State schools for Homes near Kew Retail Park

[summer8sun]

Hi everyone.. Please Help!

We are thinking of moving to Kew - just by the retail park, and are totally confused as to which state schools we would be likely to get for dd.

Can anyone give me an idea of which state secondary schools we should visit/are likely to get into?

Thanks so much in advance

You can put in your post code on the Richmond council website....and using the retail park postcode it says 2 senior schools are both 1.4 miles away : Christ’s School and Richmond Park Academy.....so presume you will be in the catchment area for one or both?

Thanks ripple. I thought so! We are not religious so christ's wouldn't be an option. And Richmond park academy doesn't seem to be doing very well... I just wondered if there was one I had missed somehow but its seems I was right about the lack of options around..

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/compare-schools

You can see all the schools by borough and pull up a map. If you’re looking for excellent secondary options, you’ll have better luck in North Kingston, New Malden, Cheam, Sutton etc.

Or Twickenham way for Orleans Park. Or Greycourt is another good one.

Also, Richmond Park has done very well this year but the school seems to be very up and down.

Jojo thanks we are looking into these options

Kew isn't great for state school places unless you are religious. Most local children seem to go privately. If you are looking at state secondaries you may be better looking at a different area.

@summer8sun only 50 of the 150 places at Christs are reserved for churchgoers. For 2019 cut off distances for all the Richmond Borough schools for National Offer day and the end of August (after waiting list movement) can be found here.

But how old is your child and when do they transfer to secondary? That's relevant because there is a new school called Livingstone Academy due to open nearby on the Mortlake Brewery site in 2022 or 2023 subject to planning permission. Until then the council are planning bulge classes at Christs and RPA to cater for demand (according to the latest school place strategy which was published recently). There's a bit of a local campaign against the new school getting planning permission but it's likely to be approved as it's desperately needed and sites for new schools are very hard to come by locally.

Grabadab wow thanks for sharing, I had no idea about the proposed new school. Dd is due to start secondary in 2022. I wonder how likely this will be to go ahead. Do you have any idea when a definite decision will likely be made by, and do u know where the nest place to look for information is?

Thanks again. I did feel like I had missed something in my search..

Grabadab I'm not sure about Christ's. While I'm sure it's a very good school, I don't want dd to feel like an outsider when there will be quite a few differences already

summer8sun, if you're not a CofE churchgoer I can empathise with your feelings about Christs but two thirds of the places are open to all, and its in a fairly diverse area (nationality-wise if not economically-wise) so it is relatively inclusive. It has been pragmatic about making its admissions policy more inclusive over the last few years or so due to changing demographics. Maybe go along and stand outside one day at home time to get a sense of the range of kids that attend. Also, try turning things on their head and think about the benefit to other students of whatever differences your own child will bring. It's worth being positive because you may not have much choice at the end of the day.

There are some Local Authority FAQs about the Livingstone Academy here: www.richmond.gov.uk/services/planning/stag_brewery/stag_brewery_questions

The planning process can be very slow, but it must be due to be heard soon. Here is the link to all the documents on the council's planning portal: www2.richmond.gov.uk/PlanData2/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=18/0547/FUL.

Don't be put off by all the objections listed on the planning portal because it's pretty normal for school building projects to have campaigns against them and they often spread a lot of mis-information in the community and encourage people to object. I haven't followed this one closely but I think the main objections are about traffic congestion in the area and negative impact on other local schools (which is complete tosh because parents in the area know the extra places are badly needed). Also there was a rival group who wanted to set up a very religious free school instead ... thankfully their bid was rejected.

I don't know much about the Aspirations Academy Trust that is setting up the school other than it is sponsored by Ian Livingstone who founded Games Workshop (hence the name). Their website is here: www.livingstone-aspirations.org/.

Also here is a link to the council's school place strategy which, if nothing else, will reassure you that the new school is needed and that they'll be doing what they can to make sure it gets planning permission ... cabnet.richmond.gov.uk/documents/s82257/2a%20School%20Place%20Planning%20Strategy%20-%20December%202019%201.pdf

This will be useful too ... it's the original free school proposal for Livingstone Academy ... assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/726669/Wave_10_Livingstone_Academy_West_London.pdf

Bear in mind that it was originally proposed for Tower Hamlets, then switched to Richmond Borough because the places were needed more. But all the info in the proposal about the ethos of the school should remain the same.

