Please can you tell me about Grey Court's sixth form

[fouxdafafaff]

We're planning to move to Ham once DS has finished his GCSEs, so Grey Court will be our local secondary school. Heard some very positive things about Grey Court in general but would like to hear feedback from parents about the sixth form specifically.

DS is planning to do maths, physics and geography. Are these subjects taught well and what are the science facilities like? And is there much disruption in lessons?

DS is very sporty (football fanatic!) so would be interested to hear about their sports provision. How often do they play football matches for instance.

Many thanks!

If you are in SW London apply for Esher College by 30 Sept from your current address as it's a good back up if you don't get a place at a school when you move. Even if you don't get a place at esher college they take a lot from the waiting list but you have to have applied this month. It's a great college taking 1000 students from a fairly big catchment including lots of the Richmond Upon Thames area.

Thank you - that's useful to know. We are already quite near Ham (currently renting) so in the catchment for Esher too. Do know anything about Grey Court? Thank you

Sorry no but lots of current Greycourt students will be going to Esher. Definitely apply this month as a back up otherwise your options will be Kingston or Richmond college if for any reasons Greycourt can't take your ds.

Hopeful bump!

My son's girlfriend went there, and was happy with it. Different subjects to your son though.

Sixth forms don't tend to have disruptive kids - they're the ones that go to college. 😁

Oh, and Esher College is very oversubscribed btw, so not really a failsafe backup. On the other hand, Richmond College is probably a failsafe backup.

If you live close to Grey Court you will have a good chance of a place. But if you want another backup, you may be in catchment for Teddington School Sixth Form because the walking route includes the foot bridge at Teddington Lock. Students certainly travel from Teddington to Grey Court so there are probably some coming the other way too.

Thank you @hazyday We will also check out Teddington School - useful to know the Teddington Lock footbridge is taken into consideration for working out the catchment distance. Looks like another good school. Do you know if Ham is in catchment for Waldegrave School too? Thank you.

Do you know if Ham is in catchment for Waldegrave School too?

Unlikely..Waldegrave normally fill up closer to home for popular subjects. (If your DC was doing art, music and a language you might be in with a chance as those are the sort of courses that don't fill up so quickly).

The Kingston Academy would be an option though.

Bumping again, if anyone knows about Grey Court sixth form? Thanks

Tell me about best methods for moving boroughs to get into Grey Court secondary school. I do have time. My kids currently are finishing year 1 but we are in Kensington Chelsea at a school that goes up to year 6. I’m not well versed at how to do this ; but I’d like us to move to Richmond for secondary school for them. When would we have to move by to apply and be in the catchment ? Should I try to rent a place or temporary move in with a friend who has a large place ? Are there any primary schools that filter into Greys? My kids would have to leave to start year 6 in Richmond? Any help would be greatly appreciated

I should add I’m renting so no issues with moving

Or they grew out of being naughty by the Six Form time..

Should I try to rent a place or temporary move in with a friend who has a large place ?

Try googling the phrase 'address fraud in relation to school applications'...

As long as she will be listed in Council and has a 12 month lease ( or some schools wants 24 months) she can move whererever she wants and schools will have to honour it.

Not true. Read Richmond's Secondary School Admissions Brochure. Moving in with a friend won't cut it unless you can prove it's a permanent move. They are very switched on to address fraud and will prosecute.

Exactly which school do you mean?

Tenancy contract for specified by school duration and presence on the Council list- is a prove. Otherwise, only house owners would be counted... And people do own few houses too.

It doesn't apply to me as I am a house owner but there are people who are moving to the catchment in Y5. 😄

Ok. But the overall plan is to move close to the school and live there I’m just not sure how to best work out the timing. And not disturb their current primary schooling too much before starting secondary school. If we move during year 5 then we’d be commuting back to their primary school 3 hours a day ?

the long term plan is we want to move to Richmond and live there for maybe 10-15 years. But after the kids finish primary school ideally. I just have no idea how to accomplish this and not mess up their schooling process. Primarily we want a state co Ed school as they are b/g twins. It would be ideal to move towards the end of year 6 and sign a 5yr rental lease but I’m pretty sure it’s too late to even apply at that point We are expats so the schooling is very different than how I grew up

For state schools, you must apply through the local authority in which you are resident, but can apply for schools in other local authorities as well as your own.

The schools themselves - or the school's 'maintaining' LA on its behalf - rank your application according to the oversubscription criteria in their individual admissions policies (which must be determined and set out on the school's website 18 months in advance of the September in which the intake will start at the school. The information as to whether your DC is ranked high enough to be offered a place is fed back to your LA via the LA in which the school is situated. Your LA collates the responses from all the schools which you named as preferences and you are allocated the school which you ranked highest which is saying Yes.

(If none of your preferences say Yes, your own LA must offer the nearest of its schools which has a place available, after all the on-time applicants have been offered).

You need to read the information in the schools' individual admissions policies with regard to how they rank applicants (but be aware that these can change, subject to the school having consulted with the wider community for a 6 week period between October and January essentially two years before the September in which that intake will start at the school).

The operative date for being 'provably' resident at the address from which you are making the application is generally the national deadline submission of the Common Application Form, which is 31st October; some LAs have a slightly later date for movers in, but equally, some individual schools may stipulate longer periods of residence (although there have been some successful legal challenges with regard to this).

You will have to put your DC's current primary school on the CAF and landing them with such a long daily commute, rather than applying for a primary place near to your new, apparently permanent, home address may raise a red flag that the the address given may not actually be where the child is living.

Every LA should publish guidance for parents re completing the CAF - which will include a warning about what will happen if it is found that a place has been allocated based on information given by the parent that is found to be false.

So. To do this correctly we just need to move before October in year 5 to our new home, which will be one we plan on living in for the next decade. And either I commute the kids back up north every day for a year or I will have to get them placed locally in Richmond into year 6 (which I fear will be quite difficult for them ) and apply for secondary school legally and hope for the best. ? It seems so absurd that it is so difficult to move houses and locations. I just want to make their transition as smoothly as possible

@Foxyhill , your dc are currently in year 1, the primary school years in central London are very transient, from the end of year 2 dc will start leaving to move to private schools or out of London. The classmates your dc have now will not be the same by even year 4. You would do best to move to the Richmond area in the next couple of years, Orleans Park and Turing House are also excellent secondary schools and all the state primary schools are excellent. The state primary schools in the borough also lose dc from year 3 onwards to the private sector and move out of London plus the birth rate is low so many schools are only just managing to fill their places, for example I bet Stanley primary school in Teddington would take your dc soon.
Best of luck with your move as it's a lovely area.

Thank you so much @tennissquare yes those other secondary schools you mentioned would also be welcomed. Ultimately we want to move to Richmond as I think it would be the best environment for my children and us by the time they are 11yr and spouse can still commute to work from there. Preferably a state school coed (more affordable) as I left my job when I got pregnant and haven’t returned to full capacity. True very good point the kids will start moving about in the next two years. Kinda sad since they have all been together since nursery school and are so close. But that is why I’m starting to think ahead now to be prepared to move early and not wait til last minute. Many thanks dear

so in summary we need to move before oct of year 5 to Richmond. Can commute the kids to Notting Hill until I can secure a placement in Richmond for year 6. Or just commute all year so they can stay at their school fox primary. (It’s so good). And hope to get into one of the secondary in Richmond. Even would be open to the CofE school as we are active members here