Teddington school, any parents with children there

Thanks so much for replying! I'm glad your son is enjoying it and it's also catered for those not so into sport (like my dd too).
My child will be starting there in September. We will be coming over from Kingston- so she'll need to make all new friends- fingers crossed, she's very excited!

Someone mentioned this a while ago, can't remember if it was this forum: the catchment of Teddington school - length in km - is also a bit affected by its geographical position. It's sandwiched between Bushy Park and Thames river. The catchment is shaped more like a long baguette, rather than a French-style country bread :)

Just wanted to give some more feedback, (as Op asked for parent opinions and maybe others are thinking for next year) my child started at Teddington this year and when we got that choice I was unsure (because of the Ofsted a few years back). I have no regrets.

As was mentioned earlier, I agree, it has an impressive provision for arts and for sports, but I wanted to add that, for those who are more academic or not into arts and sports, I think it has been amazing also.

My ds isn't into sports or arts but they have a brilliant science club as well as a robotics club and a chess club (and lots of other free enrichment clubs every day). He has met a lot of children with similar interests (so has made good friends also).

The teachers in the academic subjects he is hoping to follow are brilliant and engaging (in particular science and maths) and this is what will contribute the most in his future GCSE results (I can see GCSE results mentioned here so wanted to add).

It has also been mentioned that it has a wide catchment but I agree that is because the previous Ofsted made some local parents wary. This wider catchment, I feel, is a positive thing for meeting different children outside of their own "bubble".

We haven't been there long but feel really positive about the school already.

Good luck in your choices.

There have been at least two local head teachers who have left their posts due to stress in recent years, and those are just the ones people know about.

Are you suggesting that they left as a result of reading someone's post in social medias? Seriously? And they were heads of schools?

Social media users should be respectful and responsible in what they say about real identifiable people

We should be respectful in any circumstances about anybody. This translates to capable of expressing criticism when it is due in a respectful manner.
I have not read in this thread any disrespectful statements.

There have been at least two local head teachers who have left their posts due to stress in recent years, and those are just the ones people know about. The publicity around the Ruth P case was the thin edge of a large wedge, and it resonated because it helped many heads to speak out.

Social media users should be respectful and responsible in what they say about real identifiable people who are doing their best in a difficult and responsible job.

That sounds paranoid. With this thinking all Google reviews of schools or any business should be banned and on any site including Parent's View for that matter because the head of it, a manager may commit suicide. Insane.

With Ruth it wasn't just a parent opinion on a forum. They slammed her in the Ofsted report in an awful manner blaming the headmistress for everything. Quite a difference.

Teddington will have much smaller catchment this year as after the well organised Open day it was hugely popular and many local kids listed it as their no 1 preference.
Apart from infamous insane idea with opening toilets only twice pe school day for 15 min 🙄 it is nice and easy school. Parents opposed and now toilets are back to normal open all the time.

@crimped well said, the crap that heads and teachers get is awful and can feel personal. Every school is usually trying it's absolute best, to be the best school it can be and you're never going to please everyone - people have different ideas of what a good school is. People who live in the catchment for Teddington are super fortunate as all the school are good or outstanding.

I find these message boards are sometimes not very helpful and just turn into opportunities for people to get annoyed with others who don't agree with them.

"Hi there, what have you heard good/bad about the new head?"

If you're going to ask (or answer) this sort of question, it might be better to do it by direct message rather than publicly. It's a lonely, stressful, difficult job being a headteacher and hopefully everyone is a bit more sensitive to that after recent news articles re Ruth Perry (the Headteacher in Reading who sadly took her own life).

Having a good head in place can be the makings of a school, but no matter how good they are, there will always be some people who dislike them for whatever reason, so social media is never reliable.

I think that if you see a head's open day speech, and they impress you, then that is a good sign, because they will hopefully have the same impact on staff they are leading and/or interviewing for new roles - the ability to keep and attract good staff is key to the success of a strong head because running a school is a team effort.

