Richmond Council proposing to close an exceptional, close-knit primary school

[SerenityRam]

Hi everyone, first post on here!

Hoping for some advice and/or support for my son's state school as it faces potential closure in Richmond. Details below:

Many families have chosen Kew Riverside Primary over dozens of other schools they researched and visited across London — drawn to its rare, nurturing, village-school atmosphere in a big city, where every child is genuinely known and valued.

Now Richmond Council proposes closing it in September 2027, despite its recent Ofsted inspection rating it Strong in Early Years, Inclusion, and Personal Development and Wellbeing, alongside excellent academic outcomes. Its exceptional SEND/EHCP support has been life-changing for children who struggled through multiple previous schools before finally finding somewhere they could truly thrive.

The council cites 87 pupils against a current operating capacity of 120 as part of a mixed-year model. It also projects a deficit exceeding £400,000 by 2028/29. It is currently not in deficit.

Families recognise the financial challenges but question whether viable alternatives have been sufficiently explored. Announcing potential closure just weeks into the school year also risks discouraging new applications, creating the very decline in enrolment being used to justify closure.

Our parent-led campaign is asking for a fair opportunity to rebuild pupil numbers and pursue sustainable alternatives.

If you’re part of the Richmond community — whether you live, work or study here — we’d love your support! You can explore our campaign website, read heartfelt parent letters, watch parent stories on our YouTube channel, and support our forthcoming council petition once it’s live.

And if you’re considering primary schools for your child, we’d especially encourage you to visit one of Kew Riverside’s upcoming Open Days and experience this wonderful community for yourself!

Campaign Website

Open Day registration form

YouTube link

Council consultation closes 16 October.

Where are you seeing that? On the contrary it looks like its results are higher than average. Ofsted they are over time above the national average for reading, writing and arithmeticsz

My understanding is that they plan to move the children to Darrell. That makes sense if only in as much as there is physical capacity in Darrell to accomodate the Kew children but sadly not vice versa.

I too remember it opening, and thinking it looked wonderful. I'm sorry it is heading this way, but it is not the only school in this situation locally. There is a very real reduction in numbers across the borough.

It’s on .gov

Id say they are average really as it’s only slightly below average but given its catchment and small classes compared to other schools, that’s not great. Although as only 15 children did the paper last year that will skew the results too.

@PercyGherkin we’ve spoken with a number of families who have tried other schools in the area and after some time have come back to KR after having a direct comparison and realizing what they had lost when they left. After researching all state primary schools within a 20-mile radius this was the only one we found that fit the specific criteria we were looking for, some of which include:

• building age (mold allergy of child)
• academic pressure (not highest)
• presence of bullying (very low)
• level of curiosity / inquisitive nature encouraged at the school vs following rules + authority
• feel of surrounding community (including local politics)
• school core values / ethos
• outdoor time
• amount of green spaces, trees, park, nature etc within catchment area
• air quality
• less about rote memorization / drilling / test prep and more about exploration, curiosity, at least some sense of community
• above national average on all fronts but that academic success is not the ONLY thing they care about …

@canklesmctacotits

KR bas been above national average in reading for the past 3 consecutive years (since operational changes have taken place). Mixed-class model (that the children greatly benefited from and that actually was one of the things that drew us toward the school:) shifted operational capacity to 120 students, shortly after COVID (so it’s a lot closer to full capacity). Marketing has been minimal in recent years but with a chance to increase those efforts (and the recent influx of nursery-age children in the area) pupil number is expected to rise as well, if KR is given a chance…

Most other schools are given a chance of up to 3 years to recover, before shutdown is proposed. KR is not currently even IN deficit…

Why are you @me? I didn't comment on any of that, and I didn't say anything about academic standards either.

I wish you luck, but I think your campaign is doomed, sadly.

(And I very much doubt you really looked at every primary school in a 20 mile radius to be honest: that's from Bracknell to nearly Dartford, from the northern outskirts of Horley up to St Albans. There are about 1,800 primaries in Greater London alone. If you're hoping to convince anyone I strongly suggest you steer clear of hyperbole.)

