Sutton Council Grammar School Advantage?

[Qetiff]

Hi,

I’d like to understand if there is any real advantage in living in Sutton County with respect to eligibility for grammar schools there. I know SGS operates a catchment for the first 70 seats in case of oversubscription (which I believe is almost always the case).

My current situation is that my elder son has just received an offer from Tiffin School (our first choice; in yesterday’s national offer day), which we have accepted. We live around 11kms from the school and the distance is commutable (under an hour each way). I have a younger boy who is 7 yrs old and will also sit for his grammar school tests in 2021 (I know it is a long time, but time flies).

I’d like to give my younger son a greater opportunity to get into one of the grammar schools in Sutton if there is any real advantage to move to Sutton. It may make sense to move to Carshalton or Worcester Park, which are in Sutton County and also have good access to Tiffin School, so as not to inconvenience my elder son immediately and yet provide similar opportunity at Tiffin School for the younger one.

We have no issue to move if it is good to move. I believe we don’t have an urgency to move right away but would like to nevertheless consider within the next 1-12 months.

Any advice/recommendation based on experience/knowledge would be highly appreciated.

Thanks & Regards.

[streathammum]

You need to look at the actual admissions policies. None of them refer to living in the borough of Sutton.

SGS has a priority area defined by particular postcodes. I can't remember what the other two have - you will need to check.

Is there anywhere that would be easy for commuting to both Tiffin and Wilson's? If not then probably better cross that one off your list now.

[Moon unit]

Carshalton to Tiffin would be a nightmare journey.
Never heard of anyone doing it.
If you are going to go through a house move I would do the journeys on public transport in the rush hour both ways to Tiffin before making any decisions.
Worcester Park isn’t great for travelling to Wilson’s. Might be okay for Sutton.

[RuedeWakening]

Carshalton to Tiffin would be X26 bus from Carshalton high street, it goes up through Worcester Park and takes min 45 minutes at off peak times IME. Journey planner suggests it'd take 1hr 15 from Carshalton to Tiffin via train, tram, train, bus so not simple either!

[Tid]

Worcester Park is fine to commute either to Tiffin in one direction or Sutton Grammar and even Wallington County in the other. Several busses run through the high street inc 213, 151, X26, 627 which all go to Sutton, and the X26 and 213 also go the other way into Kingston. It's probably too far to reach Wilsons though (which is why we ruled Wilsons off our list). You could probably consider New Malden as well, but any further that way would be too far to get to Sutton, and much beyond Cheam in the other would be too far to get to Tiffin.

[Moon unit]

I agree anything further towards Sutton than Cheam would make Tiffin tricky.
I’ve never come across anyone doing it from this neck of the woods.
If you go for Worcester Park I don’t think it’s a catchment postcode for Sutton Grammar.
Not sure about Wallington but Wilson’s has no catchment.
Would it be worth putting your older son on the waiting list for one of the Sutton grammars ( assuming he passed them) to give you more grammar options for your next son or is his heart set on Tiffin?
Difficult juggling act!

[Tid]

From Sutton Grammar Admissions policy doc (edited):

Oversubscription Criteria

2. 75 places by rank order of the scores in the selection tests where the home
address of the boy is in one of the postcodes (SM1-7, KT4, KT17, CR0 4--, CR4).
3. 60 places (plus any remaining places in criterion 2 if the number of qualified boys
in criterion 2 is less than the 75 on offer) by rank order of the scores in the
selection tests from any home address.
4. Proximity of the boy's home address from the School (where scores are equal).

Worcester Park is KT4

In a way Worcester Park is an odd one because 3 boundaries meet there; part of it is in Kingston, part in Sutton, and part in Epsom & Ewell!

[Qetiff]

Hello All,

Thanks very much for your input; truly appreciate.

My elder boy has decided on Tiffins; so we don’t want to really make any change there. He has really worked hard for this.

My thoughts were really not to move from where we are currently based unless there is any major advantage to move into Sutton (for my younger one) and the journey time to Tiffin School either reduces or is status quo (from the new place) for the elder one.

I guess I’ll have to do some more research on (a) Wallington and Wilson’s entry eligibility criteria, and (b) journey times between Tiffin School and places in Sutton county (Carshalton seems like a bad idea).

Thanks once again.

[Qetiff]

Just checked... Wallington Boys has no catchment rules, Wilson's gives preference to residents of Sutton Borough in case of same scores and SGS of course has the first 75 places within designated postcodes (mentioned earlier) and remaining 60 on highest score.

In terms of travel times from Worcester Park during peak hours to & fro...
a) Tiffin School/SGS/Wallington Boys: ~38-40m by direct bus
b) Wilson's: 1h10m by bus with one change

Interesting!!

[Tid]

Wilson's: 1h10m by bus with one change

Yeah that's why even though Wilsons is a fabulous school we left it off our list, but if you go any closer to make access to Wilsons possible you get too far from Tiffin I'm afraid.