@purplecat1 Hi Op, were you offered Teddington? I have a son in year 7 and happy to answer any questions

Hi there, what have you heard good/bad about the new head?

Capitals shout with sarcasm, bold doesn't.

. Personally I believe children should go to the close school to their house but that is not what this thread is about.

that is a great idea in principle but it would cause mayheim in property market. We already observe it around grammars. So it is better if people have option than unaffordable housing. And some schools are just huge, can accommodate kids from further distances

About Kingston. A person I know put last year a following order:

Tiffin School for Girls
Holly Cross
Ursulean
Hollyfield

She didnt even sent her girl for the exams to Tiffin and is not a catholic.

Then she complained that she received no 4. Hollyfield that was very close to her 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

I know but I think that making it bold looks as if I was shouting it with sarcasm. And I am trying to quote specific part without making it bold.

I am curious to know about the new head who started last year. How have parents found him. I have heard very mixed things from teachers in other local schools. Interested to hear how parents/ children have found him.

Should have said no such thing as a perfect school above... and now it won't let me edit it...

@MsGG Good luck hope you get the school you want - you might be lucky as this year cohorts is smaller than when my dd went through it 2020. I think there was something of a baby boom from 2008-2012 - not including the current year 6. I remember reading something of that kind. My dd has always been in the bulge year lots of the local primaries had extra classes while she was going through primary. Also her current school has extra in the year group for her year and the one immediately below because of this baby boom.

@JustWingItLifeEyelinerEverything I think the point is - as you have said also Teddington is a good and one thing I dislike about this whole system is the illusion of 'choice' - yes you are right some people put unrealistic 'choices' on the top of their school applications but I know that is not always the case.

When my dd was going through this I remember over 100 children in the borough of Kingston had no offers on the national offers days! That is terrible and so stressful. Personally I believe children should go to the close school to their house but that is not what this thread is about.

Good op hope you get the answers your looking for - just remember everyone is different and for every negative story about a school there will be positive ones. There is such thing as the perfect school.

@JustWingItLifeEyelinerEverything why are you using a > symbol instead of quotation marks to denote a quotation? It's confusing.

By the way, Mumsnet convention is to put extracted quotes in bold font, and to tag the person you're quoting.

>Grey Court,Turing, Waldegrave or Orleans if they have the choice, as they deem those choices lower risk in terms of exam results. And so it follows on that those 'other' schools have slightly better results than Teddington.

And why should they risk if they have a choice?
10 percent for 5+ and 20 perc for 7+ is not slightly. Apart from that there are other reasons why they may decide otherwise: gcse subjects offered, commute time around Bushy park, languages offeres etc.

>But I'm confident that the same child, would likely get the same results in Teddington as they would in any of the 'other' schools.

I don't think so and the proof to it is Feltham Reach results success. The school admission takes in to consideration first and foremost Pupil Premium. There are many EALs and Feltham Reach Academy has one of the best results at GSCE among non-selective comprehensives. A lot depends on teaching.
Also, the peer pressure matters. If a child ends up among ambitious kids is most often also following that pattern. If vaping in park is trendy in his circles then there is a likelihood that he will also be drawn to it .

I mentioned large catchment to cheer somebody up that there is a posibility of getting in as with waiting lists it was even 14 km! It has a huge catchment because a. It is a large school b. There are quite a few schools in Richmond.

>if you get your first choice you will be very lucky the number of families I knew (borough of Kingston) who received their second or third choice was fairly large

@12345change
I know people put Catholic schools as their top choice without being Catholic that is no CCP, no baptism. Highly unlikely to get that choice unless they live on a school doorsteps. So often it is that they made not a very rational chociew.

I live in catchment of quite a few schools 7-8. Some.schools like Teddington have a huge catchment and one have " all prefernces met"

I know...we are in Kingston and very likely won't be able to go to our local schools because we are no longer in the tiny catchment...
Teddington seems a good school, I feel lucky it's potentially an option - hopefully we get in!