independent or state schools around Richmond

[smilesandsun]

Hi,

We are investigating moving to the Richmond / Kew area and I'm wondering if anyone as any thoughts on the schools in the surrounding areas.

We have a girl and boy in primary.

Early stages of our investigation so your comments on schools would be really appreciated.

thx

There are no really bad schools at primary level in Richmond, only popular and less popular. I know children at many of the state primaries in and around Richmond/Kew and as far as I can tell none of them seems to be getting a poor education. However, the schools here can be really oversubscribed. If your children are in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, that could be a problem for you.

We made a similar move for the schools several years ago and don't regret it at all. The state primary schools are generally very good - there's a mix of CofE/RC ones and "regular" ones, so the entrance requirements do vary. In Kew itself both Queen's and Kew Riverside are excellent. More broadly in Richmond, there's the likes of Vineyard, Marshgate, East Sheen and Holy Trinity as good options.

There's also a good number of private prep schools. Unicorn in Kew is excellent (but you almost have to put your name down at birth) and there's a couple of coed options in Kew, including Broomfield House, Kew College, and Kew Green Prep. In Richmond itself, there's some single gender schools like the Old Vicarage (girls) and Kings House (boys).

At a secondary school level the options for good states are more limited. Waldegrave is very good for girls (but Twickenham catchment) and Christ's is improving. There's also the Tiffin Grammar schools in Kingston but they are super hard to get in to.

The good news (if you can afford it) is that there are loads of great fee-paying secondary schools in the (much broader) area (St. Paul's, Lady Eleanor Holles, Latymer Upper, Kingston Grammar).

I'd echo what Haberdashery has said. It's well known that the borough has achieved exceptional SATS results at primary level for many yrs, and as a result the majority of state schools are extremely oversubscribed. Some of the less popular schools would be regarded as the most sought after local schools if they were dropped into other London boroughs, so catchments are very small and waiting lists exist for many schools too. There is an excellent, very popular girls only secondary school in the borough, but provision for boys at senior state level appears to be a little more patchy.

Bizarrely (or not given the disposable income enjoyed by many residents of the borough), you will find that Richmond Upon Thames also has one of the highest levels nationally of independent school takeup, with around 30% of pupils being educated privately across the borough. The choice and breadth of what is available is extremely wide there too, with a mix of excellent single sex, co-ed, pastorally focussed, and super-selectives.

Perhaps if you give a little more detail about your needs - e.g. do you want them educated together or in a single sex environment, selective or not? sporty? musical?

Thanks all. Very useful comments.

We're moving from independent and would like to go state to help financially for primary at least. However, we want the right school, so we amy end up having to go independent.

I'm concerned with the method that schools are allocated as to how I would be able to manage the move / school situation. If we move at Christmas we don't get allocated a school till after that (as far as I can tell). But what if it is not at a school that is either close (due waiting lists) or one that we want. If we have an alternate independent school that we like I imagine that I would have had to secure the spot prior to the start of the term. Would love to hear of anyone who has transitioned like this. Also we've not used state schools here before so I am not totally sure of the process.

thx

I think that if the precise school allocated to you is a potential dealbreaker then you'll have to go private. Otherwise, you need to accept that you probably won't get a place in one of the more popular schools. I know someone who was hoping for a year 1 place at Marshgate not that long ago and there was a waiting list of 29 families for that class alone. As there are a maximum of 30 in the class at that age, it's fairly obvious that few of them are likely to get a place! However, lots of the less popular schools are perfectly good schools. I think somewhere like Holy Trinity would have a much shorter waiting list. You do need an actual address before you apply. And I imagine any independent would want you to pay a deposit on any place offered.

We moved in to Richmond just days before the closing deadline for school applications so ended up paying a deposit for a private school as a back-up because we had no idea of where we would be in the pecking order (painful to walk away from but at least we knew we had the option).

You can call Richmond council's education department and they are pretty good at letting you know how many people are on the waiting list for various schools.

The whole waitlist area seems a bit unclear to me. One friend had her kid on the list for Year1 at Vineyard and didn't get a spit. According to the official at the council whom she spoke to, the downside is that your position on that list can also get worse if someone moves in to the area and lives closer to the school (even if you were on the list before them). On the other hand, I know a parent who kept phoning one of the Kew schools and managed to get a place at the very last minute, even though the list was supposedly long.

thanks.

Perhaps we may have to hedge our bets and have a deposit at an independent school.