Radnor House 11+ 2020 Intake

[pudern]

hello
my ds has been offered a place at Radnor House for Sep 2020 intake. We like the school overall but still have few questions outstanding:

1. We want our ds to feel positively stretched. From the open day, we got an impression that the School was a bit laid back. For us this is a good thing only if the focus on academics is also there. Be good to hear the experience from other parents who have children going to this school
2. What kind of "additional expenses" we should expect over & above the standard term fees and lunch? Specifically, how many trips and associated costs per term should we be expecting?

thanks a ton!

Hi I am new to the area
I am looking for a good Gcse English teacher for my child. Any recommendation will be appreciated
Thank you

Hi pudern - just had a glance at the Radnor website because I was wondering how this school is getting on. They got 40% 9-7 grades last year which, for comparison, is the same as a non-selective state school eg Coombe Girls.

My neighbour had a son who was dyslexic and they applied to this school about 4 years ago, thinking it would be perfect for him. He wasn’t offered a place and was devastated as it was their top choice. They phoned at least weekly to ask about the waiting list and were told there was next to no chance he would be offered a place as he hadn’t made the required grade in the English part of the exam.

In the end, the boy was offered a place at Kew House and accepted it. This was early March. They were suddenly inundated with calls from Radnor, offering him a place! They had obviously gone right through their waiting list. I don’t think they even filled their places in the end.

Maybe it’s changed now, but I think they used to have their “target audience” wrong because there was a real need for a school for DC who wouldn’t quite get into KGS, Ibstock etc and who would have thrived in a smaller, more personalised setting and this could have been RH’s USP. But they used to offer to children who were realistically, going to take places elsewhere and were using Radnor as insurance, while being quite snooty to the ones who would have snatched up the places if offered. Then, the ones who had RH as a genuine first choice ended up taking offers or WL places elsewhere and the school ended up having to get on the phones to try and re- persuade children they’d flatly rejected!

There is no reason why the right child wouldn’t do very well at at Radnor. It’s a beautiful setting and I’m sure there’s loads of opportunities. But they don’t yet have the advantage of the academic reputation other schools have and the GCSE A-level results reflect this.

Raihan - you would need to start a new thread about that.

Our DC is at Radnor and it is a great school. We had similar reservations to you before accepting, wondering if we were putting happiness above academic success. But, there are lots of really bright kids there. The poster above is incorrect about the school being everyone's reserve choice - it is first choice for many. In our DC's circle of friends in his year, every single one had an offer from Ibstock but chose Radnor instead. Other schools that we know that were turned down so that DC could go to Radnor include Emanuel and Kew House. Yes, it is a more mixed cohort than some schools, but bright children do just as well there as other schools and, importantly, they are happy and secure. It's your choice but it's a lovely school with happy kids and content parents! Remember, league tables do not show you how your individual child will do at a particular school - if your child is bright, they will achieve well at Radnor. There are lots of bright kids there who are achieving great results!

Apologies, I’m sure there are many very able DC at Radnor who do brilliantly there. Of course there are. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, I was just commenting from my experience from the three year groups my DC were in, the ones who were offered places were quite often the ones had reservations with it being a newish school, or were waiting on other offers, but these families didn’t release the places until the last minute, so the ones who desperately wanted the RH places had to go elsewhere in the end. When the RH offers came through, it was too late and this seemed a shame for families who had really bought into the ethos of the school above all others. Some went to St Catherine’s in the case of girls; others at KH, but would have chosen RH if they’d had the chance.

RH only opened in 2011 so I think the previous poster's references to experiences happening 4 years ago are not especially relevant now.

