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.

Where did you get the Pan London Demand data and how is it calculated?

There's lot of data on the London Schools Atlas datastore - and if you follow the link you can find Projected Demand for School Places. There is methodology too although it's a bit too technical for me, really.

there are a lot of students attending primaries all within a mile of the Whitton TH site. There is, as we have discussed also nearby The Heathland School, which accepts 270 per year and TA which accepts 180 per year.

Twickenham Academy has the potential to attract more than it does from local primaries - the data suggested about 86 transferred from Heathfield, Chase Bridge, Nelson, Trafalgar and Bishop Perrin a year or so ago.

But where else do they go? Might they switch from single-sex schools or faith schools or other mixed schools much further away? There is some scope for it without harming existing preferences for which there is plenty of demand. From the rest of the 301 pupils:

47 went to Waldegrave
36 went to the Heathland
32 went to Orleans Park
10 went to St RR
10 went to Hampton Academy
12 went to state grammars in Kingston/Slough (just as likely to switch to a local TH as any would from private schools)
7 went to Teddington (from Trafalgar)
3 went to the Green School (from Bishop Perrin)

About 58 went elsewhere or private.

In comparison 118 went to Hampton Academy from Hampton Junior, Buckingham, Hampton Hill and Stanley (not including 10 from Heathfield). Out of 267 pupils in those schools, where else would they have gone to?

38 went to Waldegrave
23 went to Teddington
21 went to Thamesmead
12 went to Bishop Wand
6 went to Twickenham Academy
3 went to Christ's
5 went to Orleans Park
3 went to St RR
3 went to Sunbury Manor

About 35 not accounted for. Not enough in that category to fill 200 places at Turing House - more likely that it would split the intake at Hampton Academy.

Yes, Twickenham Academy is likely to be affected if Turing House took a greater proportion from Whitton, but Hampton Academy is being impacted in greater numbers anyway. Neither TA nor HA could make up that shortfall easily from Hounslow pupils, unless a big event happened like a school closing down.

Nicky Morgan's visit was reported in the Richmond and Twickenham Times:

pages.cdn.pagesuite.com/8/7/87e97a26-f51e-4e2d-896e-e84e11266166/page.pdf

I don't really understand what proposal Nicky Morgan is waiting for from the community or who could help, and how. A new school proposal? A new site for Turing House? A different admissions policy for Turing House on the site proposed?

I thought that HA and TA were undersubscribed but it appears from the LBRUT secondary admissions brochure that both TA and HA are not in fact undersubscribed as 180 places were offered at TA for Sept 2015 and 186 places offered at HA.

They were slightly undersubscribed last year, TA more than HA. Not everyone accepts the offer. That's actually true of the most popular and oversubscribed schools too, even where most offers were first or second preference (because of the numbers aiming for private schools) but they have long enough waiting lists to reoffer those places.

So e.g. from 2014-15 transfer year (last year's brochure), 394 places were offered at TA/HA, of which 62 were alternative offers. 307 pupils were enrolled according to the census in January 2015.

whittonmum I included Chase Bridge (which has expanded) but not St Edmund's in that list of Whitton schools. That's because they all went to local Catholic school according to last year's data:

St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School 29
St Mark's Catholic School 16
Gumley House RC Convent School, FCJ 6

Similarly, St James's is now also well served by Catholic schools, although they seem to scatter more widely and a few go to Waldegrave. They have been included in figures used by TH or on these threads, however.

St Edmund's school destination data again - that came out a bit scrambled

St Richard Reynolds - 29
St Mark's - 16
Gumley House - 6

Some of those kids that went to Thamesmead will have got music or drama places and the rest will have moved house, which is exactly the sort of community break up I'm talking about. You only need to do a year of church attendance for Bishop Wand so that accounts for those numbers. More of those families may choose TH over time. If there is more 'impact' in Hampton it's because there is more demand. More could have gone to TH from Whitton this year if they'd applied and now the site is known they're bound to get more applicants from Whitton. Some in Hampton may have to weigh up travelling to Sunbury/Shepperton versus travelling to Whitton but it gives those of us who don't do church or have music prodigies a choice.

