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.

On 'similar schools' Heathfield Juniors comes 49/125 which backs up the solid 'good' rating - better than Hanpton Hill, Trafalgar, Chase Bridge, Bishiop Perrin, etc. on that measure. Its L4 SATS were above national average in 2014 - similar to or better than Chase Bridge and Trafalgar. That's despite a much more diverse intake generally. For disadvantaged pupils, it was fifth best in the borough in gaining L4 SATs.

mum I completely take your point on Heathfield and indeed Buckingham which are both good schools but they are the schools that get offered to parents that are not able to access their local schools and as such you cannot take their social mix as representative of the local area, the reasons may be geographical rather than academic but that was the point I was making. Come to that TA has also improved so that isn't a case of it being a bad or failing school either. It wouldn't surprise me if it is full this year, and let's not forget that for some parents the LST proposition is one they proactively chose.

Mrs Salvo I can only take the word of parents and governors who are not confined to the local primaries you mention on why they now have confidence in RPA, and impressed by the leadership. It is certainly not confined to a couple of the local primaries. In fact the Head herself has been surprised at the sudden increase in local applications in the last two years. And whilst I take your point on austerity in general,another reason that LBRUT can't carry on relying on deterring parents into private education I see little evidence of it being the reason Sheen parents are shifting from private or distant schools. They simply didn't have a choice before that didn't involve perceptions developed when there were knives in the playground, one family I know were sending their daughter to The Green School in Isleworth, now they do and it is tapping massive latent demand for a good local state school.

And I had heard the proposal on creating a multi academy trust with the Primaries has met with overwhelming opposition from parents and schools. Paul Hodgins had to drop the subject at the RPA Heads suggestion in discussions with the Lowther parents on meeting the future need for secondary places in Barnes.

Unsurprising that the RPA head opposed it

TA is full for the first time this year. This may of course be due to there being a larger cohort going into year 7 this year. You'd have to look at the number of parents that put TA as first choice for their child.

It's also not surprising that RPA took a different approach this year on offers. It offered 250 for 2014 entry, but 48 of those were allocated by the council. Take-up of such offers would be low, especially in more affluent wards, so RPA actually started with around 180 pupils, going back down to its PAN. This year it has clearly refused to over-offer through allocations. But it will have re-offered through a waiting list, which it hasn't had for years. These can move fast - over 50 at Orleans Park already, as DDQueen has suggested. Kingston Academy will have supplied a lot of extra capacity and a knock-on effect this year. However, the initial cut-off distance still gets published in the admissions brochure, even if the final catchment is twice the distance.

bladderwrack any info on how many places were declined after Turing House offers were accepted? Or are parents still hanging onto two offers?

No info on that I'm afraid mum.

Hello, I would be grateful for some advice on local secondary schools. We are relocating to Richmond from the West of England. We are looking to buy a house so would like to use this opportunity to find something close to a good secondary school. Does anyone have any experience of Grey Court School? I have one boy in Year 7 and one in Year 5, both academic. Any advice would be gratefully received!

In the latest Richmond & Twickenham Times it is stated that building work could begin in November on the proposed new free school -Deer Park School on the busy A316 by Manor Circus even though no planning application has yet been submitted. It would be interesting to know how many parents have signed up for this school and what part of Richmond they are from. Was it a "last resort" choice or do they really believe that this unsuitable site is an ideal place for their young children to be educated for 6 years.

Rose33 there are several good or outstanding secondary schools in Richmond but Grey Court has had the top rating most recently. I know several very satisfied parents of pupils there, including some who have transferred from other state and private schools, and everyone thinks the head teacher is fantastic, the academic standards very high and ethos inspirational. The extra curricular and sports activities are also impressive. Definitely worth a visit.

Links to RTT mini items about local schools below:

Deer Park at London House

Thomson House in new building

Grey Court in national 3D design competition

This site Grey Court pupil progress gives really useful info on pupil progress, which is more relevant that just the headline GCSE results as it has a direct correlation to the quality of teaching, whereas the GCSE results will depend on the abilities of the cohort - irrelevant for individuals. It also has useful comparison so you can easily see how neighbouring school have vastly different progress scores, so you can see how the teaching compares for different ability levels.

