Richmond State School for Boy loves science and engineering

[Cendy]

Hi community, my family is moving to richmond in the coming summer and looking for recommendations on school for boy that loves science and engineering but not much on sports from locals. What’s the thoughts over Grey Court, Kingston Academy, Turing House School, Richmond Upon Thame School and St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School? Thanks much xx

All of these schools have quite small catchment areas. How old is your son? What postcode will you be living in? You might not get much choice.

Looking to move to the area, so is deciding the location to settle. How’s Grey Court and Kingston Academy? it looks to be close to each other

I would choose grey court over Kingston academy just because Kingston is a bit more of a gamble as no results yet. Ham is nice.
Have you looked at Orleans Park in TW1?

I’d be checking which if any have places. These are highly competitive schools with tiny catchments. I’m not sure you’ll have the luxury of choice.

@Cendy, what year group will he be applying to? They're all good schools, but if you're applying in-year there's no guarantee of a place at any of them. If you're moving in July then some places might come up, as some families relocate over some. Being near Grey Gourt and Kingston Academy seems a good bet. GC is very big, so chances of places may be higher.

If you do get a choice between places, then to choose between them you can ask the schools questions like:

Is there a STEM club? (answer will probably depend on which year group - its more likely in the younger years).

What proportion of students do Triple Science as opposed to Combined Science at GCSE? Can students choose Triple Science if they want? (combined science covers all three sciences but is worth 2 GCSE's not 3 as the curriculum is reduced. Some schools only let a small number do Triple, and some even make them do the extra as an after school activity!).

Is Computer Science a GCSE option and, if so, can it be chosen alongside Triple Science? (Some schools, like Tiffin, try to limit the amount of science options taken, to encourage students to do art subjects).

Are there any other STEM subjects offered at GCSE?

Does the school participate in any STEM outreach programmes or competitions?

You can probably get the answers to some of these by looking at school websites, or emailing them.

For what it's worth, there are kids in interested in science at every local comprehensive school so I'm sure he will find his crowd.

Also, I wouldn't worry about TKA not having exam results Grey Court hasn't had exam results for the last 2 years either. Some people seem to think newer schools don't have experience of exams, but obviously most of the teachers will have exam experience from their previous schools. Ultimately it comes down to the mix of kids, so what they really mean is "we don't yet know how academic their kids are", and even that can change from year to year. Once a school gets a good reputation (which TKA and all the other schools you listed already has) they become a magnet for families who take education seriously, and for good teachers too, so I'm sure their exam results will be fine, especially at GCSE (A level is more uncertain because a lot of kids move schools/college, with some academically selective options nearby, like Tiffin).

Loads of Thanks for all the insights. xx