St Richard Reynolds High School - any SRR parents out there?

[QBean]

DD and I loved this school on open day but don't know any current pupils/parents. It's a new state school where DD would be their third intake. DD has passed exams to interview stage at LEH and KGS and has a good chance at StRR as she fulfills church criteria. If we do indeed have a choice it would be so helpful to hear insight into StRR. She is super sporty and has thrived in her current - excellent -state primary.
I have posted this on main site too- apologies for repetition.

[QBean]

Me again, desperate for any insights as we will needing to be making a decision between going down the independent route and (hopefully)SRR within a day of finding out whether we have a place at SRR....anyone out there? Thanks!!

[LProsser]

I'm not a parent but my next door neighbour is planning to send her son there. He is very shy but quite clever and she wants him to go to as small a school as possible. Her children are at a local Catholic primary and she hasn't heard anything to put her off. I think she knows people whose older children are there. If your daughter is not at a Catholic primary do you have any friends or neighbours with children at one as they will probably know someone? I think the catchment area is pretty broad at the moment.

[QBean]

Thanks LProsser. Oddly I know lots of people at church who know of someone who attends- and have only heard good things -but yet to find someone with direct experience, I guess not surprising as it only has two years worth of kids! I think the catchment might be narrowing to Richmond based Catholics - when I phoned to enquire about DC's chances in October lady said they had so many applicants they didnt even have the office staff to alphabetise them!

[BayJay2]

Hi Qbean. It looks like SRR are being inspected this week, which might help your decision if you can hang on a couple of weeks for the report, but if not then you should at least be able to keep tabs on the Ofsted parentview responses because all SRR parents will have been invited to participate in that in the run up to the inspection.

[Elisabetta2214]

How of you know they are going to be inspected soon BayJay2? I thought ofsted were not supposed to be giving notice of inspections nowadays

[BayJay2]

Because it says so on their website Elisabetta.

[BayJay2]

Or at least it did earlier in the week - schools are generally told a day or so beforehand, and send a note out to parents to fill in the parentview survey.

[QBean]

Thanks Bayjay! I will keep an eagle eye out. Tricky though as we need to make a decision by this Thursday.

[mikkii]

Did you make a decision Qbean? We have just found out DS has a place at SRR. We do know one girl who is currently in year 8, and we know of one other girl (from his dancing school) who is also going there.

[QBean]

Hi mikki
Next two days we need to make our decision. Leaning towards SRR

[mikkii]

We really liked it. Private was financially not an option for us. We are awaiting dyslexia testing. DS has previously been tested (by the school) and found to be borderline, however the school gave failed to provide support, including "forgetting" to tell his year 6 teacher about his condition. After a somewhat heated conversation with both his teacher and the SENCO (neither of whom had been made aware) we are now re-testing to see how he now performs against his peers.

His sister is also being tested.

If he needs help, I want his primary to deal with it before transfer.

[Elisabetta2214]

I know a lot of parents at St James' primary school are very enthusiastic about it, and everyone who goes to the open evenings are impressed, my feeling is that it has a lot of support and will do well. I am watching it closely as am considering SRR primary school for my youngest in a couple of years time.

[QBean]

Just want to say that in the end we chose this school over excellent indie options. My child is in year 7 and we are thrilled with it. Happy to be PM'd if anyone has a similar quandary come Feb/March!

[RichmondTeddy]

Thanks for the update Qbean. I find it really helpful when people come back and provide an update on how they are getting on.

[Angie1904]

Hi all, it would be good to have update on the school? How did it go? Any happy parent/children out there? Thanks!

[mikkii]

Hi Angie1904, we are just finishing year 7. It hasn't all been plain sailing for my son, but I have been really happy with the pastoral care at the school, and my son loves it. I was told tonight he has been appointed a music ambassador, we are really happy.

[sandra2lav]

Hello - wondered if there were any parents of pupils at Sir Richard Reynolds in Twickenham? Im keen on sending my son there but wondered about the space issue and where they do sport, and whether sport is taken seriously. Also discipline? is it over the top or fair

[Tw93dc]

I have 2 children at Richard Reynolds both very different academically but I have been really pleased with the school for both of them.
The school has a consistent discipline policy but it seems tempered with common sense and kindness too. Both my dc try to avoid being in trouble because it’s perceived as a bad thing. My y9 dc has never had a detention and they are very much a normal 13yr old, so discipline is enforced but not draconian, they tend to use positive reinforcement, , the other week one of my dc received a merit because the child next to them was talking and they continued to focus on their work, so the teacher decided to publicly comment on and reward good behaviour rather than issue some sort of behaviour points to the other child. I really appreciate this emphasis.

Sport is ok with lots of different sports going on but im not sure it’s as at high a standard as some other local schools and certainly not private schools, however there is plenty of opportunity to stay fit. They use st Marys in the Summer term for athletics.

Music provision is very good.

Overall, I’ve found the school a very warm and happy place , yesterday my y7 dc happened to be walking up some stairs with a y12 and she was asking them how they were getting on and giving them advice on how best get on in school “ make sure you hand in all homework for for few months then teachers will be more lenient if you forget it later on” and other pearls of wisdom. I feel it’s indicative of the school that a y12 would be interested in and take the time to chat to a yr7 just because they happened to be walking with them for a few minutes.

[sandra2lav]

Thank you, thats very helpful

[Didi1234]

Really useful thanks!

[veryneedycat]

Anyone got any insight on the sixth form? How many students does it have and are they all existing students or did they get many transfers in?

[A48354]

Hi there
My child is at SRR and it’s going really well. She is very academic and definitely being pushed to reach her potential. She’s had some amazing teachers. I have an older child at a different secondary and comparatively I don’t think discipline is over the top. I do think the school seems on top of any bad behaviour. Kids get detentions if they misbehave. And the ones who really push the boundaries (from what my DC says) have to go sit with a teacher in an empty classroom. I would say the pastoral support has also been excellent. I think it is a caring community. DC is doing her GCsE programme now and has a lot of work- but that may be what the child makes of it -a neighbour whose child is in many of the same classes doesn’t seem to spend quite as long. I like the fact that the head spends an hour a day (again from what I’ve gathered) dropping into classes and keeping an eye on things (the kids don’t view this as a “scary” thing just a visit)! I sense the teachers are really ambitious for the kids. Sport has been a bit disappointing (not compared to other state secondaries but compared to indies) but we were an early cohort and from what I’ve heard things have improved a lot. DC does club sport out of school 5X a week so that’s sorted anyway! Space doesn’t seem an issue. I think all london schools wish they had more. It certainly doesn’t have the beautiful fields of Christ’s but they use St Marys and it doesn’t seem an issue. Internally the space is good I think. Finally I like the fact that despite so many educational cuts they seem to have managed to retain all the DT (cooking and materials) and art options and music is a huge focus. I don’t know much about the sixth form but suspect we might choose to stay. I know a great number of kids who did gcse last year have stayed but I’m sure they have new kids from outside too.

[LittleMissTypeA]

I know this is an old thread, but does anyone have recent views on the school, especially have less academically driven kids do? My daughter has just been offered a space for Yr 7 and we need to decide this weekend whether or not to accept.

I greatly appreciate any views!

[hollygoflightly]

@LittleMissTypeA - can I ask what you decided? My daughter has just been offered a place today! She's of course one month into her new school and seems very happy and settled so I'm really not sure what to do!