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

It looks like someone does have a FOI request in to get the September cut-off distances (the March cut-offs should be on the individual school websites apparently) ... www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sept_2020_distance_data_secondar#outgoing-1083444

This school place forecast was in the Stag Brewery consultation ... www.richmond.gov.uk/media/16411/stag_brewery_forecast_of_school_places.pdf.
The cohort size looks bigger for 2021 than for 2020 so that probably means distances will be shorter and more kids will have to wait to be allocated a place.

Claudie M. On Orleans, we are just under 1.5km away and didn’t get an offer immediately back in March. We did get one in late April though as the lists moved. I haven’t seen the official data yet anywhere for the actual Sept admissions - the Orleans Park website references the March data.

Just in case it helps anyone - I was told the following on September 2020 cut off distances:

Waldegrave School - 1725m - Area A
Orleans Park - 1550m

Hi there, I wondered if any one could provide recent feedback about either Teddington or Turing House schools? Ideally someone with a child currently in Y7 or Y8 as we are looking at them for 2022 entry. Thanks.

Try the Twickenham forum. Someone was asking the same question recently. Both schools have got good reputations with families I know (Teddington improving now after a dip). I expect you'll get the chance to do open evenings later in the year if there are no more lockdowns. I think they all did virtual ones this year. Turing's new building will be ready in 2022. I walked past the other day and it's going up fast.

I have an older child at Turing and brief experience of Teddington under previous (thank goodness) now departed regime. I’m sure teddington has improved but no direct experience. Turing has been great - very committed and caring leadership and teachers. Nice ethos and friendly supportive students. They have coped with challenges (2 sites, adding sixth form, plus COVID) pretty well although there has been quite a lot of turnover with teachers and a few not great but many excellent. Depending where you live, the journey to the new site might be challenging - but hopefully bus timings will become more frequent. Traffic will be heavy though.

@user1485813778, Thank you for the reply, thats great to hear.

Allocations are available on the eAdmissions website now, and the info document has this info:

ALLOCATION OF PLACES AT 1 MARCH 2021 FOR SCHOOLS IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF
RICHMOND UPON THAMES
School Name Current Situation Furthest Distance Offered
Christ’s School Foundation - Waiting list - 6.515 km
Open - Waiting list - 1.425 km
Grey Court School - Waiting list - 2.379 km
Hampton High School - Waiting list - 1.793 km
Orleans Park School - Waiting list - 1.282 km
Richmond Park Academy - Waiting list - 1.632 km
St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School - Waiting list - Randomly allocated within Bands 2 and 3
Teddington School - Waiting list - 4.120 km
The Richmond upon Thames School - Waiting list - 1.581 km
Turing House School - Waiting list - 20% 6(a) 1.019 km - 80% 6(b) 2.245km
Twickenham School - All preferences met
Waldegrave School - Waiting list - Area A 1.470 km, Area B 5.109 km

Council press release is here: www.richmond.gov.uk/council/news/press_office/older_news/press_releases_march_2021/secondary_school_places_announced

Quite a lot without places as usual, but there is always a lot of movement. I wonder if the pandemic will reduce numbers transferring to private, but probably not too much around here.

Teddington is dire. Behaviour terrible. I have taught in all the Richmond schools except Turing (until recently was a supply teacher) and it us no surprise to me that the catchment allocation area is far wider than all the others apart from Twickenham. It used yo be that RPA was the worst but that has improved considerably since the departure of a well-meaning but ineffectual head teacher a few years back.
If I had a free choice of any state school in Richmond would go for St RR.

QuidditchQueen, how long ago was it that you taught supply in Teddington, SRR and RPA? Your experience might be a bit out of date. Parents with recent experience seem to be saying Teddington has improved a lot under its new leadership and is likely to get a Good rating in its next inspection.

It looks like the final admissions cut off distances for 2020 have now been published, www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/730334/response/1740203/attach/html/3/FOI%20Response%20AfC%20184%202021%20Sawyer%20Richmond%20Schools.xlsx.html

Parents don’t see schools ‘under the bonnet’ - mercifully! It is really interesting to see a variety of schools from actually working there. Better to enquire of the teachers than the parents. I have been permanent for two years now at an indie but am friends with teachers in schools I worked in so a good knowledge of the reality - especially in the current situation with lockdowns/isolations etc.

Some teachers hold grudges against schools, just like employees of any other business. I'm not saying you are like that, but it's not really fair to damage the reputation of a school that has new leadership and is working to improve rapidly without making it clear that your experience is more than 2 years out of date or second-hand.