Your child will be stretched - there are optional extensions on most homework subjects and conversely there are lunchtime clinics in all subjects if anyone needs extra help

Yr 7 are set in maths after the first term and the pace has really stepped up - a bit too much in our case
Yr 7 take 3 languages: Latin, French & Spanish. The timetable is not stuffed with soft options - I sometimes wish there were a few more in there.
The yr 7/8 team recently won their debates at the London Junior Debating League held at Godolphin & Latymer
A current yr 7 child has just won the ISA poetry competition.
They've just had their first conditional offer for Oxbridge. That's not bad for new school who undoubtedly started out with a very soft intake

There are some very bright children in that school. RH is not holding them back!This is not a mop up school. It is the first choice for many who want the environment it provides. There are some great individual sets of results at GCSE & A level (it's worth looking at their social media pages where these are celebrated along with many other achievement in the arts & sports). The average is brought down only because RH has a broader range of academic ability than some of the rigorously academically selective London schools. It freely admits that & I sometimes I think that is off-putting to prospective parents... they like the ethos but then worry that their child is not going to be stretched. I was in that camp last year. I feel very differently now we are in.

In terms of extras there have been very few. Yr 7 do a long weekend Residential Activity Camp right at the the start of term to get to know each other & bond. From memory it cost around £100.
There was a optional Ski trip at the end of term just before Christmas - eight or so yr 7s went. Cost was around £1,000 which is standard for a school ski trip.
The school has a Bistro Café where they can buy healthy snacks, smoothies, hot chocolate with mini marshmallows - this has been a big hit. Most items are 50p and they can pay by cash or buy a prepaid card. I give my son £5 a week The wide range of after school clubs are mostly free - horse riding and tennis coaching being the exceptionsNo other extras yet.

Just a word of warning - last year the offers came out on a Monday. Late Tuesday afternoon an email was sent out inviting offer holders to a Taster day. By Wednesday morning the taster day had filled up and a friend was unable to secure a place on it. I saw this as a first indicator of serious interest amongst the body of offer holders. RH had stated in the offer letter that they over offer and places would be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Another parent sat on the offer until close to the official deadline only to find that all the places had gone so had accept Ibstock (not that there is anything wrong with Ibstock but RH wins hands down in the 'kindness' stakes which is why we chose it over the much closer & shinier Ibstock)

Hope some of that helps.

I would say times have definitely moved on from 4 years ago.

3 years ago they went to their waiting list but filled the year quickly
2 years ago and last year, no waiting list, filled before the deadline. My DS1 joined that year.
This year - I have already accepted our place for ds2 and paid the deposit (sibling), and booked on the taster day. You will be too late if you leave it. They had the most applicants this year that they have ever had.

1. Yes pupils are stretched, Maths is in sets virtually straight away and they do a Maths club/competition type thing for the most able. DS1 is in his 3rd year there and doing very well. It's a small school and teachers know all the kids. We have been very happy, there seems to be little bullying and generally a lovely place. I know there are many parents looking to get siblings in and it's no longer a backup school.

2. Virtually none - the odd school trip, the y7 team bulding was an extra (small) cost and a trip in y8 which was about £200. Uniform is about average I'd say for private.

We have an offer for DS at RH, we really like the school and so does DS, but have slight reservation about how much he will be pushed. So it is good to know about the Maths sets.

To be honest everything about the school we like, just concerned about the results and pushing of children.

Thanks for all the messages and feedback. This is all very helpful. We are looking forward to the taster day now. Hoping we will get 100% clarity for the final decision

thanks again!

Good to see its a proper full taster day.... sport, lunch, lessons, HM talk!
Not so with another senior Indie school recently.

@pudern @Ami01 results I am sure will go up and up, definitely an upwardly mobile school...

@Ami01 Have a look at RH's Facebook feed on these dates:
16th August - 3 Sixth Formers got 9 A*/A’s between them
22nd August - GSCE pupil (who's been there since the age of 8) got seven 9’s, an A, three 8’s, A for further maths & an A in HPQ

Yes the norm for the highly selective hothouses who 'push' children but just great for a school that's 9 yrs old and would not have had the luxury of being super selective in its infancy.
If you have a bright child they can achieve top results at Radnor as these pupils have. Looking at overall results can be very misleading.

Enjoy the taster day - if you accept the offer your DC gets an Induction Day early in July where this year there was also a Second Hand Uniform Sale which is definitely worth going to!

