London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Secondary Schools - What would you do?

[Antipogees]

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to get some feedback from you all regarding how we best tackle getting into our preferred secondary school.

We’re moving from New Zealand to England in June this year and are aiming to move into the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (ideally St Margarets or possibly Ham).
We spent 4 years living in South West London (SW14) 7 years ago, so know the Borough fairly well.
Our daughter is 12 (D.O.B 12/12/2012) and our son is 9 (D.O.B 11/07/2015).

We’re unsure if we’re best to put all our eggs in one basket and rent a house as close as we possibly can to Orleans Park Secondary school, if we missed out on that for our daughter then it feels like we’re kind of living in no-mans-land in terms of which school the Richmond Council would then offer her a place at.

Would we be better to move to Ham and move as close as we can to Grey Court School, it feels like there would be a higher chance of getting into Grey Court if we lived very close, vs Orleans Park.

Our preference of secondary schools in the Borough is
Orleans Park
Grey Court
Waldegrave

After those three, we really have no real opinion on what would be best.

Both our kids are more academic than sporty, they both don’t mind sport and participating, they’ll just never be Olympic athletes etc.

Obviously we need to find our son a primary school also, but this seems a bit easier than finding a secondary school for our daughter.

We’d prefer to live in St Margarets over Ham, as it’s a little more lively and it has better transport options in terms of getting into London for work etc.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, do we move somewhere that’s kind of in the middle of multiple school ‘catchments’ or do we focus on one school and try and move as close to that and cross our fingers.
We’d no doubt be signing up for a 1 year lease on a rental property so that could bite us if we end up being placed in a less than preferred option by the Council and we’re quite some distance from the school.

Is another option that we move to St Margarets, try and get our daughter into Orleans Park and our son into Orleans Primary School. If our daughter misses out, then we take the secondary school the council offer us and bide our time with our son eventually getting a year 7 placement at Orleans Park and then try and get our daughter into Orleans Park as a sibling? That would be a three year process though I guess….

It feels like arriving in June and applying for schools once we have signed a rental lease is pretty optimistic in terms of gaining a place, are we better to apply for schools in June/July before the summer break, or do we wait until the start of the school year in September?

We’re not religious at all and sadly can’t afford to pay for private schooling.

Please let me know what you would do in our situation.

Thanks!

So our year 6 son has his first day at The Vineyard School today, and just this morning, our year 8 daughter has been offered a place at Richmond Park Academy.

Richmond Park Academy wasn’t on our list at all, but we figure any school in the borough, is better than no school at all, as both kids have been off school since the end of May.

This is where she sits on the waiting list for other schools that we listed.

• Orleans Park School - 2
• Waldegrave School Area A list - 8
• Grey Court - 19
• Turing House Band 2 list - 22
• Turing House Band 3 list - 4
• Christ's CE School - 5

The south circular is traffic hell in the morning so the bus or car will take an age.
Can you hold out for the closer option? Try calling the admissions officer, they may have an idea whether the list is likely to move.

@Rollercoaster1920 i think op can take train to Mortlake and walk to RPA (appreciate it’s not ideal)

They don't have a crystal ball. They don't know when people will leave or when new applicants will move in to a higher position on the WL. The OP should not turn down the RPA offer because the LA then won't be obliged to make another offer. But she can stay on the waiting list for higher preferences whilst starting to attend RPA.

@Antipogees The no. 33 bus takes 30 mins in the morning..It doesn't use the South Circular. There are bus lanes so it will be quicker than a car. Lots of children take that route to Christs, and probably to RPA too (as you won't be the only waiting list candidate redirected)

We found admissions officers really helpful. They don't have a crystal ball, but are aware when pupils aren't attending the school. Pupils can't be off rolled unless enrolled at a new school or parents actively unenroll them (e.g to home school).

RPA is a good school, but the ability to walk to school is so much nicer. Also having friends nearby.

We’re just happy both our kids will be in school very soon and have children their ages to get to know.
The R33 bus looks very easy, obviously not as easy as a 5 minute walk would be to Orleans.
We’re still on the wait list for our higher listed schools and will certainly look to move our year 8 daughter if a place comes available at Orleans etc.

What are they interested in? Have they joined any local clubs?

I highly rate Guides for girls. Boys tend to go for sport clubs.

Does anyone know if the sibling admissions criteria works for older siblings too?
Our situation would be our current year 6 son is offered a place at Orleans Park on offer day and starts September 2026 in year 7.
Am I correct in saying that our then year 9 daughter would jump up the priority order from 5: distance to the school, to 3: Siblings?

Assuming that would only take place once our son had actually started school in September 2026, not just being offered a place on national offer day in March next year?

Yes it does.

Check the exact wording of the policy on the website, but it will probably say "sibling on roll" which means when they have enrolled in September, not when they only have an offer.

@Antipogees, has your dd got a school
place now or are you still waiting? Hope it’s good news.

... that said, when you reapply for that year group, if you write to the school and let them know you will have a younger child on roll in September, they are likely to apply the priority for any places they expect to be vacated in September. They will often know about them in advance because, as discussed up thread, places vacated by children in July can't be filled until they have re-enrolled elsewhere or confirmed they have moved away.