The Tiffin Girls’ School tutors

The Tiffin Girls’ School entrance guide

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.

11 Plus Guide to Tiffin School

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

  • Stage One consists of an English multiple-choice test and a maths test, which has some multiple-choice questions and some in which they need to work out the answers and mark their responses on a special grid.
  • Stage Two consists of English and Maths tests, which are set by the school. Previous tests have included comprehension, a writing task and standard format maths questions

Stage One English

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: 

  • Vocabulary will be assessed by presenting a paragraph from a well known text (Eg: Wuthering Heights) with missing words and the list of missing words below for the candidate to fill in the gaps. 
  • Synonyms and Antonyms will be tested by the presentation of a sentence with an underlined word and multiple choice answers for the antonyms or synonyms of said word. This also assesses the candidate's vocabulary.
  • Spelling and punctuation is assessed with a paragraph from another text, again with gaps throughout the passage and multiple choice answers for different spellings of a word or a choice of punctuation that should be in that position.

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).

Stage One Maths

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).

Answer Sheet Format

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). 

 

11+ Entry to Tiffin Girls - Stage 2

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. 

We could not have asked for a better fit for our son. Emily made him comfortable from the start and he actually enjoyed the tutoring. He is now thriving and at his new school and this is part due to the dialogue between her and his teacher. Emily is really approachable and flexible. Our son was prepared and not anxious for his 11+ exams and that owes significant debt to Emily
Abigail is great with our daughter, making the lessons engaging and helping her to understand the methods behind the answer rather than rote learning. She is able to help explain things in different ways if our daughter isn't initially able to grasp the concept.
Helen is simply an amazing tutor. She is exceptional at explaining maths and english to our son, especially when he needs a bit of extra support in specific areas. She is also extremely organised, structuring his learning around his own needs, as well as highly communicative with us as parents so that we are all on the same page. The cherry on the cake is that she is also warm, friendly, and smiley. Our son always enjoys his sessions with her, as they're joyful but have also really helped him build his skills and confidence.
Alex was great at helping our daughter feel confident before and during the 11+ by working on her less strong areas. She was also excellent at supporting the interview prep making sure she had tools to deal with any questions that came up rather than scripting answers. She was notably more confident after speaking to Alex.
Jacqueline is a fabulous tutor! She is excellent at engaging my somewhat head strong daughter and has not only picked up on her strengths, but is encouraging her to build on them which is increasing her confidence. Jacqueline’s knowledge is second to none, but what makes her wonderful has been her ability to get to know my daughter, understand her way of thinking and adapt a teaching style that brings out her best work. I trust Jacqueline 100% and no longer sit in on my daughters sessions. I leave them to it as I know Jacqueline has the experience and level of expectation that is needed to help my daughter reach her full potential.