Founded in 1880, Tiffin Girls’ School is a selective grammar school for girls aged between 11 and 18 situated in south-west London. Tiffin Girls’ School caters solely for local families and has a specific catchment area which is detailed on the website; all pupils who have been offered a place in the last ten years have lived within this area. As the school is so popular and is heavily over-subscribed, entry is competitive and is offered at 11+ only, with occasional places being subject to availability and made through the local authority. There are a small number of places available for entry into the sixth form. Below you can find our guide to 11+ admission to Tiffin Girls’ School, and details of our tutors who can support your child through this process.
Experienced Tiffin School tutor, Pip, shares her insights:
Entrance to Tiffin School is hugely competitive and admission is dependent upon pupil performance in a two-stage 11+ examination. The catchment area for Tiffin School is less than 10km from the school for the Inner Priority Area and between 10km and 14km for the Outer Priority Area. An online registration form needs to be completed when the registration window is open - this can be accessed via the school’s website. Once registered, a student will sit Stage One of the entrance exam and boys who pass this stage are then able to sit Stage Two
This paper is designed to test comprehension skills, vocabulary, grammar terminology, spelling and punctuation. The comprehension questions are based on a variety of texts from throughout history. The texts used in these exams are notoriously challenging and designed to ascertain the candidate’s ability to understand ‘high-brow’ works. The questions include retrieval, inference and summary skills and the answers are all multiple choice. However, unlike SATs and other such assessments where the student is presented with isolated questions about each area of grammar, these tests weave the grammar questions into different reading comprehensions. For example:
In addition to all of the above, students will also be assessed on their verbal reasoning skills (processing verbal information; similarities and differences between words; applying logical thinking and problem-solving skills; identifying patterns; and demonstrating the understanding of the rules and meaning of language).
This is all multiple choice and tests the candidates knowledge of all the maths they have learnt to date This can include questions on the four operations; fractions, decimals and percentages; probability; reasoning (word problems); problem solving/code breaking; understanding shape; reading data and non-verbal reasoning (processing graphic information and following patterns and rules; applying mathematical skills – rotation, reflection and symmetry; use of spatial awareness; applying logical thinking; and problem-solving skills).
There is a separate answer sheet for the tests and each question has an answer box with the multiple choice options and a small blank box next to each option. The candidate must put a line in the small blank box next to the correlating letter for the correct answer. It is worth doing as many practice papers as possible to get used to this format (as well as benefiting from exposure to the types of questions the candidate will be faced with).
If a pupil is successful in passing the first stage, they will be invited to take the stage two entrance tests later in the Autumn term of Year 6. These consist of written tests in Maths and English. Past papers are not available but they are likely to consist of longer answer questions as they are marked by hand. Offers are made using the standard local authority procedure in March of Year 6, and there is a prompt deadline for acceptance.
Click here to access the official The Tiffin Girls’ School website