Chiswick school - RPPS or OHS

[DF2025]

Does anyone have any feedback on Ravenscourt Park prep school or Orchard House school? We have heard mixed things about orchard house since it has been taken over by Dukes education so are considering RPPS which seems to get better feedback. Any advice very appreciated

What do you want to know specifically? Both are good schools. Orchard house has merged recently so has had a lot of change. RPPS is full and has an extra class in reception this year.

Are you looking at reception entry 26? There are sometimes occasional places but
they are as hoc and not necessarily available.

Thankyou @Leopardspota I'm interested to hear more about all the change at OHS, I'm aware of the merger and that it has been brought by Dukes but keen to understand why it is getting quite a lot of negative press at the moment. Is this temporary? What exactly isn't going well? Teachers leaving? etc.

We did love RPPS when looking round it and facilities were definitely more impressive but it lacked the villagey feel we got from OHS and OHS is far more convenient for us. I have put my kids down for both schools since birth so I'm hoping they will bet a place at RPPS but I don't find out till April (I'm looking at September 2027 entry). However, I need to make a decision soon as my son would start nursery at OHS next September if we went with OHS. We did like the nursery a lot but don't want to choose a school on this.

I wouldn’t worry too much about OHS feeling the repercussions of change - it’s normal when there is an upheaval. But yes, some teachers leaving, some children leaving (a few to Rpps). By2027 it will be settled back down hopefully.

RPPS does also have a community feel so I wouldn’t worry about that, there hasn’t been much change at Rpps for a while, a few teachers come and go as usual but the senior
team is quite stable and experienced.

@Leopardspota Thank you that's helpful, It does sound like OHS may have settled by September 2027 but it feels like a risk I'm not sure I'm willing to take given the price of it!

Do you have kids at either of these schools?

Not now. But I still know RPPS very well. I live in the area so know OHS too.

OHS has lost a class per year group in most years now – gone from three forms down to just two in most cases. So many have left, all off to different schools very unhappy with OHS – it’s honestly quite mad how many have gone in just a year

@Generalpointcan you tell us any more about why people are unhappy? My son would also be starting nursery at OHS 2026 so very keen to know the latest!

We withdrew our child from OHS. It has changed a lot and may settle down, the deputy head has good ideas but they weren’t yet implemented last year. Not only did two schools merge last year but they also decided to change the curriculum so I understand teachers were very streched. Any criticism we had of the academics (not enough stretching, not very inspiring) may have changed with the new curriculum under the new head. Last year was chaotic, homework wasn’t marked, they all did the same level mental math regardless of ability. Bullying didn’t seem to be dealt with effectively in our child’s year group but our child wasn’t particularly affected. The churn year to year was massive so moving didn’t feel like such a big deal in terms of friendships as out child had to reinvent themselves to some degree each year.

I would personally avoid any school owned by Dukes Education. Our child is at PHS and it has really changed the ethos of the school. We also saw changes in teachers including the loss of the headteacher and the replacement is not close to his calibre.

Dukes are very self indulgent. Very commercial

Thank you for all these responses, very helpful feedback from everyone. A shame things have gone so down hill for lots of schools since Dukes has taken them over.