People will tell you that a lot of local families send their children to private secondary schools, but much of that has been driven by a lack of good local places over a long period of time. There are a lot of families who have either moved house or gone into debt in order to pay for private education rather than take up a place in a school that 'Requires Improvement', but all the schools that were historically in that category have now been turned around. In the past some Kew families were even allocated places at an RI school on the Twickenham side of the borough (Twickenham School, formerly Twickenham Academy) and naturally they voted with their feet and protested loudly. Now the council is doing more to make sure there are enough places on the Richmond side of the borough, so if Livingstone is delayed you should be allocated a place in a bulge class at either Christs or RPA. You might find that you don't get an offer on March 1st, but you should get one before September 1st because it's the council's duty to offer you something.

The waiting lists do move a long way because of large numbers that hold onto state places until the last minute but then eventually do go private. They do that because they're probably on several waiting lists themselves (state and private) and are hedging their bets before making a final decision.

Something else worth knowing is that RPA's attainment levels are historically lower than Christ's because it's near the border with Roehampton which has very high poverty levels. But it's still a good school. It was RI in the past but is much better now with more local families supporting it.

Grabadab thank you so much for all of this info. It really is food for thought..

While I'm not totally against Christ's or Rpa, I just don't want to feel that I would be compromising dd's education by moving to an area that I absolutely love. I'm really excited about Livingstone Academy, I like the digital arts focus and their fresh approach to the curriculum.

A new school really is needed in that area. From what I was reading yesterday, it looks like a school is definitely going to be going ahead there.. it seems like a matter of public consultation as to what type of school local parents would prefer, so I am not sure myself how local parents will feel about the modern approach that Livingstone academy plan to take..

The whole planning process has been going on for a very long time so we might even be able to wait a few months, for a better idea of if it will go ahead before we make a final decision

Grabadab you definitely have given us a lot to think about with regards to this situation. Thank you so much! I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the Livingstone academy permission but I definitely feel that it will go ahead..

Assuming planning permission is granted it will definitely be Livingstone, rather than any other school, that is established. The Local Authority FAQ link that I posted above (at 08.29) explains why.

If you have a daughter, you might like to look at Twickenham and Waldegrave. It is a really excellent non-denominational school - check the slightly odd catchment on the council website.

It's worth putting Waldegrave as a wildcard for girls but I wouldn't hold out much hope. Google maps gives the walking distance between Waldegrave and Kew Retail Park as 7.6km which is quite a lot more than the 2019 cut off distance of 6.045km (which is the cut-off at end of August after waiting list movement). By 2022 the cohort size will be a lot bigger (see the table in para 4.17 of the council strategy) so the distance is unlikely to increase unless Waldegrave takes a popularity nosedive.

No, I mean there's little point applying from Kew unless you sit on a waiting list for years. But you could live in Richmond or Twickenham which are close to Kew and very nice, and live in a genuinely lovely environment with a great school place.

I'd be a bit wary of that Livingstone place. There's been no local consultation or account taken of what people actually want and there's another school trust vying to run the secondary there.

PS I know non-religious or non-Christian children at both RPA and Christs and all seem happy so if it really must be Kew I'd hope for one of those personally.

The other school trust's free school application was rejected (thankfully - it was headed up by some very conservative Christians with alleged links to mysoginistic teachings). Livingstone is the only school that has ever realistically been on the table. You're right that there hasn't been a local consultation on it, and some people resent that. It's a pretty unusual set of circumstances, but to be honest it's hard to see what could be unpopular about the school itself, so long as the trust know what they're doing on the delivery. The Local Authority say they've done due diligence on the trust so there's no reason to doubt that. They'll have to have a pre-opening consultation, but that's essentially just a tick-box exercise. So long as the Local Authority continue to support the bid, and there continues to be a need for the school, and the planning permission is granted, it will eventually go ahead.

The one that was rejected was Thomas Cromwell School. It submitted a free school bid in Nov 2018 (www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-application-information-for-wave-13) but wasn't on the list of successful bids that was published a few months later and they haven't been heard of since. Their last tweet on Twitter was Feb 2019.

Interesting that neither grabadab nor summer8sun have posted on any other threads.