But they won't be able to get places from Whitton, that's the point. There are only 30 places max. There's no reason why the vast majority of Heathfield pupils should have lower priority than those at Archdeacon, Stanley, St Mary's and St Peters or Collis when they don't even have Waldegrave or Teddington or a faith school as an option, like those aforesaid schools.

Meanwhile, you can't have choice at Hampton Hill or Hampton Jumiors without community breakup for Hampton Academy, because they are - or have been - the core of its community.

Heathfield pupils have Heathlands as an an option as well as other good schools in Feltham and Hounslow and have just as much access to faith schools as anybody else. They'll also have 20% of Turing places pretty much reserved for them whereas most of Hampton will probably be on the edge of the other 80%.
Back on the subject of people moving away, a lot of people do that even before year 6 so they won't even be in your figures.
Hampton Academy has always been a centre of the community and is only undersubscribed because of their rubbish sponsor. Once it sorts itself out it'll be full and the need for more places will be even more obvious. The big hole on the map is undeniable and there ain't no sites for schools. And the expansion data on the consultation map shows at least 150 extra kids in the next few years near the admissions point.

The proportion from Heathfield near enough to Heathlands would be similar to the proportion at Hampton Hill or Stanley near enough to get into Waldegrave. Those near enough to Heathlands will also be near enough to Turing House so there's no even distribution of choices, as ^whittonmum* has explained. But they will soon have as many extra children leaving primaries in Whitton as in Fulwell.

The last time that Hampton was full it had a catchment of 11km so there will always be places for Hampton pupils.

The 80/20 split isn't fair or the best use of resources.

But you're not going to agree with me so for the time being I'll wish you happy Christmas and finish my wrapping. [santa]

I've clearly got more faith than you in its ability to improve and become oversubscribed, rather than always being a pressure release valve feeding the private sector. The area needs HA and Turing too. The gap in the schools map is enormous.
But merry Christmas to you too!

Well, it's certainly not feasible for pupils in same community to take up two places at once, and I do agree that Hampton Academy under new management could look attractive. So maybe HH pupils won't feel the need to travel to Whitton. And it would be nice for Hounslow if in return for the land they've given up, they get places freed up at one their most oversubscribed schools as Richmond pupils take up places at Twickenham Academy or Turing House. And TH might adjust its admissions policy in response to the consultation with no adverse impact on any particular schools, pollution levels or bus routes. There, sorted - I'm sure we can drink to that.

RTT Online has: The hunt is on for a headteacher for a new school, set to open in Twickenham in September:

Trustees for the Richmond upon Thames School (RTS), for 11 to 16-year-olds, are searching for a suitable professional to take the helm. Details: jobs.rutc.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=023615. Closing date: January 24. Information for candidates for Headteacher; school motto: Excellence through endeavour.

Hi everyone
I am a local Dad to two girls aged 3 and 5. I have created the following petition which calls on the council to properly fund early years education as currently parents receive just £3.60 per hour for the so called free hours. This falls well short of the going rate in Richmond for private nurseries. This is costing parents over £2,000 per year.

Please see below a link to my petition.

cabnet.richmond.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=500000005&RPID=500132705&HPID=500132705

Chriskey2015: Your petition will get a stony reception from the Council, I fear, judging from Lord T’s New Year message:

. . 2016 will bring many challenges – and hard choices. Massive new demands for savings are being made on local councils. The government is talking of increasing total income from council tax in the Borough by a quarter in the next four years. We have already saved over £30 million while defending services and freezing tax. This cannot go on. In Richmond, we face a headline reduction of almost half of all general grant we get from Government – a cut of £11.4million in 2016/17 alone. Looking ahead we face total loss of grant and claw-back of business rates . .

