Moving to Teddington

[Nannoo]

Hi,
We are so excited to be moving to Teddington in a few months with 2 boys: one in Y3 & a 10 months old baby. Just wanted to hear the views of moms regarding schools, my son is in an outstanding school in Berkshire at the moment & we will be an in year admission so really worried we might get a place in Stanley school or any other low performing school. Is there any chance the council would give us a hint of the places available before we go ahead & buy the house? Is it easy to walk/take bus from the high street to the Brooms area in case we got a place in Collis primary? Also any views about Turing Secondary school? What do boys do if they don't get a place in neither Teddington school nor Turing? Really worried:(

Don't be worried about getting a Stanley place - it's a great school. You'll probably get more insight on the Richmond Local thread but there's a parent called @bluestars that has posted about it in detail in the past, and probably others. But all the local primaries are great and you can't go wrong.

Teddington secondary kids go to Teddington School, Turing House or some go to Grey Court if they're not put off by the choice between a spooky woodland commute across the river in winter or a double bus journey via Kingston. I've never heard of anyone not getting into at least one of those.

Don’t worry about the primary schools.They are all good. On the whole the pressure on school places is in reception and year 7. There is movement in the area so school places do come up higher up the schools. As your younger one is pre school you have the benefit of only needing one place at the moment.
If you are in central Teddington getting at place at Teddington school shouldn’t be a problem. It has recently had a poor ofsted but it is expected to turn around rapidly. You have time to see.
It is a great area for families especially with pre school and primary age children.
Yes you can walk from the High St to Collis.
It is worth calling the LEA re places but they can’t hold places for you

All Teddington primaries are great – you can’t really go wrong. It’s more about choosing the school that suits your child, saying that catchment areas are small so your choice will be determined by where you are.
Stanley is a great school – it has a lot of loyal parents who know that the Ofsted report does not reflect the school. They had a problem a few years ago where the lower attainers were not making enough progress (middle and high attainers were fine). They didn’t respond quickly enough (due to an insane set of circumstances to do with the building works) and so the issue repeated the next year. Ofsted jumped on this hence the rating – they had made up their minds before they arrived. The school has responded magnificently as you can see from the latest SAT results. The issue no longer exists. My only criticism is that the school now focuses much more heavily on teaching to the test in Y6 – all the primaries do (especially the Outstanding ones) but I used to love the way Stanley played a different game. Unfortunately, due to the Ofsted they can’t afford to do that anymore. This isn’t Stanley’s fault – it’s the whole system.
In short, Stanley is a super community school with passionate teachers. You just have to watch Top of the Class on iPlayer to see how great the kids are!
Living in Teddington you'll get into Teddington and Turing and possibly Grey Court for secondary.

If you live close enough to the river you should get into Grey Court as you are very close as the crow flies. It's a pita to get to though on public transport. If you've got one in Year 3 then a lot can happen re secondary schools by the time you apply. Teddington had a bad ofsted but it will improve. Turing meant to be good - just has a problem with multiple sites. Places like Hampton, Twickenham come under the Waldegrave umbrella so I wouldn't rule them out.

One of my DC got into a Teddington primary "in year" from Twickenham (because nothing else was available). Turned out to be a great school (outstanding ofsted) - St Mary's and St Peter's. You don't have to be church goers and because it is a church school I think it has more control over their intake. I rang them directly. Don't worry, as others have said, there is lots of choice.

Agree Don’t worry - all schools pretty good in Teddington despite the recent Ofsted press. Getting to Collis school from the high street is about a 10 minute walk - similar if you walk from the broom road area.
If you live anywhere in Teddington, I think it’s very likely that you would get a place at Teddington School. Getting to Grey Court from Teddington is not so easy and I wouldn’t want a year 7 doing it without a parent with them. I have lived in Teddington a long time and have had children go through Collis and Teddington School (one still there). Although they have changed a bit over the years, the children that go to both schools are generally lovely and most balance academic work with sports and the creatives (very teddington!) well. In fact, I have just seen their fantastic drama production at the school tonight under the new Head Mrs Pacey. The best way to understand whether the school will be a good fit is to go and visit - but not on an open day. I agree with the Stanley comments above too - teaching just to meet Ofsted targets seems to now be the only way unfortunately which is hindering the true growth of teddington children in to rounded adults.

Don't forget SMSP (St Mary's & St Peter's) - an outstanding primary, and both of our DS's have had a great time there. Secondary catchment is so much greater - you could try Orleans Park School if Teddington & Turing don't work out. Schools in Richmond though are pretty high achieving. Richmond sends more students to Oxbridge than the whole of Scotland and Northern England apparently, which is somewhat unbalanced, but when you live here you can see why.

Of course that's at least partly because Scotland and Northern England are a very long way from Oxbridge and have some excellent universities of their own! I'm from that end of the UK and had absolutely no interest in going "down south" for uni, or indeed anywhere that wasn't within half a day's travel from home. I'm in London now - but it was the job market that got me in the end. (Slightly off topic, but felt the need to dive in and set the record straight )