Experience of these primaries in the borough of Richmond upon Thames?

[ToaskaQ]

I’m considering primary schools for my DC. There are four that have caught my eye: St James’s Catholic Primary, Deer Park, The Vineyard and St Richard Reynolds.

I know that each school is academically strong. I would like to hear from current parents or parents of children who have children who recently attended one of these schools. Can you tell me your thoughts? What does each school offer, besides strong academics? What is the school’s pastoral care like? Is there a nice parent community? Is sports a strong feature of the school? Etc. Any insight would be great to hear.

I appreciate that these schools are in different parts of the borough. We’ll choose which to select once we’ve decided on the area in which we will live.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Im presuming you are looking for Reception place because SRR is full from reception onwards and dependent on someone leaving to get a place.

Have you read the admissions policies of each school? St James and SRR depend on you being Catholic / baptism certificate / reference from your priest - do you have these? Deer park and The vineyard are done on distance, can you afford to near Richmond Hill for the vineyard?
The good news is that all the primary schools in the borough of RUT and Kingston are good and if you are a practising catholic you have even more choice. If you aren’t Catholic then focus on quality of housing and secondary options.

Applications for 2027 entry have only just opened. I'm aware of the admissions policy for each school. I'm looking for opinions on the actual schools. Do you have any?

Yes I’m very familiar with RUT primaries and particularly the Catholic ones. Richard Reynolds is your best bet because it has a secondary school but there are only 30 reception places and 10 go on immediate distance.
St James is next but are you considering Catholic secondaries or Orleans Park? Orleans Park is a top performing secondary state school, ideally you would live near the school and use a st Margaret’s primary. If you don’t think you will need a state secondary then you can be more picky about your primary.

Why these particular schools? If you want great sporting opportunities, I would look at the larger schools. They are more likely to offer more than a tiny school.

Some of these schools are 3 form entry. That would be considered large.

Exactly. Look at those schools, ignore the small ones.

Do you have any direct experience of any of the four schools?

My kids went to St. Osmund’s in Barnes and it was an absolutely beautiful experience! Saint Richard Reynold’s secondary is a feeder school. One of the founders of SRR is a very bigwig at St. Osmund’s church and his wife works at St. Osmund’s school; amazing, amazing people and I can’t say it enough: It is a fabulous primary. It’s a dying breed of primary school. Nobody is a number, every child matters and teachers stay there forever because it’s such a lovely school to work in.

I know it’s not answering your questions but the difference between a catholic primary and a non catholic primary is much larger than the points you are focusing on like sport which is pretty non existent in a state primary school. The amount of school time spent on the catholic religious teachings, mass etc is quite eye opening. Most parents either live near RR or are catholic or are catholic at St James. These are both good schools. If you don’t want a catholic school then I would move to St Margaret’s and be located near Orleans Park Secondary.

Also, S.O. is a super sporty school and the community is fantastic.

I worked in Richmond LA in a schools related job. All the schools in Richmond are decent. I don't really understand why you went for these four in particular and not say Sheen.

Thanks. Glad your DC had a good experience at their primary. It's not one we are considering because of the location. Although I appreciate that Barnes is a lovely area.

I know it’s not answering your questions but the difference between a catholic primary and a non catholic primary is much larger than the points you are focusing on like sport which is pretty non existent in a state primary school.

Sorry but I don't understand what you mean by this. I've asked for opinions on what the schools generally offer pupils, besides strong academics; what the pastoral care is like; what the parent community is like, as well as each school's sports provision. I haven't asked about the distinction between a Catholic primary and a non-Catholic primary.

I think that poster's meaning is fairly clear – they are alerting you to the fact that catholic primaries have a heavy focus on the church and the faith (first communion etc) which is either something you want for your child or not. I guess they thought you might not be aware of how much focus there is.

@ToaskaQ you may not realise it but your replies on this thread are a bit spiky. You are looking for some very specific intel which posters may not have – they are offering the insight they do have, some of which I would think (such as detail about secondaries) could be very useful. As it happens I can't help with anything more than very general knowledge so I guess this post is no help either. I was going to say that in your OP you talk about which school to "choose" – you may know already but you express a preference rather than choosing a school.

Maybe local FB groups may be more school-specific.

@clary

I don’t think the meaning was clear because it was making reference to something that wasn’t said or even implied in my original OP. I understand that some people may not have an opinion because they don’t have the experience to answer the question. That’s fine. In which case I wouldn’t expect them to respond at all.

I was hoping for information that cannot be easily retrieved from the school’s website or other online sources. What a school writes about itself and how they are perceived by parents and pupils who have experience of them are too often not the same.

I wanted the opinions of the parents in order to help me choose the schools that I think could be a good fit for my DC. Of course, I understand that they are preferences and my DC may not secure a place. In which case I can then choose whether to keep them at their current school (they’re currently at a preschool at a pre-prep). But I am looking for alternatives because of a house move.

You will be applying for a place to start next Sep? The deadline will be in January and so you would have to be settled by then or else you will be offered a place at another school or go on waiting lists for the schools you want. I have no idea what the waiting lists are like for these schools these days but if they are full, you might struggle to get anywhere. No one left my daughter's primary class in Reception (different school) til the end of the year.

@Arran2024 Yes, the primary schools deadline is a bit of a worry. Is there generally a lot of movement between National Offer Day and the start of the academic year?

No, not really. If I were you I would organise a house, even if you just rent, to make the deadline because otherwise you could miss out. But things change all the time. Speak to Admissions - they can probably indicate if those schools you want are hugely overpriced.

Barnes is Borough of Richmond and it’s a big borough so, you’ll get suggestions from areas you’re probably not interested in. Barnes has amazing primaries, just to say. What specific area of the Borough of Richmond are you looking in?

Also, should you miss the application deadline, then just wait until you move to your area of choice within the borough, get your council tax going in your new place, then put your child/children on the waiting lists of your selected schools. You go to the Borough’s website (school applications page) and fill in an in-year application for each child.