Richmond Borough Schools Chat 9

[ChrisSquire2]

This thread follows on from Richmond Borough Schools Chat 8 starting February 2016.
News and opinions on all the changes to schools in Richmond borough.

See also:

Richmond Borough Schools Chat 7 starting May 2015

Links to earlier threads (1-6), starting in February 2011

Something strange in auto correct there.That should have been ....

"Presumably JW's "massive" pay rise was related to him stepping up to be head of RWST, rather than just Teddington. That's what I meant about him being spread too thinly - he had work to do at Teddington and shouldn't have been flattered into thinking he could also turn around two other schools at the same time."

Yes, a couple of years ago when the MAT was being set up a parent governor I know was asked to move to Twickenham Academy from Teddington as the TA governors were very under strength! It's all very sad when I think of the optimism of those of us whose children joined the school earlier in this decade under Mr Weeks! Hopefully the new governors and new head will be able to turn things round but it sounds like the finances have got out of control a bit. The notice saying that they need to think about joining a MAT is a bit ironic!

I'm hearing positive things from a parent who's daughter has just joined year 7 - good communication, effective use of new app to track homework and homework is being set! My son is in year 11 now so he has definitely suffered as did the previous year 11 who just left. Unfortunately for TS there are a number of outstanding schools on their doorstep and if my son was in year 6 now I think I'd find it difficult to choose a RI school over an outstanding school. That is the dilemma they are in. However, everyone is working hard to turn things around. How long it will take and whether you feel comfortable taking on that 'gamble' is a personal choice.

I am a year 7 parent and am also feeling positive about the school. The new homework app is very good, they seem to be getting plenty of homework(!), there is another useful app showing attendance, behaviour, rewards, timetable etc, the behaviour seems good, the Head is very present, my child has settled in extremely well and has made new friends as well as keeping old ones. The governors have commissioned external reviews and say that they have accepted their recommendations and they have appointed Maggie Bailey, Head of Grey Court, as an external monitor. I was, of course, apprehensive when I saw the Ofsted, but am happy with what I have seen so far in terms of happy, settled, Year 7s who want to go to school and are enjoying their time there so far. We will, of course, watch closely to see that this translates into a great quality education for future years, but I feel positive and every parent I have spoken to so far has confidence in Ms Pacey.

Ofsted are in a Waldegrave apparently. Fingers crossed for them!

Fresh off the wire about Teddington School... see link below. Does anyone know who are the "national leader of education" and "experienced professional partner" mentioned in bold text below?

schoolsweek.co.uk/london-academy-trust-given-maximum-time-to-repay-dfe-debts/

excerpt from the article:

Accounts for Teddington School say it faces “significant financial challenges”, citing funding not keeping up with inflation and pressure in Richmond to reduce spending on special educational needs.

The trust refused to comment directly on its debt repayments, but chair of governors Juliet Hartridge said the board was confident it could “ensure the school regains its previous high financial standards”.

She said the governing body is working with a national leader of education and Kathy Pacey, acting headteacher, is being supported by an “experienced professional partner” from a high performing trust.

The school has also recruited a financial adviser, a school improvement partner and a resource management advisor.

Every Child Every Day Trust, sounds like the best candidate to take over at Teddington. I would by far place Mrs Bailey as the most effective Head Teacher in the borough. Grey Court was a dumping ground before she took over and look at how she has turned around Hollyfield and Chessington.
She has the strongest track record so any school in her hands will thrive.

My understanding is that Mrs Bailey is now acting as Teddington's School improvement partner so I'm thinking that's the experienced professional partner from a high performing trust referred to. Not sure about the National Leader of Education. I was once told on this forum that I was being 'political' by saying I did not favour academies over LEA run schools. I reiterate that point. They are left alone to float around without appropriate structures, processes and run by teachers who I think should be teaching, supported by fantastically generous governors who give their time. It's no way to run an education system and it's any wonder cracks are beginning to show all over the place. Fingers crossed for Waldegrave.