Anyone posting may have a (conscious or unconscious) bias or vested interest - parents not wanting to admit their choice is less that ideal, or wanting to maintain the reputation of a school their child attends, or a teacher / ex-teacher with a bad personal experience or grudge. That’s inevitable on an anonymous social media platform - or in real life, come to that...having said that I’d just like to chip in and say that Turing House has a very committed and effective leadership and, as far as I can tell (current parent with experience of 2 other local secondaries), an inclusive and healthy ethos. Like all schools in the area I think staff turnover/recruitment can be challenging, but I get the sense most teachers are good and are happy at the school. As there are no externally moderated results yet it’s hard to judge outcomes, but I think they will do well. Given Teddington School’s catchment area, primary intake, and parent body I’m sure it will become / is becoming the school it should be. Such a shame it was dragged down by the previous regime as pupils were not served well.

I hope we soon get to a position where all our schools are at least Good because most families don't get much choice. I do think the leadership is critical in any school. A good leader brings good teachers with them from previous schools, attracts more loyal staff and mostly sheds underperforming staff rather than the good ones. A bad leader will cause good staff to leave in droves and can damage a school in a short time. It should be a quick and positive turnaround for Teddington because they always had a strong reputation before they nosedived. Twickenham School is another school on the up, which gets unfair slagging from people who only knew it under previous leaders, but it was in the doldrums for much longer, so has a steeper climb up.

QuidditchQueen - did you you happen to teach in Orleans Park / Waldegrave? Looking for a bit more insight since we can’t get to any open events!

Yes re Orleans and Waldegrave.
Orleans is really good and would choose it over Waldegrave if that were a viable choice.
Waldegrave has coasted on its desirability as a single sex school. Academics, especially MFL good at Orleans, Waldegrave a bit ‘meh.

@MarvelAnn

Allocations are available on the eAdmissions website now, and the info document has this info:

ALLOCATION OF PLACES AT 1 MARCH 2021 FOR SCHOOLS IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF
RICHMOND UPON THAMES
School Name Current Situation Furthest Distance Offered
Christ’s School Foundation - Waiting list - 6.515 km
Open - Waiting list - 1.425 km
Grey Court School - Waiting list - 2.379 km
Hampton High School - Waiting list - 1.793 km
Orleans Park School - Waiting list - 1.282 km
Richmond Park Academy - Waiting list - 1.632 km
St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School - Waiting list - Randomly allocated within Bands 2 and 3
Teddington School - Waiting list - 4.120 km
The Richmond upon Thames School - Waiting list - 1.581 km
Turing House School - Waiting list - 20% 6(a) 1.019 km - 80% 6(b) 2.245km
Twickenham School - All preferences met
Waldegrave School - Waiting list - Area A 1.470 km, Area B 5.109 km

Gosh - the RPA catchment has shrunk!

Morning everyone, wondering if any of you who were on the waiting lists received a place at your preferred schools? Particularly interested in Orleans and Richmond upon Thames final distances. We are just on the cut off for St Mags so praying distances have increased this year!!

Hello.

Such a useful thread

Can anyone on this thread confirm to me that Richmond has stopped the linked school policy and admission is now purely on distance?

Ie attending St Mary's cofe primary school does not give you an advantage to attend orleans park secondary anymore?

This thread has revealed to me that we are just within the orleans catchment as it stands. Bit close for comfort (though I see it seems to expand again slightly after offers day)

I wonder if anyone has a general view on whether boundaries will continue to get tighter in the next 5 years or so and if so why?

Yes, the linked school policy was dropped a few years ago. Orleans Park now admits on distance and so do the other non-faith secondaries. You can find admissions policies for each school on their websites.

Catchments have shrunk because there was a big increase in the number of applicants after some of the local primaries expanded and new primaries openened a few years ago. The catchments shrunk even further for secondaries with the best Ofsted ratings because people are more inclined to move house to live closer. But Ofsted ratings change with time too.

What year will you be applying? People have posted council forecasts here in the past, based on primary school numbers. I think the numbers are peaking around now, then I think they start to go down. Brexit (and now maybe Covid) has reduced primary school numbers. Its much easier to get a good primary place now compared to a few years ago. Reduced numbers in Reception will feed into secondaries 7 years later.

Thank you so much, very insightful. I'm picking a primary for my little one now so we have a good few years to go before secondary applications, totally impossible to know what catchments might be that far in the future and maybe even what new secondaries might open/improve in that time so theres not much I can do but sit tight. That said, thank you for confirming about the linked schools as that would have influenced my school choice hugely.

I have just found a document referencing the future forecasting ..thanks for flagging.

Does anyone have experience of the SEN team at Turing House? Specifically for a bright autistic boy.