This makes a lot of sense. Darell has enough space to accommodate two classes per year whereas Kew Riverside could only ever have accommodated one class per year. Darell has enough pupils to be at almost one full class per year capacity whereas Kew Riverside seems to have less than half a full class per year.

It's obviously not viable to keep both of them open with falling rolls and it makes a lot more sense to keep Darell open with the capacity issue and also a dedicated SEND unit on site.

@PhyllisBide past 3 years: Year 1 Phonics Screening — 83%, 92%, 88% (vs 81%, 80.4%, 82% national averages) and Year 6 Reading — 76%, 76%, 88% but following check in exercise where pupils can be disapplied if they have joined in Y5 or later in KS2, this becomes is 80%, 80%, 88% (vs national averages 74%, 74%, 75%).

Im sorry that you’re facing this, but as I understand it this will be happening a lot over the next few years as low birth rates in the last few years move into school age.

Is a shift to special education a possibility?

The only other thing I can think of is to visit local toddler groups and talk informally to parents of preschoolers?

But I quoted the above post because there is some good advice in it.

Your intentions are commendable but unfortunately this is probably beyond your control. The other factor is that pupil departures from a school can occur very rapidly and can take on a life of their own once parents sense that a critical mass of pupils is leaving. It would be very difficult for you to see some of the parents, whom you have campaigned alongside, suddenly announce that they have a place in another Richmond school. People play these cards very close and the most unlikely people can surprise you…

But sympathies, it is painful to feel that your child’s education is being disrupted through no action of your own, whether that is due to falling rolls or the impact of VAT on school fees.

UPDATE to add some more context and background as a lot of the questions / points brought up have been similar — all totally valid, eapeciallly without the additional information below. Thank you all!

Kew Riverside’s falling pupil numbers can be understood in a wider context. Brexit, COVID and wider demographic changes have affected families and pupil numbers across the country, including families moving away from the area. Meanwhile, the school was required to transition to a mixed-year model (thus the switch from 210 > 120 capacity); it took few years for the school to prove it can still continue to produce successful academic results. Council’s own consultation leaflet confirmed that KRPS successfully reorganised classes and staffing, reducing costs while maintaining high standards.

For the last 3 consecutive years the school has demonstrated that this model doesn’t just work, but has benefited students and the community in ways families may have not even anticipated. The July 2026 Ofsted inspection has also provided important independent reassurance about the quality of education, inclusion and the school community, helping give prospective parents confidence when choosing the school.

So, just as the school is beginning to demonstrate the potential of this model, why close it? Other schools facing similar pressures are looking into adopting such mixed-year classes too now and have even started to look to Kew Riverside in fact as a model to learn from.

It’s worth clarifying the projected £400k deficit is a forecast, not a fixed amount. Parents are actively working with the school on a commercially viable alternative, reviewing the assumptions behind the projections and developing additional revenue streams. Parents proposing solutions, not simply complaining about closure.

There is also an important question for taxpayers: closing the school does not automatically eliminate its PFI contract costs. The Council’s audited accounts confirm that the 30-year contract covers six primary schools and that voluntary termination requires compensation for borrowing costs and relevant redundancy costs. The contract is due to expire in 2032. The Council needs to demonstrate the actual net savings from closure, accounting for costs that would continue and any termination or other associated costs, rather than assuming closure is automatically the cheaper option.

Finally, marketing and fundraising efforts have been minimal compared to other state primary schools in the area (ie nearby King’s School is extremely well-known) — both of which the whole community is now ramping up on so we expect pupil numbers to INCREASE in coming years, especially after: Strong Ofsted results in July 2026 inspection, because most surrounding schools are at capacity, and there has been an influx of nurseries open up in the the area so there is a projected growth in demand.

This is not about ignoring the financial challenges. It is about recognising the progress already made, giving the school a fair opportunity to attract families and implement a viable commercial plan. The plan isn’t simply to keep a school open at taxpayers expense on a projected, continual deficit. Parents are asking whether closure is really the right solution, given the school’s successes, positive outcomes, and invaluable impact on the community — when an alternative may be possible.