Grey Court also recently (don't know if it is still in place - you could ask) benefitted from master classes given by KCS Wimbledon to help their high achievers get A*s in some subjects.

The BBC reports Nicky Morgan's plans to speed up forced academisation of LA schools rated inadequate by removing the right for parents to be properly consulted or to appeal decisions. No mention yet of whether they intend to make it easier for sponsored academies to change sponsors, and and the Today programme Nicky Morgan did not address Laura McInerney's point that the process was often held up by the DfE not the appeal process, and lacked transparency.

Intersting to look back in the views of Conservative councillors over the sponsored academies in Richmond. While they criticised the delays in the process of converting three schools in 2008-2010, their main concerns were those shared by parents and governors at Hampton Community College - lack of transparency and poorly conducted consultation, and specific objections to the sponsors.

It seems that there is already a total lack of transparency and little consultation on anything to do with Free Schools and academies.It seems that this will get even worse

The Local Schools Network has posted comment here and here. The gist is: there's no evidence that academy sponsorship is any more effective for secondaries and may even be counterproductive for primaries; it is targeting primarily primaries, since most have refused to convert voluntarily; it is another way of bringing in for-profit providers, in addition to the equally opaque free school bidding process.

And another interesting blog from an Oxford education professor about how differently this affects community schools and church schools (which comprise about one in third of all primaries):

'It would be ironic to say the least if a failing church school could join a multi-academy trust run by the church, but a failing community school passed completely out of local control to an academic sponsor with no local affiliation at all. But, if faith schools are to retain their ethos it is difficult to see how they can do so if they are operated by a secular academy chain.'

Mrs Salvo Similar mentoring is available at most borough schools. Five borough schools are in partnership through the Hampton Independent and State School partnership with Hampton and LEH which offers both similar mentoring and revision classes for those at the A/A* and C/D boundaries, as well as public speaking, music, model united nations and other specialist days. It certainly includes Hampton Academy, Orleans and Teddington. www.orleanspark.richmond.sch.uk/the-independent-state-school-partnership/391433.html

More in Schoolsweek on the definition of 'coasting' in the new academies bill. Or lack of it, since it will be up to the Secretary of State, or whoever is deciding education policy for her.

Heathclif
I wonder then how much o the improved results is down to teaching a the borough school, or the independent school mentors.

Nice to have something, but two events per year for 4% of the pupils is not on its own enough to raise a school's results, I'd say. However, interesting to see what is offered: the private schools are offering public speaking coaching and advice on university entrance and music events, while the state schools, which host most of those events, are offering subject-specific coaching. Maggie Bailey is also executive head of Hollyfield which is offering a maths day. I know Grey Court has hosted Maths and English competition events for its feeder state primaries too, so they are very used to this sort of collaboration. Richmond primaries and secondaries themselves rotate the hosting Battle of the Books and other competitions, and private prep pupils get together with state for Richmond Music Trust choir events. The state schools are definitely contributing as much if not more.

Previous threads were dominated by a big debate over the establishment of St Richard Reynolds as a voluntary aided school, with one RISC argument being that academies are 'fairer' because they have a 50% cap on admissions.

An article in The Tablet, 19 May suggests the Catholic Education Service is lobbying parliament to raise that cap:

“The 50 per cent admissions cap on faith academies was in the coalition agreement and but isn’t really a Conservative policy,” said Mr Pope. “We hope that with a Conservative Government it will be revisited, and it is something that my colleagues in the CES have raised with ministers.”

Thank you for advice on Grey Court. Have arranged a visit. Does anyone know if Ham is a nice area to buy a house and raise a family? The property prices are more in our budget than Richmond. What is crime / anti-social behaviour like etc?

It's very mixed - amazing 18th houses which you can look into longingly at from the top deck of the 65 bus nearer Richmond Park, lovely Ham House, German school and polo club in Petersham, nice common, with council/social housing estates too. In the middle a lot of 1950s modern Wates houses, Victorian cottages, 1930s mock Tudor on the border with North Kingston. I think it's fairly obvious where the nice roads are. Worst thing is the slow bus route along a narrow winding road. But still, I like it round there.