Richmond Borough Schools Chat 7

[muminlondon2]

Lots and lots of discussions on local schools and education issues preceded this thread, including Richmond Borough Schools Chat 6.

Anyone who wants to carry on that discussion, and offer information and opinions (without being moderated by any particular individual or interest group, bearing in mind all the usual mumsnet guidelines about respect and not getting personal, etc.) - feel free.

The Teddington AS results are here: Here I can't see any 40% failures in science and it says the Value Added score is good. Anecdotally, Teddington hasn't really succeeded in hanging onto a lot of its brightest and best yet as there is such a long tradition of going to Esher College. So the academic profile of those taking these AS' could be different from that of the school as a whole. I haven't seen any statistics about the origins of students. When we looked round the sixth form the girl showing us had moved from Claremont and lived in Hampton. She was absolutely loving it there!

Really good breadth of subjects - impressive that they are able to offer so many, given the financial constraints and being a start-up operation.

Actually looking at this again the pass rate for Biology and Maths was pretty low - only just over 60% so perhaps this was what Cllr. Frost was alluding to? The results for the other subjects look a lot better.

Wonder how many moved to Waldegrave from Teddington? Over a third of the cohort were doing Maths and Biology but the grade distributions are quite wide. Is it also possible that more of those studying Biology had previously done Core/Additional GCSEs rather than single sciences and the jump up was a challenge?

The other thing is - I thought AS level had to be standalone exams rather than as part of an A-level now? If so, they would be subsidiary subject results and may be misleading.

The Guardian has: 'London effect' in schools due to gradual improvements not policies, says report - LSE report says primaries improving since 90s and abolition of Inner London Education Authority led to pupils’ success:

. . The turnaround in the capital’s schools, where disadvantaged pupils now outperform those in the rest of the country after years where they lagged behind, has been the subject of intensive research, in the hope it can be replicated elsewhere. Previous studies have credited . . the London Challenge . . the academies programme . . Teach First, which puts top graduates into challenging schools . . the abolition of the Ilea . . (and) the ethnic composition of pupils. But [[http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/wp21.pdf Understanding the improved performance of
disadvantaged pupils in London published on Wednesday by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the LSE]] . . concludes that there is no single explanation for the turnaround. Instead, gradual improvements in primary schools since the mid-90s – including school inspection, choice and competition – have all contributed . .

The report concludes (p 37):

London’s schooling success seems likely to further grow over time as age 11 test scores continue to improve relative to elsewhere in England . . (already) disadvantaged pupils in London are significantly more likely to continue on in post-compulsory education . . This is the first sign that the high quality attainment at 16 is translating into better quality outcomes later in life. While it is too early to observe if this trend continues at later stages, there are reasons to be optimistic that this may translate into more social mobility in the capital city.

So it looks like Cllr Frost's criticism was of Teddington's result in Biology and Maths after all, and now Cllr Knight has piled in. So much for supporting local schools. This has now been reported in the RTT.

The headteacher has explained the results. As expected, it is partly to do with intake, and accepting students with lower GCSE results.

"In biology, the choice of coursework options didn't work but that is reasonably easy to fix - those students will retake the exam in November and they will be fine.

"Maths had a relatively low entry rate and pupils who were grade C at GCSE were accepted, with the A2 target of D and AS target of E.

"Other sixth forms only take A or B grade students and although it doesn't look great in the results, some slip off the bottom."

He added that he wants more schools to be brave and accept students with lower GCSE grades but admitted it is a "difficult balance".

I like the fact that the headteacher at Teddington has been transparent with these results - few secondary schools have published AS results, in fact.

Indeed! If only all schools published the results, and explained the context! Sadly some prefer to keep quiet, hope to brush it under the carpet

What a strange photo. It looks as if they are wondering who stole the pies! From what I understand of maths A-level it's very hard and you have to be really good at maths to do it so not sure that taking students who have Cs is a good idea - but shows the pressure the schools are under to fill places. muminlondon I know a brave boy who went to Waldegrave 6th form from Teddington and I think he was practically the only one. The general view from the students that I know in the first two years of the great 6th form experiment is that there's only one thing worse than staying at your own school and that's going to someone else's!

I see Teddington are in the RTT news today with a pic and article about a Supply Teacher picketing outside .

here

The RTT print edition also has a letter from Cllr Gareth Evans here, in response to Cllr Penny Frost. I agree that the LibDems made historic mistakes with their school policy but I'd be surprised if that didn't provoke another letter about Conservative policies.

Brave boys who go to Waldegrave, but they had as many boys in that year group as Twickenham Academy, no doubt starting off with better GCSE grades. Meanwhile they have as many girls as Teddington, Orleans Park and RPA combined!

Kingston Guardian has: Plans for permanent school building for Kingston Academy revealed:

. . Plans include a 6,537sq m extension for classroom space, a multi-use games area, 82 front parking spaces, widened pedestrian and cycle access routes and a sports hall . . Approval is expected to take about 12 weeks, and if passed, the school’s new building could be ready by 2017 . . The closing date for comments on the application is Tuesday, October 13.

