Honest reviews of Thomas’ Battersea school

The website for Thomas's College (Richmond) has now gone live:

I’m guessing they’ll link up with local
sports clubs to use facilities for cricket and rugby. Rowing right there on the river. 5 acres so they can probably knock up a few netball courts and maybe a tennis court and an Astro. As ever, who the head is will be critical as well as how long any planning takes.
my guess is after last attempt ending in debacle they’ll get this right.

Where would do you sports ?

@Coronateachingagain , if you Google Richmond College Gardens you pick up on the Knight Frank details. What a stunning site and yes such demand for a mixed non super selective secondary.
First thoughts are Ibstock will be impacted and Dukes will be putting (more) pressure on the planning Dept to get the go ahead for Kneller Hall which will be in direct competition.

Does the site have playing grounds/fields?

This development will be the talk of the Richmond prep schools. We’ve all been crying out for an independent secondary that isn’t super selective. The American University site is beautiful, what an idyllic spot for a senior school. I think they will have a lot of take up locally. Although I’d be a bit cautious about the management of it all given the threads I’ve read on here.

After the fiasco of Thomas's Battersea Square senior school, the relocation of Y9 onwards entirely to Putney Vale this year, and now this supposedly stellar partly computer generated new location, I wouldn't necessarily trust them to deliver and I can guarantee the fees will be "world beating" if nothing else!

Great location - a lot of people will choose the school for being local.

Found this thread whilst searching for opinions of Thomas' senior school. I understand they have now announced their new site in Richmond which looks wonderful.

HWest1832 that's correct - the school knew they wouldn't be moving in to the site this month and had guided from September 2023 (back in the Winter)

I'm slightly familiar with the saga as am connected with the RAD (former occupants of Battersea Square site) and Hall School (former occupants of Putney Vale site). One thing is clear is that Thomas's must have known for ages that it wasn't going to be moving into the Royal Academy of Dance Battersea Square buildings any time soon. Certainly not September 2022! Due to the delay in the RAD moving to their new-build on York Rd, the Battersea Square site has only recently been vacated (April 2022) and clearly would have needed a lengthy building conversion period to convert from ballet school to senior school. Not sure why Thomas's didn't just delay, though, rather than not complete the acquisition at all. Bet it'll be "luxury flats" now. Shame. 😔

Hmm, that is a very, very odd location. Super convenient for Roehampton Asda, but not really anything else (well, the cemetery, obviously, but that’s not really a destination of choice). I know that the area is called Putney Vale but it really isn’t Putney in any meaningful sense - its substantially down the A3 and a long, long way from train and tube in Putney. The only public transport is the 85 bus; its a pretty flaky service - its supposed to run c every 8 mins but is v prone to bunching and consequently much longer waits. I know that during school commute times sometimes it is not possible to board at Putney station in the mornings as it is too crowded.

I would be less concerned re lack of 6th form if I had a Y7-9 as there are a number of years for that to fall into place, and a move for 6th form can actually be very invigorating in my experience. But the location - and from the sound of it, the lack of transparency - would have me voting with my feet.

Thank you for all of the information regarding next steps. None of us can actually believe this has happened- we all seem to be reeling. The disappointment is profound, as is the anxiety we all find ourselves in after believing we had sorted out the education plan for our children until age 18. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards

I would think there are school govenors so you could ask for their details and make a complaint to them.

The school itself must also have a complaints' procedure - although true, it is probably for complaining about teachers and other students' behaviour rather than the school expansion strategy itself. Still, worth thumbing through.

You could also group together with other parents and put pressure on. Call a meeting externally through your class rep groups.

Decide a plan of action: state your demands.

Go to the national press....

I guess you're not going to make yourself popular with the head by doing any of this! But then perhaps you've gone past the point of caring.

You could also talk to your local MP and ask for their thoughts. Sometimes they have some interesting angles and will also know more about property ownership, the movers and shakers around the borough, what's going on generally.

I find it an odd thing to do. Surely they'd have a natural flow of kids coming up from multiple primary schools within their network. It would appear they could easily fill their places. But perhaps that assumption is incorrect. Maybe not enough people had filled up the spaces offered at Battersea?

Perhaps the first thing is to ask for a face to face chat with the head to find out why this has happened. Honesty on their part may go a long way to explaining this decision.

If I had a child there, I would be furious and feel very let down. People have made decisions in good faith and then been thrown to the wind. It's not what you'd expect from a brand like Thomas's.

So disappointing for the parents and dc and makes it much harder to trust the school mgmt.

Hockeygrass they purchased another building in Kensington for that prep and then pulled the senior school in the next door buildings at Battersea. I can assure you royals or not there is always a waiting list for the prep there (long term parent, since well before Royals). The fees rise each year as you’d expect and are currently amongst the highest I believe for London day schools including many private senior schools. This isn’t an inflation issue it’s a financial planning and commitment issue to something sold (missold as it transpires)

There cost of energy for schools, teacher salaries rising and expected increase in contribution to the Teachers pension scheme to be announced by the govt - the private sector has to pay whatever rate the govt sets - plus decline in birth rate and move of so many families out of London has put pressure on the whole sector. It's also incredibly difficult to recruit teachers in London esp with A level teaching experience. In Surrey the preps aren't full as there aren't enough dc to fill them. With Thomas's they also have the loss of the royal's. The 1 prep that is now bursting at the seams is Lambrook!
It's better the school group doesn't commit than commit to something that brings everything down.

Thank you so much for your reply. I am hoping for a resolution that does not involve full time at Putney, nor the school ending at 16. I pray they can come up with some other plan, as this is so unfair to the children and families that uprooted or changed significant life plans based on the promise of a senior school. It wasn't even presented as abstractly as a promise would have been - it was consistently presented as a done deal. So extremely upsetting. Very happy that you escaped before this house of cards fell...

Re what can be done I assume especially given it’s not a registered charity, there isn’t anything parents can do. It’s a private business. All people can do is vote with their feet but of course that’s almost impossible at this time of year and disruptive for the children. We left at end of y6 last year, it was already clear that the now y7 would be spending quite a bit of time travelling to and from Putney. The Battersea site was already feeling overcrowded and with more children this year will be more so.

Hi! I am a current parent, and the worst part of this is how upset the children are. The Putney campus is not a choice any of us would have made. This does feel fraudulent, and I can't understand how this is even possible. Is there anything that can be done to change this horrible turn of events? Thank you so much for writing.

Peppa really interestingly I (ex parent) met up with two other parents recently (one ex and one still current) who were quite “involved” with the school at least at primary level who said that Putney had been “the original plan” for a senior school before the site next door came up.

I never knew this and I bet many did not, it made me slightly uncomfortable to hear that some “in the know” aren’t as surprised as others.

The marketing of Thomas’s “Battersea Square” was arguably fraudulent!

i feel quite confident in stating that the majority of parents would have NEVER signed up for this plan - putney was never discussed as being an option for a full time campus, nor was the idea of being forced to leave at 16.

yes. extremely disappointing and quite unbelievable to be frank. so many families relied on the promises made regarding the senior school. we are hoping a resolution can be reached.