RTS reviews

Exactly. In a state school system you can't really expect 'choice' unless you mean choice about moving house or going private, which many can't afford. You can express a preference, but there aren't enough surplus places for everyone's preferences to be met. So it's in everybody's interests to support their local schools. School staff don't get everything right - far from it - but slagging schools off on social media makes things worse, not better. Teachers read the reviews too and don't want to work at schools with mud-slinging parents. All schools have some teachers that are better than others, but they can't manage out underperforming teachers if they're not confident of being able to replace them.

That’s the whole thing catchment areas are such that we don’t have a choice in Twickenham really so we have the make the best of where our children are
No school is perfect and obviously how happy your child is at school is all we as parents really care about

@mummatotwo91 Have you lodged a formal complaint following the school's complaint procedure? If you do, then all the evidence will be reviewed independently. If it turns out that the event was mishandled then you can expect an apology from the members of staff involved. That is the correct way to deal with this.

There was evidence I was not allowed to review it but after I threatened to get the police involved and the deputy head confirmed he reviewed the cctv and confirmed my son was struck not once but THREE times before retaliating whilst standing near the top of the stairs which may I add could of caused a life changing injury had he fallen down those stairs…now I suggest unless your willing to review your true identity you stop hiding behind a keyboard talking about my autistic child. If you want to carry on then reveal who you are and we can have this discussion in person. My child, as do many other autistic children find it almost impossible to lie. He tells me things very literally…even when he’s done something wrong. When I’ve questioned if he’s said something that has been alleged he will admit it. I don’t need to justify anything to you so I suggest you either stop being a keyboard warrior or tell me who you are and say all this to my face see if your that brave in person

The local MP will remain neutral. If you have asked for their help then they will write to the school and ask them to comment, that's all. The school will then give their side of the story, which will no doubt appear perfectly reasonable. Job done.

You would be better off following the school's formal complaint procedure and, if necessary, escalating to the Governing Body, then, if still necessary, Ofsted.

However, if you write your complaint in the same terms that you've posted here you won't get very far because you will appear malicious and unreasonable.

No, "schools" don't mistreat kids. Sometimes individual teachers mistreat kids, and need to be complained about and dealt with, but that doesn't justify tarnishing a whole school with the same brush.

Also, sometimes children say things to their parents that aren't true, or which they have misinterpreted. You have only heard your son's side of the story. If the other child in your son's fight wasn't suspended then it's because there was no evidence that they did something wrong. Alternatively, if the other child was punished, then it would be against GDPR for the school to tell you what the punishment was.

Bore off and stop telling me what experiences I’ve had or what staff members have been involved. I’ve listed a couple of incidents. You know NOTHING. Only me and my child, the head teacher and the local MP do.

I’m so sorry you and your child have also experienced similar at another school. Then you have the likes of people like @cottonrich in this thread that want to talk on things they know nothing about and say I’m wrong for giving my opinion on the school. Not even replying to the small minded person anymore. Maybe they should take a good look and see it is a thing and schools do mistreat SEN kids and I’m not the only parent and certainly won’t be the last to experience it!

I guess I shouldn’t have asked for reviews as such. Just wanted to get a general feel for the school. I don’t have many local choices anyway sadly.

I get this. I have a SEN son who went through similar at another highly regarded school in the area. If you’re not a neurotypical high achieving kid it’s very difficult around here. Thanks for your feedback.

@mummatotwo91 "reviewing" a state school is totally different to reviewing a restaurant because it is not an optional service ... for many families RTS is their only option - including yours, unless you get an EHCP or can afford the private sector or are able to home school.

You have had a bad experience with a couple of staff and therefore think you're justified in calling all the senior staff bullies and telling people to avoid the school "at all costs". You are angry with what happened so you are trying to damage the school's reputation. It is nasty.

but you don’t have any direct experience with SEN kids. So don’t comment on what you don’t know about. You have no idea how hard it is for us SEN parents. My disagreement wasn’t with the suspension, it was the fact the other child that hit my child not once but THREE times first almost causing him to fall down stairs did not also get suspended. That’s my problem. And as for the ‘nasty and vindictive’ post. It’s not either of those. It’s MY PERSONAL experience with the school. People leave reviews on restaurants hotels etc some say the place is lovely and staff are friendly some say the place is awful and staff are rude. Everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions and I’ve gave mine!! Everywhere including schools has mixed reviews! Not everyone has a positive experience of the same place. End of discussion. Not replying to you anymore you are rude and think you can comment and discriminate against disabled children you know nothing about

@mummatotwo91 I'm close to people who work in (other) schools, and know how hard they work to meet the needs of children with SEN, but some children with SEN should not be in a mainstream setting and are only there because there are not enough specialist places, or sometimes because their parents insist that they go to a mainstream school. If your child hit someone, they deserved to be suspended, whether in retaliation or not. SEN can't excuse violence. You won't necessarily know what the other child's punishment was because the school would not be able to discuss that with you.

If a teacher taunted your child then of course you should complain, but if there was no witness then it is one person's word against another's. You've decided who to believe, and that's your choice, but it doesn't justify your nasty vindictive post about a local school that hundreds of local families rely on. That reaction reflects badly on you.

