is certainly a good school and gets good results from many girls, but I'm not convinced it develops the true potential of the whole person and instils the right values in the way I hoped it would.
westkent
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:58 pm

Re: Twggs V Togs

Post by westkent »

Some really interesting replies here, arent there?

We are way out of catchment for TWGGS but had we been in catchement I would probabaly have preferred my daughter was closer to school friends than she is at TOGS. Didnt look around it as no point upsetting myself!

Having said that she is fantastically happy where she is. She is very busy doing lots of extra curricular stuff and certainly she hasnt found this year to be pressurised at all academically.

The advantage of these girls all living a bus/train ride away from the school is that they all need to get home the end of the day and therefore you dont see them hanging around McDonalds or shopping centre as you sometimes do with other schools, not just TWWGS!
Getalife
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Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 4:41 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Twggs V Togs

Post by Getalife »

My daughter spent five happy years at TGS. She made good friends and had excellent teaching. BUT it was announced in the October of her GCSE year (and the same night as the TWGGS open evening) that all the A levels she intended to do were being dropped in favour of the IB. She would have been capable of doing the IB (12A* GCSE) but she knew exactly which subjects she wanted to study and she could not have done her chosen combination in the IB programme (yet she would have had to continue extra subjects she did not want to do!). She therefore moved to TWGGS and loves it. The pastoral care there is fantastic and I have been v impressed with the teaching. It also does not have the petty rules of TGS, and the leadership is inspirational rather than managerial. Most of her friends who stayed on at TGS to do IB are very stressed and unhappy and two have left altogether.
If you go for TGS you will get the IB hard sell but beware! It is an exam system which suits only a few very academic and motivated all rounders. When applying to university it seems to be much harder to achieve the IB points across six subjects than the A level equivalents, and when all is said and done the universities are looking for students who show an interest in one subject, not six. My son's friends who did the IB in the private system seemed to get hardly any offers at all, and they had to work far harder than he did with his 3 a levels at a Grammar. So, anybody thinking of sending their daughter to TGS should think v carefully about whether the IB will suit them, or be prepared to move them elsewhere for the 6th form!
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Twggs V Togs

Post by mystery »

I think that 's a very important point about the IB. People often don't look that far ahead when choosing a school.

Is the IB here to stay under Gove's various reforms - sorry I'm losing track of his ideas. And does it look as though TOGS will stick with it exclusively? Is it now affecting who stays on in their 6th form and their university entrance stats?

ExhaustedDad - sorry to hear about your experiences -- it's one of those scary things about schools (and I've learned about it with children as young as 6!!) that you don't get to hear about the "backsliding" until it has gone on for far longer than desirable. I think quite often it can happen where the school's expectations of your child is lower than your knowledge of your own child leads it to be. It maybe could have happened at TOGS too? I went to a very pressured and selective senior school; I had a friend who the school decided was not capable of A levels. When she stayed on in the 6th form they pressured her not to apply for vet school as they said she wasn't capable of it. She flunked A levels as she was not interested in what she did apply for. She ended up repeating them at a comprehensive and going to Cambridge. Unfortunately any school can have a warped view of a child.

I do hope you get to the bottom of it. It's never too late. I think there a few cases like this on here where school has the "wrong view" of a child e.g. people whose children were verging on "special needs" in reception and/ or KS1 and are now strong grammar candidates.
Just1-2go
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Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:43 pm
Location: Twells

Re: Twggs V Togs

Post by Just1-2go »

I visited both schools and I was impressed with both, my DD however chose TWGGs and is now in year 10. She has been very happy and has been pushed to her potential both academically and in her sport, we have been very happy with the school and all her friends are local. She has a very close friend at TGS who is equally happy and doing equally well so really I don't think there is much in it!
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