@Justtw2: that would be wonderful, but I'm wondering how complicated or how simple it is though... and how fast they could do it.

@PKenn: has the school announced it officially? Is there a letter somewhere?

My child's in year 6 and Teddington Sch was at the top of the list. It still is, but the financial notice worries me even more than Ofsted. I'm desperate to hear some good news to help us with the school selection. Recent GCSEs (2017/2018) were OK, but a bit lower than last year and also lower than Waldegrave, Orleans Park, and Grey Court.

My concern is that we are not seeing any concrete improvements and measures in place, other than an app for homework and some behaviour-related measures. Nothing about quality of teaching... Parents of current year 7 are not a good reference, as 1. they want to believe they made a good choice so they will try to look at positives and 2. there was no issue with year 7 in the Ofsted report - the transition from primary was one of the positives mentioned in the report.

@europaeus there was an announcement about the appointment of Ms Bailey as the school improvement partner from the Chair of Governors in August. -"The school has appointed Maggie Bailey from Grey Court School as the new School Improvement Partner, to quality assure standards. During 2018-19 she will make four visits, each visit focusing on one of Ofsted’s keys areas."
Difficult choice for you but there are options. In some ways you are better off than those of us who are nearly at the end of the journey. You need to visit all the schools and ask all the relevant questions to reassure yourself that you won't have regrets. In my experience the quality of teaching and school leadership are the two key things. Facilities etc less important. I think you're right to question Yr7 parents - it's called cognitive dissonance. They may be right in their judgement but they also want /need it to be so. Can't say enough about the hard working and positive attitude of Ms Pacey though - she's everywhere....

Hooray for those parents who think teaching is important. One of the reasons that Teddington School is in trouble is because the previous Head (JW) ploughed so much money into non teaching posts. The financial report is critical of the number of 'Executive posts' JW created, whilst ignoring classroom teachers. Hopefully, the new Head will restore the importance of teaching within the school structure.

In answer to a previous post - the governors have confirmed this morning that Ms Pacey has been appointed Headteacher of Teddington School. She has been excellent from what I’ve seen so far.

I agree with europaeus. Although things have undoubtedly improved, Kathy Pacey, there are no concrete measures in place to improve teaching, or progression, e.g. differentiation in the classroom is pretty non-existent. If you look carefully at the figures, you can see that although the school gets most student passes at grade 4, they are behind other local schools at 5+ and 7+ (even with their demographic). Of course, academic achievement is not the be-all and end-all, but if it is important to prospective parents, then they need to look carefully and ask questions.

I'm not a fan of setting and the research suggests it doesn't always work. Certainly the bext education systems in the world don't do anything by way of setting. I'm presuming that's what you mean by differentiation? There has been a big focus on discipline. If your priority is academic results then it's hard to look beyond Waldegrave and Grey Court. Sorry Teddington but the results aren't there at the moment. We prioritised proximity and the low key nature of the school and opted for TS but if I was to go through the same process now I'm not sure I would come up with the same answer. However, schools do turn around so you can be lucky (or in our case, unlucky).

Differentiation is about providing different pathways to learning within the same classroom. Teddington says that they offer differentiation in the classroom, providing extra stretch and challenge for those who are able and helping those who are struggling at too. However, I'm not convinced that in a 50 minute lesson teachers can teach to the different abilities and keep track of who and what level everyone is, especially since my children seem to have two teachers for each subject. The problem the school has with raising the grades and students' progression, which was in the Ofsted report, is due to the fact that they don't have an effective strategy for differentiation, and are reluctant to set (except maths, and now languages from year 9). There are arguments for and against each strategy, both can be effective - Waldegrave don't set many for many subjects, whereas Grey Court set for virtually everything.

The lack of effective differentiation within mixed ability classes is a real problem at Teddington. There tends to be a tendency to 'teach to the bottom' and this can really frustrate (and demotivate) higher achieving children. Without the good staff (e.g. in science) who are able to properly differentiate each lesson mixed ability doesn't seem to work in practice, good idea in principle though it may be.