Thank you. Yes it’s not been a very smooth sailing journey for us. I’ve looked at other schools for my child as i strongly dislike the school but as he has autism and doesn’t like change and is socially comfortable there he will not change schools and I was told it would be detrimental to him by the woman that diagnosed his autism if I were to change him schools. It is not at all good for students with additional needs. I’m sure for pushy parents with children that do no wrong it’s brilliant as most schools will be. We are going to be applying for an EHCP with the help of SENDIAS in October

There is one particular lady in the SEN team I liaise with and she is very helpful and understands my son’s needs and deals with him in an appropriate manner. It’s more certain members of SLT and teaching staff that are the problem as they clearly don’t read his IEP. We don’t have an EHCP yet either, have had an IEP since year 7 and are now in year 9. We have now had a supporting letter to advise the school to apply for an EHCP for my child

I’d be very careful what you say and try to insinuate about other people’s children, especially ones with disabilities. A neurodivergent child becoming dysregulated is not misbehaving. You have no idea what you are talking about or the battles some SEN parents have to fight. I take it you have no experience with children with autism and adhd? Their brains do not function like a ‘normal’ child. Therefore, they need to be dealt with in a different manner and most of the staff clearly don’t have the correct training and think it’s acceptable to mentally taunt a child by two members of staff having a conversation about the child and their behaviour in the child’s face. The list of incidents is as long as my arm. I am not the only SEN parent that has experienced this within the school. I don’t expect the world to revolve around my child, but I do expect my neurodivergent child to be treated accordingly within school and his needs be understood. And even parents with no additional needs strongly agree about the detention situation. They dish them out left right and centre, they also have no monitor on the detention situation, for example if your child is absent or even on a school trip on a day they have been issued a detention, it automatically escalates as it says child failed to attend detention and the time doubles. My child does do wrong believe me, they’re not a robot! But the fact that even paediatricians have had to write to the school about the way they deal with my child and reiterate to them they have severe social communication and sensory difficulties and the local MP has also agreed to assist me in complaints I’ve made tells you all you need to know! I’m sure the A* students with the pushy parents have nothing but good things to say about the school, but unfortunately for a lot of parents on the other end of the scale who have children with additional needs it’s not as smooth sailing

There is one particular lady in the SEN team I liaise with and she is very helpful and understands my son’s needs and deals with him in an appropriate manner. It’s more certain members of SLT and teaching staff that are the problem as they clearly don’t read his IEP. We don’t have an EHCP yet either, have had an IEP since year 7 and are now in year 9. We have now had a supporting letter to advise the school to apply for an EHCP for my child

I’d be very careful what you say and try to insinuate about other people’s children, especially ones with disabilities. A neurodivergent child becoming dysregulated is not misbehaving. You have no idea what you are talking about or the battles some SEN parents have to fight. I take it you have no experience with children with autism and adhd? Their brains do not function like a ‘normal’ child. Therefore, they need to be dealt with in a different manner and most of the staff clearly don’t have the correct training and think it’s acceptable to mentally taunt a child by two members of staff having a conversation about the child and their behaviour in the child’s face. The list of incidents is as long as my arm. I am not the only SEN parent that has experienced this within the school. I don’t expect the world to revolve around my child, but I do expect my neurodivergent child to be treated accordingly within school and his needs be understood. And even parents with no additional needs strongly agree about the detention situation. They dish them out left right and centre, they also have no monitor on the detention situation, for example if your child is absent or even on a school trip on a day they have been issued a detention, it automatically escalates as it says child failed to attend detention and the time doubles. My child does do wrong believe me, they’re not a robot! But the fact that even paediatricians have had to write to the school about the way they deal with my child and reiterate to them they have severe social communication and sensory difficulties and the local MP has also agreed to assist me in complaints I’ve made tells you all you need to know! I’m sure the A* students with the pushy parents have nothing but good things to say about the school, but unfortunately for a lot of parents on the other end of the scale who have children with additional needs it’s not as smooth sailing

I can’t comment as am not aware of the incident
the SEN team do have mixed reviews
I have found them responsive when I have emailed them, I hadn’t realised needed to add the dyslexic diagnosis to arbour but once I did there was a response. We don’t have an EHCP so don’t fall under completely so it does rely on individual teachers.

Sounds to me more like someone with a grievance who is mud slinging. Every school has at least one of those - usually a parent who thinks the earth should turn around their child (who of course can do no wrong).

I'm glad to hear RTS is using their behaviour policy to tackle bad behaviour, even if some parents consider it "minor" bad behaviour. I suspect the parents of other RTS children will be grateful for that.

Sounds to me more like someone with a grievance who is mud slinging. Every school has at least one of those - usually a parent who thinks the earth should turn around their child (who of course can do no wrong).

I'm glad to hear RTS is using their behaviour policy to tackle bad behaviour, even if some parents consider it "minor" bad behaviour. I suspect the parents of other RTS children will be grateful for that.

So sorry to hear this. That’s terrible.

Avoid this school at all costs. They treat SEN children like animals. Constantly onto them for any little thing they do. Give out detentions left right and centre for minor things. Never call you back when you request a call. SLT are a bunch of bullies that think it’s acceptable to make snide remarks to your SEN child about being ‘kicked out’ then deny it when confronted. They suspended my SEN child for retaliating when they were struck not once but 3 times by another student, and did not suspend the other student that struck first. Think it’s acceptable to change an autistic child’s class without discussing with parent or student prior to doing so, just springing it upon them when they return to school after 6 weeks summer holidays. Spoke to other parents of former students with SEN who have all agreed the way they treat and handle students with additional needs is beyond appalling and some even resorted to pulling their child out of the school!

Good to know, I’m definitely not ruling Twickenham out, I’ve heard by word of mouth it’s getting much better and know some parents who’s kids are doing well there. Will visit the open days of all, was just focusing on RTS as it’s my nearest for now. Thank you

Yep, the proof will be in the pudding, but I doubt Ofsted would have given them the Good rating if they hadn't been confident that things were moving in the right direction. They recently got a new Head, and they have the financial security of being part of a large academy trust (same trust as Teddington and Twickenham Schools).