Primary Schools Twickenham... Advice please

[MuddledMum]

I am currently doing 2011 school applications for Twickenham primaries for my DC. We are non church-goers so will be joining the postcode lottery for all the local schools. I have seen most of them but I know very few parents with school age children locally so I'm looking for advice. If you have children at any of the following...

St Marys
Archdeacon Cambridge
Trafalgar
Sacred Heart Teddington

... It would be great to hear your thoughts.

I've not included St James. I have visited and thought it was great but the Head said that there are only 5 non catholic children in the whole school and historically there have never been any in reception. Any advice/experiences much appreciated. Apologies if this reads a bit clumsy but am bouncing baby on my knee while I type!

Sorry! Don't know why this posted twice. Oops.

Aren't St Mary's, Archdeacon and Sacred Heart Church of England schools? I'm applying to catholic faith schools in Twickenham (borough of Richmond really) for my dd but I've got friends who are looking at the CoE schools and as far as my memory goes those three were included on the CoE list. The reason I ask is that you say your not faith based but I think the CoE schools in the area are just as difficult to get into for non-church goers as the RC ones are. I'm also wondering why you haven't included St Orleans (not far from St Mary's) or St Stephens in your list. These are the most popular non-faith schools in Twickenham. As I'm not looking at non-faith schools myself (and no non-catholic either) I'm obviously not the best person to express an opinion or give advise but at least I've bumped for you!

Oops that should have been Orleans Park School haha not "st" Orleans.

Thanks for the bump and probably should have added a bit more info to my original post. My closest school is Archdeacon, we are very close to this, followed by Trafalgar. The lovely lady at Orleans told me that in the 15 years she has been running Admissions they had never had a pupil in Reception from my distance (ditto St Stephens). Sacred Heart have changed their admissions policy which means we would be eligible in catchment there too. We would be happy for DS to attend a faith school but we are not regular worshipers and therefore won't be eligible for foundation places. I think our chances are best at Trafalgar but as we will automatically be placed on the waiting list for schools higher up our order if preference to the one we are offered we thought it most sensible to just put all the schools in the order we would like to be allocated them if, in some paralell universe, they offered us a place. The schools above have all taken catchment children from my road immune past hence why they're the ones we're focussing on.

Just read my post and realised some of it made no sense. Predictive text and wiggly baby don't mix! Hope anyone reading this can decipher my babble.

hi there

Sacred Heart is a Roman catholic 1 form primary. My DD goes there and its great. We are very happy. Also it has a link to Teddington School if you are concerned about secondary.....yet!

Hi

I know Archdeacon and St Marys. Archdeacon is Kind, The children are happy there. I dont know that they are always quite as on top of things as they could be, playground behaviour etc. They have worked hard to make reception and year 1 very play orientated. There is quite alot of tutoring that goes on out of school to ensure kids are up to scratch. Archdeacon is currently a link school to Orleans, Most boys go on there, but last year a significant number got Twickenham academy. Most girls go on to Waldegrave. I dont think Archdeacon is as much fun as it used to be!!
St Marys, Lovely. behaviour probably a bit better, does better academically, but probably lots of tutored kids there too. A few people have moved there DC from Archdeacon to St Marys. But people have moved kids from other schools to Archdeacon. Grass is always greener.

All Richmond Borough parents need to be aware that the council is looking to make some significant changes to Secondary Schools over the coming years, which could impact existing schools, so check out the thread: "New Secondaries for Richmond Borough" and join the debate. The council (say they) will listen to parents' views, but we can only engage in the process if we know what's going on.

Hi MuddledMum,

I know it's a while since you posted but I just wondered which school you got in the end and if you are happy there? I'm in a similar position myself now. Archdeacon is the closest and then Trafalgar and St. Mary's next closest in opposite directions. Getting a bit worried about it all. Will need to apply for 2013 entry

Hello,

I am in the same position. Archdeacon is our closest school but we don't go to church. Trafalgar and st Mary's are equidistant but in opposite directions and we are not that close to either.. Really not sure what order to put on our application form.. Would be v interested to hear what happened for Muddledmum and what jcj1 has found out..?

Thanks!

S