Earlier this month, a list of the 10 most oversubscribed state schools in London was published by The Telegraph newspaper. Tiffin Boys School ranked at number 7, with 1,800 pupils last year applying for 140 places in year seven, roughly 12 applicants per place.
Tiffin school moved into Kingston from Fairfields in 1937 and has been providing for the area ever since. It has many facilities on and off campus, such as its large, recently renovated sports hall, which is open for public use after school hours, and it has 3 sports pitches which it rents out regularly. It recently built a new library and ICT lab.
So why are so many parents vying to get their children in to Tiffin? Ofsted has rated it outstanding in every area, and said that pupils ‘attainment is very high compared with the national average’. 82.8% of GCSE exam results are A* -A, and Tiffin is among the top 50 schools that get the best results at A level. The Financial times rates it as the 67th best school in England in 2012. Unfortunately, this year the government has introduced a new system that evaluates schools by the percentage of students taking 3 core, ‘hard’ subjects, such as maths and science at A level. As Tiffin is an arts school it has a large cohort of arts pupils and only 44% of its pupils are taking 3 ‘hard’ subjects at A level, meaning this year’s result is not as good as it should have been. This new measure is hotly contested as it appears not to be as accurate as the old system. For example, despite few Tiffin boys taking 3 of the core subjects at A level, 85% go on to Russell group universities. The Russell group itself recommends that students should take 2 facilitating (core) subjects when applying for most academic university courses. However, some students have got into Oxford and Cambridge having only taken one ‘core’ subject.
Tiffin school has a very rich background in the arts, and has been a performing arts college since 2003. Its choir goes on tour regularly and has performed in places such as Sydney, Moscow and the Royal Opera House. The Tiffin Boys’ Choir have also done some of the soundtracks for the hit movie, The Hobbit. The drama department performs two plays each year, and, unlike many boys’ schools, offers dance as a compulsory subject to all pupils in years 7 through 9. Alumni include Victoria Cross recipients, Comedians, MP’s and England cricket captains. Tiffin offers many sports to its pupils, such as rowing, rugby, cricket and baseball.
Tiffin also runs many trips for its pupils, and not just day trips. This year the school is offering for pupils to travel to exotic places such as Tunisia, Rome, Boston, Germany and Iceland, just to name a few.
With all this, what is there about Tiffin not to like?