There's a national shortage of teachers in science and maths. That means schools are having to compromise and take on staff they wouldn't normally take on. Some staff might be teaching outside their specialist area too. Schools are supposed to have staff qualifications on their website so you can check, but not much you can do about it short of retraining as a teacher in a shortage subject yourself to help fill the gap.

Of course the teachers that do exist can pick and choose where they work. Schools need to attract staff in the same way they attract students - a good reputation and inspiring leadership are precious commodities.

Maybe some of you should consider becoming school governors so you can help pull the school back into shape. No need to wait for a parent governor election if you think you have something to offer.

I really do understand people’s frustrations and I know I’m only a year 7 parent, but I think we do need to give the school a chance. Since the Ofsted the old Head has left, a new and effective one has been appointed, external reviews have been done, Maggie Bailey has been brought in to assist, the senior team has been reconfigured, new tools for logging homework and attendance have been initiated, they are fully staffed, the behaviour policy is being stuck to etc etc. It will not be perfect overnight, but they are clearly trying hard to make the necessary improvements. I think I’ll leave off commenting now as I am not sure I have too much more to add!

I think the issue with Teddington all along is that in subjects which are not set by ability,, they do teach to the lower range of ability.
They claim it helps the lower attainers, as they are helped up by the higher attainers, but what about the high attainers? Who keeps them where they are, or even...stretches them? It's evident in the GCSE results where Teddington A/A* grades or 7-9 are noticeably less than other local schools, considering their demographic. Mr W said several times in , that they didn't want to have a school that was an 'exam factory' but realistically, that's just what schools are these days - and there's a malfunction on the production of high grades!!!

We went to the open evening last night at Teddington School. They confirmed that Kathy Pacey has been appointed as headteacher, Maggie Bailey is the school improvement partner, and that the school is supported by the Bourne Education Trust.

The open evening was a very positive experience overall and I have to say I admire Kathy Pacey's openness and her fight and determination to bring the school back on track. Had a short discussion with Juliet Hartridge as well, that was also reassuring on many levels.

We have now visited all schools we were interested in. Realistically speaking we have very high chances to get into Teddington, Turing House, and Grey Court and we are leaning strongly towards Teddington as a first preference, with GC as the 2nd.

Grey Court is a good contender, but it would be a long and unsafe commute, especially during winter months.

This is brilliant - Waldegrave has been told by the admissions adjudicator that they are discriminating against girls (external applicants) in their 6th form policy! (It's right, they are, but the irony!) They have also been told to consult properly and make the catchment areas clearer.
I hear they had Ofsted in - I'm sure they will keep their Outstanding based on results but how unfair if they get to walk away from the Nelson and Richmond West Schools Trust debacles without a scratch.

It's interesting. They just escaped an unreasonable verdict on their area B catchment by the skin of their teeth. It's hard to follow the logic there but I get the impression the adjudicator's lack of local geographical knowledge worked in the school's favour. The adjudicator maybe thought that Heathfield, West Twickenham and Whitton were in area B, which of course they're not. An increase in the proportion of disadvantaged girls from the area B catchment would have no impact whatsoever on the proportion of disadvantaged girls from area A, so surely it's a no-brainer that it would lead to an overall increase in the proportion of disadvantaged students.

Sailaway, I think Mrs N did a better job of protecting her school from the impact of having to support other schools than the Teddington head did, and that's fair enough. If she's planning to use her semi-retirement to continue to work with RWST then good on her, but I don't know if that's the plan. Either way she's getting out at the right time - while the school is riding high and before the worst of the funding crisis starts to bite.

There's a thread in Secondary Education about the Waldegrave admissions: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3382507-Girls-school-can-discriminate-against-boys-but-not-against-girls-who-knew

Can anyone explain why Tiffin boys can admit girls but it is discriminatory for Waldegrave to admit boys over external applicant girls? Does it prioritise fewer former pupils? I wonder how it works for disadvantaged pupils - does it make ‘contextual offers’ i.e. lower lower grades) for those who were otherwise top in their former non-selective (state) school?