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

Turing's got a lovely feel to it. Friends we know with kids already there are teachers themselves and they speak highly of it. They say the leadership team is very good. We like OP too, but went with our hearts in the end. Fingers crossed we get place now.

Thanks bluesnowdog, that’s good that 93% would recommend the school to others.

The issue in this borough is that the schools situation in the past meant that many parents who would have taken a good state school place ended up moving, travelling long distance to schools (I knew a Sheen parent who had a girl at the Green School in Isleworth and a boy at a state school in Wandsworth) or going private. The fact that there were many more pupils in private schools than in similarly and even more affluent areas was a symptom of a lot of latent demand for good state school places, that and the 1000 plus first preferences for schools like OP.

I know of plenty of anecdotal evidence that Turing places were going to families who had private places lined up in case.

There is pressure on private school places, though there are new ones, and previously less popular ones are becoming more sought after, with buses feeding schools further out towards the M25 . I think if parents really wanted to go private they would get in somewhere. The issue is really whether parents still want to go private if the alternative is a good state school, as opposed to one in the grip of a swedish experiment.....
The turnaround at RPA is evidence that many do.

They are relying on people going private. If they did not, there simply would not be enough places for the numbers of children, even if some of them were hived off to schools they had not applied for. What do you think would happen to the many people who currently do not have a place at all?

We have accepted a place at a private school, even though DD got into Tiffin and would have definitely got Christ's if we hadn't applied to Tiffin - so two perfectly good state schools. One of the reasons we have done so is that I am sick of the government playing politics with children's education. I am sick of the pressure to get results and progress. I am sick of Ofsted which I don't think is doing a good job and I am horrified by the focus on SATs we've seen this year, at what is mainly quite a nurturing and child-centred school. I don't like the chopping and changing of the curriculum and I don't like the EBacc. I could go on.

Many of the schools we have around here are good and the same goes for lots of the local private schools. I don't think that people going private is only because they don't get a place at a reasonably good state school, I really don't.

A parent in Sheen would be very unlikely to get their child into a school in Isleworth or Wandsworth this year, IMO, and it will get worse. We are just starting to see the bulge in birth rates coming through to secondary level.

Absinthe I wasn't saying that many parents don't make a positive choice to go private, it is obviously true that many would whatever the state provision for all sorts of reasons, and many more who as you say worry about where state school provision is going given political interference and cutbacks.

However in this borough the Council have relied on the shortage of good school places deterring parents into private education (or moving or going out of borough, the Green and the Wandsworth school are by the way faith schools and like St Richard Reynolds do have pupils travelling from out of borough) rather than actually planning to meet demand with the amount of spare capacity in the system recommended by the audit commission to enable them to do so (10%) and / or quickly making arrangements for bulge classes where demand has not been met. Most Councils regard that as a minimum but Richmond's officials express pride that they ensure every last place is filled even if it is "unfortunate" that families are left without places, sometimes for months, and in the past in the case of Primary places, actually until after term started.

Many families have been put under stress finding the money to go private, taking on extra mortgages, or a SAHP going back to work. Given the choice of a good state school those families will take it and I know that has been the case with both Turing and St Richard Reynolds. My point was that there is not a stable percentage of those with state school places that can be relied on to go private. The more good state school places there are the more likely that parents for whom private education is not an easy decision for financial or other reasons are to take them up.

Yes, I agree. They rely on those who are able to choose private education whether as a result of wealth or qualifying for a bursary.

Faith schools are a whole other can of worms! I strongly believe that they are divisive and unhelpful, particularly in an area where there is such extraordinary pressure on places.

According to the council "The number of applicants is 129 more than last year. 62% percent of applicants will receive a first preference offer and 84% will receive an offer at one of their first three preferences." 82 children have not been offered a place in the first round.
In 2017 it was: 68% offered 1st preference, 86% offered one of their top 3 preferences. 31 with no offer at all.

www.richmond.gov.uk/council/news/press_office/older_news/march_2018/offer_day_secondary_school_places

Teddington School's detailed response to Ofsted's evaluation

fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/FileCluster/Teddington/MainFolder/Ofsted-response-updated-070318.pdf

fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/FileCluster/Teddington/MainFolder/Ofsted-Report-responses-edited-070318.pdf

Re Teddington, they have the highest Maths and English GCSE results in the borough of all the co-ed comprehensives. Higher than Grey Court and higher than Orleans Park, both judged by Ofsted as 'outstanding'. Whatever Ofsted says, you cannot argue with those figures. Teddington's actual GCSE results are very strong, it's only the new 'progress 8 and attainment 8' scores that have suffered, which as I understand it, is because the school allowed the children to choose what THEY wanted to choose, rather than steering them to do ebacc subjects, which negatively impacted these new overall scores. The bottom line is that GSCE results are GCSE results, and Teddington's are strong. All schools can improve, and Teddington is no different, but on its data alone, the school deserved Good, if not Outstanding. On top of that, all the parents I know who have children at Teddington say they are really happy there. Of course, as with most schools, there is room for improvement, and the school is already working on this - but... happy children and the very best Maths and English GCSEs in all the co-eds in the borough (with incredibly strong results in modern languages and other core subjects too)..... not a bad combination!

