Where to move: Ham, Teddington or Twickenham

It may stretch that far for year 7 intake, but a Teddington address probably wouldn't put you at the top of the year 9 waiting list for Grey Court.

I personally, would choose to live in Teddington over Ham. There are some parts of Teddington where children still get into Grey Court, as their distance criteria seem to stretch quite far, often to across the river/Teddington Lock. They do have a large intake at GC too.

@Hellenhellen even if they get their 13+ results early in the year, pay a deposit, and tell their current school immediately, they can't be taken off roll until they've registered at their new school. However, I don't know if private school registration takes place in early September when term starts, or at the point that a deposit is paid.

Most of the 13+ intake of private schools is from prep schools rather than from state secondaries. But there are some specialist non-selective state schools that are 13+ too. See here: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/community-information/information-and-advice/school-admissions/atypical-admissions

@Hellenhellen
They should do it as soon as they have information from the private school Feb/ March) but the truth is that some do not disclose that information until they simply not appear at school in September...

"can an August application get ahead of the June application?"

Yes, the applications will be put in priority order using the oversubscription criteria, so an August application closer to the relevant point can be higher than a June application.

However, the June applications obviously get first dibs on any places that are freed up during July. As that is the end of term, it's a key time for students to be notifying schools that they're not returning.

But they can't offer the place to someone new until the departing child is registered in their new school - often that won't happen until September.

Lots of kids in parts of Teddington and Twickenham use the lock bridge to cross over to Grey Court as well.

@Curdled Honestly, if the schools wanted to receive only emails or contact only Admission council they would inform about contacting only via email in the letter. In Turing House there is a nice lady in admission who responds to phone calls. Lovely lady. At Orlean you can talk to them about in year transfers but for waiting list details for y7 they ask you to contact via email council. I am not making up theories detached from reality but I have first hand experience.

"The admission office is there to address it and they get calls like that very frequently. This is their job. They got dozens of calls per day now from y7 waiting lists and also from In Year Transition waiting list."

Schools usually have one admissions officer in their admin office and they often have other duties too. Yes, they may answer phone calls sometimes, but if they were getting "dozens of calls a day" then they wouldn't be able to get anything else done. You and your friend may have called, but most people email because they respect the fact that schools aren't call centres and that lines need to be kept free for parents of current students calling about more urgent things. It's an etiquette thing.

Richmond council does sometimes advise people to "contact" schools, but not "call" schools.

btw while you waiting you may get a place in Twickenham School or if you very very lucky at Teddington School. Those are big schools with more movement in particular Twickenham. Please read about Twickenham school in historical posts.

@Hellenhellen

I only know for Orlean Park School and Turing. I wasn't interested in other schools and we didn't apply. The response for Orlean Park in terms of in Year admission was that it moves on average 1-3 per year. They told me " on average". It means you may wait a year, or two if you live just by the school. You would need to move just in front of the school to jump ahead of the queue or have those Special Circumstances. I have to also mention that the schools are swapping or just placing sometimes pupils if they have a reason ( bullying, bullied) and those jump in without a queue.
Just email
[email protected] to find out

For Turing they accept basing on their Y7 admission criteria so if you live just in front of the school you may have less luck than if you were living a building away from the nodal point in Teddington.

If I were you I would write down the target schools and look where is the available place to move in just by the school. A lot depends on how close you will be able to find a place:
Grey Court
Turing ( here look at the place next to Teddington nodal point) They had best results in 2023
Waldergrave (as you have a girl). Equally excellent
Orlean Park
The Kingston Academy ( if you consider Kingston too)
There are also a few Catholic schools with excellent results if you are Catholic:
Gumley School ( Girls) - Isleworth, Holly Cross,(Girls) - Kingston, St Richard Reynolds- Richmond, St Paul's- Sunbury

Remember that you are competing against parents who move a year or two before Y7 admission. The prices on those specific streets are insanely expensive.

@Curdled

course you can get your position once you are on the waiting list, but the OP is not moving for another month, and your advice was
Call the schools you have in mind if there are free spaces and how frequently they occur

Yes she still can call. My friend recently moved out from Richmond to Shepperton and she did called the schools prior to moving. They always can provide details of there are free spaces at the moment and inform about the past patterns.
Patterns are relevant.

.. it is arrogant to expect school admissions officers to drop what they are doing and surface the answers to your questions on the spot.

