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!

hello
Can current parents share their experience of RH during the lockdown? My DS is due to start in Sept. We are very unsure on how things are going to pan out with the school?

thanks

Hi Putern my son is also starting in Sept and I have spoken with parents of kids who are there already and they have nothing but the highest of praise for the standard of work and efforts being made to give kids a full curriculum by distance learning. It will be strange if the kids can't start together in Sept but I'm confident that the teaching and educational side will be great. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat!!

@Bob70 - this thread concerns Radnor House Twickenham.
You may want to ask for your post to be removed

Hi would be really interested to know how they handled the distance learning? Did they provide live lessons?

Radnor have followed the normal lesson timetable using Teams. DS logs on at 8.30 & off he goes for the day, busy until 4pm coming downstairs for an hour's lunch at midday

Provision has been a mix of video (teacher only) & audio calls with breakout rooms for small group work. What they've not done is whole class video lessons (like my DD's primary school) so it's been a shame he's not 'seen' his classmates but I understand many secondaries have take this approach for safeguarding reasons (plus eliminating the mucking around that's a bit harder to control with teenagers.)

They have certainly not neglected any of the academic stuff - the lesson content & delivery have been great

Many thanks for the info. That’s interesting and maybe the way with secondary. Our prep is using google classroom and they have had whole class lessons but perhaps smaller numbers.
Is your ds on the whole happy with the school? Do you feel like they have been able to stretch him academically also and what are the teachers like?
We are waiting on offers next week and do not know much about Radnor but we liked the ethos when we visited. Only slight reservation was the size ie not much playing outdoor space. Many thanks

Radnor is perfect for DS - he's so happy there. The teachers are young & energetic and importantly they all know DS which is the beauty of a small school. There is no chance of being anonymous there.
They are a kind school but will pick up on anything that is dropped - DS didn't register for his games lesson last week because I asked him to come off the internet as DD had an online 11+ interview. Cue an email (to both him & me) later that afternoon asking why he'd not checked in . They are absolutely on it.

Re the lack of space...it's just not an issue at all. Radnor have a 20 year partnership with the shiny new Teddington Cricket Club in Bushy Park to use the pavilion (for changing & loos) & grounds. They are bussed from the school entrance to the Pavilion entrance one afternoon a week. They also use the facilities at nearby St Marys for astro turf activities - hockey, netball etc.

Thank you so much. I think it’s so useful getting some feedback from parents. Let’s see what happens next week!

@PatoPato could I ask were the videos live, so pupils could ask questions etc? Or were they pre recorded? If we are in any kind of a lockdown next winter it would be good to know what to expect.

@Mamaof123 - sorry, I've only just logged on for the day, the pressure of waiting for results means I've been trying to keep busy & away from my computer!
They've been live video lessons & fully interactive but I'd say on the whole the questions from the students would be through the Teams chat from the & the teachers would answer both verbally & through chat. It cuts down on the chaos of hands up & unmuting etc as there are 21 in class. Having said that there was lots of talking coming from DS's room today so students are involved too at times.
Such a lovely school - it's worth reading their ISI report from just before lockdown last year - it was glowing!
www.radnor-twickenham.org/about/inspection-report

Thank you @PatoPato we read the ISI report and thought it was pretty impressive with the ‘excellent’ in all areas. Our DS also had a great chat with HT and results seem to be on the up GCSE wise too. Any negatives or things you wish they did differently I would love to hear too. So far even all the communication has been good and they were one step ahead with regards to the 11+ exam process

Good luck for tomorrow!

Just wanted to say thank you for your input @PatoPato. DS was offered and academic scholarship so he’s pleased!

@Mamaof123 Brilliant news, well done to your son.

Thank you @fabric1

Our DS has been offered a year 5 place at Radnor which we are going to accept. I was hoping that there might be some thoughts/information regarding the junior school which could be shared? Unfortunately with lockdown we were unable to visit.

@Hebe2 I can’t be much help with your question, as we didn’t get the chance to visit Radnor either, but we will also be accepting the offer of a 2021 Year 5 place for our DS. See you in September!

@Mamaof123 - brilliant news, congratulations!

@InnoculatedCity @Hebe2 our son also has an offer for year 5 in September! I think we’re taking it too 🙃

@noideaaboutanything congrats! If you do decide to accept the place, please feel free to PM me