Barnes primary schools

[Adamne22]

Hi everyone

I am moving to london in february from abroad and havent quite decided on where to move.i have lived and studied in beckenham and my husband lived in barnes for many years. My husband wants to move to barnes,i have a 5 year old son and an 8 year old daughter. Can you give me advice on primary schools in barnes please,i am thinking of moving next to barnes primary school hoping there will be space available for the little ones. I am looking for a house at the moment so i have to decide quick 🙈

Thank you 🤗

I believe that Barnes Primary and St Osmunds are both very good. The latter is RC so you'd need to be practising Catholics I believe to stand a chance. Private - you've got bags of choice within about a 20 min radius. I know more about Putney so if you're planning to be closer to there I can help more. Otherwise some Barnes-ites will be along soon I'm sure.

Thank you for your reply ☺️

I think you've got almost no chance of a place for both kids at Barnes Primary. You'll likely get a place for 1 eventually and then the other will get sibling priority. You're more likely to get the older one in. I'd be prepared to go to two different schools initially while you sit on the waitlist.

The good news is that pressure on places has eased in this area after extra classes were created and the birth rate has fallen. All schools in Richmond-upon-Thames LA are good and most outstanding. If you can't get a place in Barnes, both East Sheen and Lowther are great schools. You really need to visit though as all have slightly different ethoses, while all providing a great education.

My eldest DD went to East Sheen if you don't have any joy with the Barnes schools. She joined after 2 years at a private school & her confidence came on hugely in East Sheen & I'd really recommend it

I wouldn't choose a house specifically for the primary school. If you choose an already oversubscribed school it's unlikely you'll get in especially if you have a child in R, Y1 or Y2 (research ICS legislation).

Hello there,
We're looking at Barnes Primary as an option. We have this option for our twins but am unsure as to whether that's a good idea. Some say Barnes primary is a bit overrated. My biggest worry is that their results for pupils whose mother tongue is not English seem to be very different from the ones they are proudly known for. Did your kids go there? Thanks for any info you may have

I don't know the school personally but I'd speak to them about the results. The stats get calculated as long as there are 5+ children in the given category. However, if say they only had 6 children classed as EAL then 1-2 underperforming can have a massive impact on the stats. So worth investigating.

Lowther Primary has fab stats for EAL pupils.

St Osmunds is not a school I would recommend. A catholic school with ethos and nice promises on an open day- still we went through hell with our son there. He has high functioning Autism, but this place is a harsh environment not only for pupils with hidden disability, but for neurotypical kids too. I do understand when you are not qualified to teach SEN pupils, but when you dont even make an effort and show complete heartless attitude is a different story. Pastoral care is non-existent here, even though it is a religious school- this came as a huge disappointment for us. Instead You child or You may find yourself at the receiving end of bullying from other pupils or some staff members as parent blaming is not unknown to them. We have clinical report about the effects that St Osmunds negligence left on our son. Once you reach this stage, CAMHS will be no help at all, just like Educational Psychologists. If you trust only the aforementioned services, you will be left alone. We had to go through an extremely stressful SEND Tribunal process in order to place our son to a school, where he is flourishing. After so many years he is happy for the first time. I wish I had never experienced this rough game from St Osmunds. We are not the only parents who suffered there. Luckily for this school many parents choose not to confront them but take their child from here to an independent school. If you are a parent who is not happy, don`t be afraid to be vocal about it. I am glad We did it, even though it has been the fight of our life. Forget about the leadership of this school- chances are that your complaint will be brushed under the carpet-, you need to look further and report your problems higher up. A non- working thing can only change if we point it out. Do think twice before you admit your DD or DS in this school, because if you make a mistake, fixing and forgetting it will be much more difficult later on.
On the other hand I heard only good things about Barnes Primary, especially their approach towards Sen pupils.

For anyone reading the above message about St Osmund’s School I would like to add that this was not our experience of the school at all. We had 2 children go through the school and we found it to be a very caring environment. It’s a small single form entry school so all the staff know every child by name. We never had any serious incidences of bullying in our entire time there and made lots of wonderful friends amongst the other parents and children there.

To be fair I can’t comment on provision for children with special needs or autism but it seems to me that if someone really has such an extreme problem with a school as the poster above did then surely the sensible thing to do would be to move school. All schools in Barnes and indeed the entire borough of Richmond are excellent so there is no reason for a child to stay in a school where they are so unhappy.