RTT Online has "The dog ATE my tie": Pupils and parents accuse Richmond Park Academy of unfairness over 'uniform-gate': A spokesman for the school said the senior leadership team sent home 39 pupils on Monday, with reports of more children being turned away at the gates throughout the week.

A range of views in the comments, including one from a disgruntled pupil.

The new acting HT might have painted herself into a corner over that - what IS she going to do about the Y11 girl whose mum claims she can't afford the shoes for a month?
In other news - seems like RPA have drafted in cavalry in the form of the HT of Barnes Primary here can't be long before he is officially appointed as RPA HT - which was the rumour going round about a year ago - looks like it's really coming to pass...

Regarding "uniform gate " if the staff warned the parents that their children should wear the correct uniform then the staff have every right to reprimand the children. A tidy uniform leads to a tidy mind.

Teddington School parents have had an email saying that the arrangement for Teddington and Waldegrave heads to assist Twickenham and Hampton Academies is going ahead with further details to be announced next week.

Waldegrave I can see why - good track record, although with easier job with population of girls only, with parents who moved house/ understood opaque catchment rules.
But Teddington????????????? How were their AS results? What will their A2 results be? GCSEs sorted? Behaviour addressed? Staff morale functioning?

As I mentioned before the Head of Waldegrave wanted the Head of Teddington involved too as she hasn't any management experience at mixed schools. I gather that at a meeting with parents Head of Teddington was frank about the fact that the timing wasn't ideal but said both of them felt a moral obligation to help. Has also been frank about AS results being poor in Maths partly due to taking in less qualified students because of pressure to fill places in 6th Form.

With regard to petition on nursery places and funding I have sympathy for the parents involved. Conservative Manifesto promised 30 hours a week free nursery care for "working parents" and the majority of parents can't even get existing entitlement of 15 hours per week in LB Richmond. I think I read somewhere that there were only enough free places for one in eight of local children? It is going to be tough to win unless Central Government stumps up the ring-fenced money for it. Has the campaign done a calculation of what it would cost to honour the 15 hours a week pledge in LB Richmond? I imagine it's quite a few million. There would probably be more children in nurseries if the free places were there too i.e. parents would be more likely to go back to work rather than thinking that they can't afford nursery. There's also an overall shortage of nursery places even in the private sector I think.

More developments on the new secondary school on the RUT College site in Twickenham.

According to a local residents association, the plans submitted by the college principal six months ago had to be revised and another public consultation was due to be launched last month.

Still nothing has been heard in public and the September 2017 opening date for the new secondary school could now be in doubt. Interesting the recruitment blurb for the headteacher (ChrisSquire2, 8 January) says that work to develop the new school is ‘running to plan’!

And it is sad to see that the latest Ofsted report finds the college ‘requires improvement’ again and is in poor financial health too. Another worrying sign for the redevelopment plans in Twickenham and for the FE sector as well.

A worrying story in the RTT about the proportion of 15 year olds in Richmond indulging in risky behaviour, e.g. drinking, smoking and/or taking drugs. It is higher in Richmond than anywhere else in London, and much higher than the national average.

Maybe there is a correlation with the proportion in private schools - or at least the annual household income - and such behaviour. No doubt the social pressure to perform is another factor, as well as cultural factors such as religion and ethnic background (having a higher proportion of white British than in other boroughs).

RTT both print edition and online edition has a piece on the Turing House consultation - Whitton Conservative councillors are for a 50:50 split in admissions between the Heathfield site and Teddington admissions point, while LibDem Cllr Jaeger still talks about other sites that have been discounted. Both Conservatives and LibDems are against expanding admissions to 200. The consultation is here and closes on 27th January.

Members Questions for a council meeting on 19 January includes (at 5(t)) one about admission numbers for the sixth forms and college.

MOD to sell Kneller Hall - so Vince Cable was right. But presumably not to the DfE/EFA for a school site as there wouldn't be the same profit as for luxury flats?

Wonder what's happening with the plan to sell off the magistrates' court buildings.