There are top performing individual pupils at all schools including state schools. Anybody looking at the results for an overall school should use the league tables produced by the govt as per the link attached which shows the A level results for Richmond.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=318&la-name=richmond-upon-thames&geographic=la&for=16to18&orderby=ks5.0.TALLPPE_ALEV_1618&orderdir=asc

I don't see how looking at the whole cohort can be misleading. Grey Court, Waldegrave, Hampton High, Orleans, Christs and Teddington are all non-selective comprehensive schools but their average A level results are higher than a selective Indy which has now been running for 9 years.
Paying school fees is a very expensive decision and parents do need to look at the overall performance of the school.

I think RH is a lovely school, but I do think schmoozing people at an almost immediate offer holders day and then rushing stressed parents into accepting offers for fear of them exploding, before they’ve even heard outcomes from other schools, is a quite aggressive tactic. I can see why they do this because I’m sure people used to hold offers until other schools released offers in mid Feb or the waiting lists shook down, but still, I think if they offer places they should be prepared to honour those offers.

Agree, exploding offers are a lovely surprise in this process

Anyone know if there were many schools that did it last year, or before?

Hi all, my ds has also had an offer and we are very keen but will not be accepting anything until we have had the taster day. It is really easy to buy in to the "get in quick or you will miss out" thing but I just have to see what ds thinks about the place before we take the offer.

I would say all schools over offer and you are naive if you think any will keep accepting once they are "full". They normally get it right but sometimes not. Some of the girls schools do exploding offers as a matter of course (i'm thinking jags and spgs, but not sure). But they all do it to some extent. Its to try to find the families that really want the places.

@77seven - I think all offers are out now aren't they - they certainly are round here - RH was the last offer by over a week for us.

You can't compare RH's current results to those of non selective state schools.

Their results will reflect the selectiveness of the intake from 5, 7 years ago.

5, 7 years ago you only had to write a cheque to get into RH. DS is yr12 now - we registered for the RH open day when doing the 11+ rounds. We didn't even apply but still got phoned up asking were we interested in a place around Easter time.
That was 6, 7 years or so ago. It is a very different intake/cohort now.

Non selective state have the full breadth of abilities from those capable of getting all 9s down to those struggling to get 5 GCSE passes. RH won't have got the top performing kids from 11+ in the early days of the school - those who did their GCSEs in recent years. It doesn't mean their intakes now won't have lots of high performers.

Does the school do a Midyis test or similar on yr7s? If they do ask to see the anonymised (sp?) results!

@ticking no most boys schools are sending decisions next week Friday.

@Kuraokami thanks a lot for that information really appreciate and encouraging, we are now booked in for the taster day, I am thinking of taking the day off to hear the Headmaster and school presentation at 2.30.

I think the others comparing to comprehensives I see validity in the debate and nothing wrong, but most of us are not all from the immediate vicinity of the area, we are about 20mins away and some schools do really well in our area
However larger classes erc, vs private education with smaller classes and wide ranging sports focus and facilities, more personal knowing the child is something we have decided to want to spend on.

Parents were claiming that RH was very selective 5 eyars ago, I have constantly been told what an amazingly bright year group it was etc by 3 sets of parents who all moved their Dcs for 6th form. Hence the cynicism.

The pressure to commit to take places so early isn't fair. With so many outstanding local state schools this will be an Indy backup for many living on the edges of catchments worried about places, and parents won't know whether they need a place until state school offers are out. Exploding offers favours those in state black holes which in RUT is pretty much just the Sheen parents now and wealthy parents who don't mind losing a few deposits.

Yes maybe but we are not in RUT.

@cakeisalwaystheanswer it definitely wasn't selective 5 years ago - it is now!

We applied and haven't received the outcome letter yet. I guess I'll email them on Monday if nothing shows up. I'm thinking it's probably a "no" as we applied for a drama scholarship with quite a strong (I thought!) application but did not get invited to the scholarship assessment, which makes me think my son did not score highly enough on their 11+. However, not knowing is really irritating me. Is the post just rubbish? What wound me up even more is that on Friday a random "sign for" letter came through the door (not signed for by us) clearly addressed to someone on the Isle of Wight, but with a return address on the BACK similar to ours, but totally different postcode).

Anyone else applied to Radnor and not had a letter yet? The suspense is irritating me!