The admission office is there to address it and they get calls like that very frequently. This is their job. They got dozens of calls per day now from y7 waiting lists and also from In Year Transition waiting list. At Turing you leave you telephone number and question and they will call you back with the answer. Richmond council has published in their admission letter an advice to call school and find out the waiting list place for Y7.

Turing will respond to her right away. Orlean School will advice to go through Richmond Council but they will also respond to questions

@Hellenhellen
Do you have any special circumstances why your kid would need to attend a specific school? Please bear in mind as some schools are taking this into account. And I don't mean here EHCP but other reasons.

Yes, of course you can get your position once you are on the waiting list, but the OP is not moving for another month, and your advice was: "Call the schools you have in mind if there are free spaces and how frequently they occur" to help her decide where to move to which is not helpful advice for the reasons I've mentioned.

This is an in-year admission, so patterns from previous years are random and not relevant.

It's reasonable to email the school to ask:
"what was the distance for the last in-year admission to year X"
... but what you really need to know is
"how close do I need to be to be at the top of the waiting list."
If they do tell you that, and you can find a property that is closer, then that's as much as you can do. Of course, if they give the same info to others then it's game on.

But don't phone ... it is arrogant to expect school admissions officers to drop what they are doing and surface the answers to your questions on the spot. Email instead.

@Hellenhellen
thought about visiting the council to see if they can give some insight but not sure if they accept visitors

There is no need to visit in person. You can call them or email them questions.
You have to apply via council of course but you can get the info for a specific school by calling/emailing admission office in that school.
There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. I recently called to find out info about waiting list position and previous years waiting list movements as well as I got response to the question to how it works for in year admissions after waiting lists are scrapped + patterns of admission after year 7. Turing House and Orlean Park provide that information. At least they did 2 weeks ago

@Curdled
They will say "yes we have a waiting list" and "no, we can't tell you how close the person at the top of the waiting list lives because that would be a breach of GDPR".

That is simply not true and I am pretty surprised you don't know how it works. They will tell her which number she has on the waiting list once she gets on the waiting list. They also mention that it is subject to changes.They can also inform her about patterns of admission in last years if she asks. There is no breach of GDPR as she would not receive any personal data of anybody- how would she breach if there is no specific data info?

For year 7 waiting lists one can call and find out at school what place they currently have at that very moment. Also, you can asks about historical place movement that is how many kids were accepted from the waiting list in 2023, 2022, 2023.
I also asked about In Year Admission after the waiting lists will be scrapped and we reapply and the admission officer said thag exactly the same process is in place that is you can call and inquire. They always say that it is data for the very moment. She also given me the patterns from last years for in year admission.

They will say "yes we have a waiting list" and "no, we can't tell you how close the person at the top of the waiting list lives because that would be a breach of GDPR". They will also say "No, we can't tell you whether a place is likely to come up soon because we don't have a crystal ball, and even if we know a family is thinking of moving it would be a breach of GDPR to tell you about it".

Trust me, I work in a school. Schools are not call centres, and they are massively under-resourced, so don't be a pain and bother them with daft questions.

Also, don't choose a school based on A level grades. Many students move schools for A level or go to a sixth form college.

GCSE results are worth looking at, but they reflect the affluence of the intake as well the teaching standards. A bright child can do well at any school.

Richmond volleyball club is very good: https://www.richmondvolleyball.co.uk/. Many of their juniors are on regional and national squads - they use the beach courts at Teddington School in Summer and the girls' indoor teams use the sports hall at the German School in Ham in winter. They also run beach volleyball summer camps so that might be a good way for your daughter to make new friends over the summer.

There's a table tennis club at the Brunswick Club in West Twickenham: https://www.twickenhambrunswick.com/

There are children's art activities at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington: https://www.landmarkartscentre.org/

I can pm you the name of a good piano teacher if interested.

DSs attended Orleans Park, great school but expensive to rent close enough to it be sure of quickly getting in on the waiting list. Fantastic if you can get in there though.

I think Grey Court has a better reputation than Teddington school at the moment and know children of various ages there who have been really happy. Have you looked at North Kingston as well as Ham. Really nice family houses (thought not sure of cost) and community. Less coffee shops etc round there than Teddington, but close enough to Kingston town centre and also the river. If I had to choose between the two without any prior links to the area I’d pick Grey Court and Ham/North Kingston.

I agree with what people have said about Turing House. Again a fantastic school, but the admission point is unusual so to make sure you rent in the right area.

Have you thought about Waldergrave School for girls?

I still believe you should call the schools and council to inquire about the waiting lists.