Hello all. Have been following this thread on and off for a year or so now with interest as I have a three year old. Am currently looking at Primaries and preparing to apply. Seems like my PFB has SNs. Am just starting the process of diagnosis. He's disruptive and unable to concentrate at nursery though very sociable and bright. Seems sensory processing issues are a given, whether this is a part of something else (ie ADHD or Autism) have yet to discover. Would this count as an exceptional educational need as far as LBRT's admissions go?

Hi mummy on the hill
If you haven't already done so I would apply for an educational and health care plan - ask your nursery to do it or you can apply yourself . They have 20 weeks to complete an assessment . This needs to be done straight away in time for reception .if you get this you can apply to whichever ever school you like in the borough - his case will go to the Sen panel and they will allocate a place / a certain if the school has the capacity or capability of taking your child .
There is a lot about how to do this on richmond council website
I would call and speak with the admissions regarding whether his case would be strong enough to apply under the special medical needs category if you don't think he will get a EHCP.

Looks like the Stag Brewery site in Mortlake is going to be another new secondary school, see page 5 onwards. I wonder who will step in to set it up?

points 3.14 and 3.15 from the above document:

3.14 It is therefore considered that a new secondary free school, providing at least six forms of entry, will be needed in the eastern half of the borough by September 2019; otherwise there would be up to c.150 children unplaced within the eastern half of the borough. That number is likely to rise to c.250+ by 2022. It is therefore probable that additional places will be needed within existing schools as well as a new school.

3.15 The Stag Brewery site, for which the Council prepared in conjunction with the community and landowners a comprehensive brief for the redevelopment of the site in the form of a Supplementary Planning Document, is the only one within the eastern half of the borough that has been identified as being large enough to accommodate a six-form entry secondary free school.

omg!
Parking, traffic - what a nightmare!

Surely there must be some open space in Barnes (where Lowther is currently disadvantaged in getting secondary places) available? Otherwise they will be too far away to get in as it will be monopolised by Sheen parents who can't get into Christ's or Grey Court, and who can't risk the (still not improved, despite PR gloss) RPA.

Teddy thank you so much. I did call them before you replied today and didn't get anywhere near as conclusive response as yours. Will study the website a bit more.

WRT the EHCP, what's the 20 week deadline about? From when parents request it?

Mummy on hill
Also look at enhanceable they are commissioned in Richmond to deliver support to families with children with additional needs . Also me too and co and 3 wings trust . Enhanceable can give you advice .
Look on the Richmond website under Sen the timescale is there .
Your nursery should be leading on this . If it is a school based nursery then speak with the senco .
Each professional working with your child will need to provide evidence .
Good luck

Thank you Teddy. Will start applying myself to the whole issue. School have been very blunt and seeing their referral form has been a big shock. They haven't offered much more info but i will follow them up on it. I guess their major concern is getting extra funding asap.

Has anyone any advice or experience of deferred entry to Reception? His bday is start of July so I think this could help.

Hi Richmond
1st speak to your gp or health visitor and ask to be refered to a community paediatrican to get any diagnosis and monitoring in progress
Check out Ipsea. They have a template for requesting statratory assessment for EHCP. You can start the process your self. You may find they say they want your child to start school to see how they cope. If you don't think they will contact people like sossen .
There are certainly children in Richmond who have deferred starting but I think they all had a statement or EHCP.
Have you checked out achieving for children.
Me too and Co have an educational advocate. And area friendly bunch for support.
Check out the mums net see pages
Hope that helps. We are at the other end of the system now (teens)

Some provisional GCSE statistics for 2014-15 but these do not go down to school level. They do give averages which could be helpful where schools have published a provisional result for GCSEs and Ebacc, e.g. Grey Court or Orleans Park. A summary is given below.

It's a bit depressing that despite the 'rigour' of the Ebacc, fewer students are being entered for single sciences than in previous years, language entries have actually dropped and it's unusual to be entered for more than one language or Humanities subject. Still, Richmond has the third best average on Ebacc after grammar school areas Sutton and Kingston, suggesting this is the LA with the highest number of high achieving pupils in state comprehensive schools.

GCSE 5 A-C inc EM*

All state-funded: 56.1%
Converter academies: 63.3%
Sponsored academies: 44.7%

Richmond LA: 63.3%

Ebacc

All state funded: entered 38.6% (achieved 23.9%)
Converter academies: entered 45% (achieved 29.7%)
Sponsored academies: entered 27.8% (achieved 13.4%)

Richmond LA: entered 54.9% (achieved 39.8%)

Ebacc subjects

Entries for three GCSE sciences: 21.7% (92.7% achieved)
Entries for Core and Additional science 52.3% (59.1% achieved)
No Ebacc science entries: 25.7%

Entries for Ebacc Humanities: 65.5% (66.9% achieved) - 30.2% History, 25.9% Geography, 9.4% both

Entries for Ebacc Languages: 49.3% (70.0% achieved) – one language 44.8%, more than one language 4.5%

MuminLondon
The are at individual school level on the DfE website here
And you can easily compare any schools you choose.
I compared Grey Court, Christ's RPA and Orleans.
Grey Court looks very impressive. RPA - not so much.

The secondary allocation maps for over subscribed schools 2015 is out, there is only grey court and Orleans park. Surprised waldegrave not over subscribed this year!