Hi all, DD will likely be applying for Tiffin Girls and Nonsuch next year. Out of experience from those who applied to both, would you say it is harder to get a place at Tiffin Girls or to get an OOC place (top 85) at Nonsuch High? I understand numbers wise it should be harder to be in the top 85 at Nonsuch, but I don't know if the quality of applicants is higher than Tiffin. Are there those here who got into Nonsuch OOC but not TGS or vice versa? Our preference is TGS due to proximity and pastoral care (again based on what we have heard and read so far), but would you say it is harder to get into? Would be great to hear from those who tried both and what the outcomes were. Thanks!

This question is almost impossible to answer unless you have all the statistics of who scored what/how many people sat the exam and who applied to which schools on the CAF. Every year is different also with a different cohort applying. There are too many variables to consider here. The most sensible thing I would suggest is always to go to the school which is easiest to travel to as your DD has to make this journey for up to 7 years! There is no simple way of determining the quality of candidates applying to each school.

no_stress: why stressing? Sit for both the tests, sit back and relax until you get the outcome.

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Only 29% of the top 85 places at Nonsuch went to OOC girls last year, so I would say it’s harder to get one of those places, if you live within the designated area for Tiffins but OOC for Nonsuch.

I have heard the opposite about pastoral care. I think it’s often just a way of people trying to differentiate between two very good schools, so I wouldn’t listen to hearsay and I’d go with the closest school as top preference if you can list both on the form.

The difference in commute will be 5min so it will probably not be the deciding factor. Our preference is TGS, I just get the impression it is harder to get into based on anecdotal evidence. Since there are so many on this forum who have applied to both, I would be interested in anecdotal evidence of what the outcomes were for those who applied to both, keeping in mind of course that there is no scientific answer to this.

I found in the freedom of information requests that the last person to obtain a top 85 OOC place at Nonsuch had a rank of about #240 of the test takers, which is quite encouraging (bc others rank other schools they got into higher). I could not find the same information for Tiffin, I think they only publish cut off scores, not the rank? If we knew the rough rank of the cut-off score among Tiffin designated area offer holders, that would provide a rough comparison.

I agree with most of the replies above there is probably not much between these schools and it's impossible to answer the question. We sat both exams in 2017 & will again in 2023.

However, we were told by a tutor that Tiffin was the 'gold' standard - and it's certainly perceived that way which means it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy (is that the right word?). Also a friend of mine, who has daughters at both schools, thought TGS was much better. From my daughters year in 2017, 10 girls went to TGS. There were quite a few that went to Non-Such but that was always the second choice (apart from 1 girl whose brother was at SGS). I don't know why TGS was their first choice - distance/perception? etc, but from speaking to a lot of the parents, perception was my impression.

For us it was the closest school. I wanted to avoid Worcester Park high street if possible. TGS really is just another school with regards to resources/teaching/pastoral care etc. These schools just provide a selective cohort - once you have that I don't think it matters which of the schools you go to. Personally I wouldn't give this too much thought - just pick the closest school.

Also difficult to compare because the second stage exam is for two schools; Wally Girls also have 100 places for top scorers before going to in-catchment only, so many of the top-scoring girls living in that direction would have been aiming for that school. And of course lots of girls take the test as practice and/or backup for the independent schools.

In 2018/19 my DD sat both. TGS as designated area and Nonsuch OOC. We put TGS first on the form and Nonsuch second. Her Nonsuch score wouldn't have been enough to get her in OOC (but would have been fine if we lived in the catchment). She got into TGS. So for my DD it was easier to get into TGS than Nonsuch OOC.

Exam wise Tiffin is definitely harder. I know girls who have passed non such but couldn’t clear Tiffin but also girls who got into Tiffin but didn’t clear non such, there’s a lot of factor including how the child is feeling on exam day. I would suggest sitting for both the schools and decide once the results are out.

Exactly the same for my DD.