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Original poster

No school vacancies in the Richmond Borough

53 replies

Slubulino · 12/07/2024 06:07

Hello there!

My family is moving to Richmond Borough in August. We have been planning our house search in the East Sheen as there was only the RPA school that had vacancies for year 8th.

But now no school in the Borough has any place 🥲. I am lost! Not sure how I should go about finding a home now as I am afraid of finding a home and then get a school 1h away.

What are the criteria of allocating a school place if none of the schools in the Borough have places? I know a child must receive a place.

Thank you!

OP posts:
Peoneve · 12/07/2024 07:03

You cant apply until you have an address and can prove that you are imminently going to be living there.

Then you will get. place under a fair access protocol (FAP)
Depending on where you move to the other boroughs are very close as well

Boy or Girl?
1 hour by bus is a long but not unusual commute for secondary in London (by parental choice)

It seems very unlikely that there are no secondary places in Richmond- there are plenty in Wandsworth. Year 8 (I assume current Year 7) is not a large year group.

Attheendoftheday86 · 12/07/2024 06:40

I would phone the local admissions and ask their advice

YellowDots · 12/07/2024 06:35

This happened to me with primary school. I imagine in London they will be a bit more experienced and know what to do a bit better than they did when it happened to me!

You have to be provided with a school place. And within a certain timeframe. There is a process called Fair Access Protocol which may be useful.

You can put her name on waiting lists for any school but find out how each school manages their lists as some ask that you let them know every month that you still want a place.

What I did is after I moved I appealed for the nearest school. In the statement I wrote about how this was the closest school and how this was going to help my child settle in to the area. And that there were no spaces anywhere else! I did win the appeal.

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