secondary schools in kingston

[Guineddie]

Hi,
we have recently moved to kingston ( in search of better schools) for our 3 kids. The wait for our preffered schools seems to be never ending :( it's been half a term already with kids sitting at home! how long do waiting periods generally last? any feedback for chessington school? any school suggestions for both kingston and richmond borough where chances of getting in are more? any insight is highly appreciated. Thank you

Have you been offered any school? It may not be any of your preferred ones if full but better than no school.

The LA has to offer you a school place; if there are none available, the Fair Access Protocol (FAP) comes into play, as I understand it. Were you offered a place? I would accept it as even a school you are less keen on would be better than no school. How old are your DC?

has the council not offered anything at all? I thought they were obliged to, I think you should send them to any school offered in the meantime

Thank you for your help. We were offered chesington school. Any reviews? it is more than half an hour drive and an hour bus ride from us :(

I don’t think it’s any great shakes to be honest. One of the poorest in the Borough which is why they have space. Could you look further afield? Train service from Jingston is great so you have choice potentially if you cast net wider.

Which is your preferred school and how close do you live to it?

Actually I take that back. I was really only going on hearsay and having had a look at the school website and video I was pretty impressed. Those who are local may have better insights though.

Also what years are your children in?

Places won’t come up unless someone moves house and takes their child out of the school.

In a ‘preferred school’ there will be loads of families who chose the area to settle long term ready for the Reception intake precisely because of the schools, so won’t be moving.

Get on the waiting list for each and every school you would consider and which is within reach. No matter which borough.

Schools do not have to be ‘outstanding’ to deliver the National Curriculum to a level which will give your children a good grounding for secondary school. If your children are of average ability or above, and are well supported at home they will thrive. much better to just get them into school rather than being out of school waiting for the perfect place.

Your could ask RBRUT about Hampton High as you can get there on the bus from Kingston but I don't think it's much different to Chessington school.
What year groups are you looking for?

I've heard great things about Kingston Academy.

Are you on waiting lists?

Have you looked in neighbouring boroughs.

Also- are you religious?

thanks for your response. My kids are un year 9 and 6. we are on waiting list in kingston academy which is less than 0.5 miles from us but still a long waiting list !

@Guineddie , you need to get them both into school after half term. It's unlikely year 6 will see any more WL movement this school year and for year 9 you need to be covering the basics for GCSEs. Take the chessington places today to start asap. Don't forget the vat on school fees issue, Surrey as a county has 20% of pupils in private schools and another school fees invoice is due after Easter pushing more dc out of their private schools and into state schools.

@Guineddie have you phoned up
other schools to check availability & are you on other waiting lists. Kingston is bucking the trend of falling school rolls but it's unusual to have just one space.

as others have said, you don’t wait a week, move up the list a place, wait another week, move up the list a place etc. You may be on the list for years.

For your year 6 child, have you made an on time secondary application for a year 7 place? Once they start, it may move the sibling up the list, but since the sibling is year 10 then, they need to be cracking on with GCSEs

Also - as you may not be aware - the list is held in criteria order not length that you have been on it. So if someone living closer than you to the school applies, they would go above you.

I think living half a mile away from kingston accademy is very likely too far to get an in year place. People will just keep moving closer and jumping ahead of you on the waiting list. However, if they give sibling priority (I'm not sure if they do or not?) Then if your younger child gets in on distance your older child may get a place in year 10.
Chessington isn't great but I'm not sure if you have much choice. I know that when I enquired a few months back Richmond had no year 9 places in any of their schools.

When do the schools make their choices for GCSE options? Maths / English Language / Science (at least the 'double' variety) are a given, but not actually being on roll when the actual options are applied for may leave your year 9 with only what is left, especially in terms of subjects with Health and Safety aspects as well as the normal timetabling issues. Also, is s/he keeping up with the year 9 curriculum via CGP workbooks / BBC Bitesize / Oak Academy / tutoring etc, or just sitting at home doing nothing because the school you want hasn't offered a place yet?

@Guineddie I agree with others, please accept the offered place. An hour to get to school is not impossible, and it has to be better for a year 9 to be in school now. It’s really important for them to be looking at option subjects.

What have they been doing for the last six weeks to keep up? A place may never come up in your preferred school unfortunately, so unless you plan to HE, please take the offered place asap after half term.

Thank you everyone for taking time out to help me. This is a reality check I think. Maybe settle for chessington after term break and focus on tuitions if required. Until, hopefully, we get what we moved here for to begin with :( sad fix ...

@Guineddie as others said, you need to accept the offered place, because Kingston's school admissions team have no obligation to offer an alternative if you turn it down. However, stay on the waiting list for alternative schools. e.g. Are you on the waiting list for Teddington School? It has a wide catchment, so a place may come up. There can be a bit of movement in year 9 due to parents re-thinking before the start of Key Stage 4.

@beenAmo that is a good point about kids might be moving in year 9. at least raises hope :) we are on number 2 on the waiting list for teddington , been moved down from 1 though .. fingers crossed

Any feedback on hampton high in richmond 🙌