A few more points:

• KR has been above national average in reading for the past 3 consecutive years (since operational changes have taken place); this is taking into consideration that the school even included results of pupils who joined just in the last year or two, so they weren’t there for all of the Key Stage 2 preparation. Exact % values on all these in comment from @CommunityRoots
• DEMOGRAPHICS: over 1/3 of pupils are eligible for free school meals; total of 41.3% of pupils with free school meal eligibility at any point within the previous six years, above the national average (26.3%)
• the school’s catchment includes both private housing and local authority housing**
• some of the pupils HAVE attended other local schools previously and in multiple cases they have unfortunately fallen through the cracks at those other state-schools due to lack of the type of SEND/EHCP support those pupils needed; whereas at KR they have been able to not only learn alongside their peers but for the first time been able to make huge leaps in their progress and growth - both academically and personally / socially

Richmond council have two or three state Sen schools already, though not on the Kew side.

Your friend already said all that above.

Birth rates have dropped and the school isn’t popular, mixed years are not popular. It’s not financially viable. In your position I would be searching for another school

But the thing is, despite all that, it's the least popular school in the area. And of course the council will try to save more popular schools over a less popular school. You like it and I'm so sorry for you, it must be horrible, but if they have less than 90 pupils enrolled that doesn't seem to say that other people like it.

I have to say that when I looked round years ago I absolutely hated the open plan classrooms without doors and the necessity for all classes to be extremely quiet because of this (don't know if that might have changed in the meantime a bit with so few children). I picked Darell, where the classrooms were noisy and buzzing and full of children being children. It was a great place for my child to spend her primary years and she absolutely was not held back academically in any way, in fact the differentiation and input she received was amazing. I hope if Kew Riverside's children need to move to Darell, they will experience the same thing.

And the retail park!

The retail park development plans are apparently on indefinite hold.

Big open plan learning spaces are the absolute worst environment for small children to learn.

It's almost impossible to get background noise levels down to a point that children can learn. There's been academic research showing this for decades but architects do love a big space.

My sons' secondary school was very proud of its flexible spaces, almost all of which have now had walls built to shut down the noise intrusion.

Small children need really good signal-to-noise ratios to allow them to focus, and you don't get that if the class across the open plan learning space is chanting times tables, reciting poetry or playing recorders.

Must say I detest open plan too.

They weren't big and open plan. It was just that none of the classrooms had doors and, I can't remember, my daughter is 20, but I think they all opened onto a communal space of some kind - maybe a hallway. With 90 kids, I guess they can make more noise because they can be further apart. But at the time with the school at full enrolment of 30 children per year what it seemed like was that every class had to be exceptionally quiet all the time. I don't think that's a great environment, particularly for lower primary children, and liked Darell with separate classrooms and lots of chatting in class going on (in a nice way, not a naughty way) a lot better. I did find seeing Y1 classes working in perfect silence a bit spooky and not very nice.

In general, good schools attract families to areas, which is why Richmond is losing schools more slowly than some other areas. However, Kew has been a black hole for secondary places for years, so the families that plan ahead don't choose it. It's a big shame that the Mortlake Brewery secondary school was halted.

Hmm. Why have you posted word for word what someone else said at 10.54am? It's not going to convince anyone just because two of you post exactly the same wording.

Yes this is a good point re secondary schools.

Kew always felt very temporary to me in some ways - lots of people seem to move on very quickly once they started a family (as did we!) so I imagine KR isn't the only school under subscribed.

I remember people not liking it's location - near the dump etc. I know it's silly but people do chatter and tend to follow the trend..Take Darell - I thought it was a lovely happy school when we looked round years ago but at the time if you said you were considering Darell, people looked at you as if you were mad!

Knowing Richmond council I would say once they've made their mind up, sadly it's going to be tough to change their minds and I think you will start to see more people move schools as the uncertainty becomes more and more of a reality.

You'd think that if it was so sought after the places would be filled, is it difficult to get to?

It is in a highly residential area with plenty of family type houses and on a bus route so not particularly difficult to get to.