TW11 everything you said in your Feb 24 post was spot on.

Just to add, Teddington have reduced the number of options that the current Yr9 can choose from 4 to 3, their argument being that the new GCSEs are more challenging. Whilst I can understand this logic, and there's nothing wrong with doing 9 rather than 10 GCSEs, there does seem to be this mindset of lowering the academic bar to suit the middling/weaker students. This may also possibly have the effect of further lowering the %ebacc. My child (and I know they're not the only one) was originally planning ebacc options based on a choice of 4 but has now has had to drop their humanity - so no ebacc.

Speaking as a parent of a child at Teddington, I'm afraid I disagree with Tiggywinkle - the school most definitely requires improvement in many areas. Hopefully the Ofsted will now lead to some much needed action and improvement as a result.

I also agree that Teddington could do with quite a lot of improvement around monitoring, marking, and poor behaviour due to kids not being stretched in class. We have always complained about the lack of homework. My son is in year 10 and has been happy there but is deeply unhappy with the behaviour in alot of his classes and says he can't concentrate or learn anything. I think the Maths department is well organised and structured. Many of the other departments could learn from this department. Methinks the good GCSE results could be indirectly as a result of tutoring outside of class. My son has 3 tutors and I'm on the look out for a science one now! And I suspect I'm not alone.

Teddington Ofsted report FAQs - I suspect (or hope) Wilkinson will resign... if he hasn't already. I also think the school would benefit from a new headteacher at this point. K Pacey is acting headteacher, am I right?

fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/FileCluster/Teddington/MainFolder/Possible-FAQ-as-a-result-of-the-report.pdf

@Tiggywinkle25: I just hope this cohort who applies in October won't be weaker.. perhaps many parents will be put off by the report. It's a catch 22... once it gets a bad reputation, the brightest (or the more ambitious parents) shy away and the intake is weakened.

It was interesting to see K Pacey disagreeing with Ofsted's evaluation on a couple of points, in the adnotated report. I believe she's right on some of them.

And it looks like Teddington School (and Waldegrave!) will now stay outside of Richmond West School Trust. Not surprising... they need to focus on improving the school now.

fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/FileCluster/Teddington/MainFolder/MAT---Teddington--RWST-Update-09-03-18.pdf

This is from Waldegrave's newsletter.

0e58658be539ee7325a0-220f04f871df648cf4a4d93a111e3366.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/waldegrave/uploads/newsletter/3_159_newsletter-2018-03-02-for-website.pdf

Update on Richmond West Schools Trust (MAT):
You will be aware that the Richmond West Schools Trust (RWST) was formed to develop a local four-school multi academy trust
providing high quality school provision for our local communities. As you will know, over the past two years Waldegrave and
Teddington Schools have been working together to support Hampton High and Twickenham School as part of RWST with the
intention of formally moving into the Trust during 2018. Due to external factors Waldegrave and Teddington Schools will not be
joining RWST at this time. This decision has not been taken lightly and I would like to emphasise that it is not in any way connected
to the partnership we have with the schools which remains strong and mutually supportive.

Working collaboratively has resulted in vast improvement in every area of education for students attending Hampton High and
Twickenham School. School leaders and Trustees are delighted in the progress that the schools have made under the leadership of
Assal Ruse at Twickenham School and Rebecca Poole at Hampton High, and are confident that both schools will continue to go from
strength to strength and Waldegrave will continue to work with them. RWST remains committed to providing an excellent
standard of education for all students at Hampton High and Twickenham School and this partnership will remain in place, with
minimal impact to the working relationship which currently exists between our schools. If you have any questions or queries please
do not hesitate to contact me on [email protected].

Are three single sciences (as opposed to core/additional) one of the three options for Y10? If so, it would be a shame if there’s no room for a creative arts, second language or DT subject on top of the Ebacc suite. But that would be 8 GCSEs - does RE make 9?

Hi MuminL - yes, separate sciences take up one of the options. So for scientifically inclined children there's no scope at all for anything creative or a second language above Ebacc, which is a real, real shame. Yes, RE is the 9th GCSE.

That is a shame then - if the science option was a fourth subject, it wouldn’t be different from anywhere else. Maybe they are putting pressure on pupils to do 2 sciences if they want to opt for something creative - or drop the creative subject. Which is Teddington’s strength. It sounds like a choice between arts or sciences which is a bit like my time at school in the 1980s but not great for keeping options open.

Does anyone have any experience of the SEN department at Orleans? It’s become quite evident this year how much my ds struggles with his processing. He’s pretty protected and well looked after at primary but he’ll really need a nurturing kind school for secondary.

@tw11 is your child going to Teddy this year/you thinking of applying?

@goddesnic Turing House is fantastic with SEN kids

Hi @DDqueen40 we’re in Isleworth/ Twickenham borders though, not in the catchment for Turing I don’t think? I think I need to give his needs more of a serious consideration, I didn’t realise how bad they were, or maybe I’ve been in denial.