St Richard Reynolds Twickenham or St Paul's Sunbury?

[ReneeX]

My DS is in Y5 and I'm looking for some information about two Catholic schools that we are considering- St Richard Reynolds Twickenham or St Paul's Sunbury. We are in the catchment of both and we happened to go to the church that is in the catchment. Which is better? I personally don't find Google reviews credible and wonder what is your experience? Greatly appreciate your insight.

Both schools have recently become part of the same academy trust. Which is nearer?

Richard Reynolds doesn't have a catchment, if you attend a church listed in 3a of the admissions policy then places are allocated by lottery...

Why would you find Mumsnet reviews any more credible than Google reviews?

St Richard Reynolds has a leaky roof, and funding issues (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/richmond-headteacher-warns-staff-laid-25598450.amp ) but for all I know St Pauls may have the same or worse. St Richard Reynolds also has a very small site that's jam packed, but they seem to manage ok and obviously get decent results.

The academy trust has been formed since the article was published. The SRR head is now the head of the academy trust so ultimately responsible for the funding of St Paul's.

That will help them with the funding issues. For capital projects like roof repairs they would have had to fund 10% of the cost from parent donations when they were a voluntary aided school, but now they are an academy they don't.

@semigod I don't trust Google reviews because they are misleading. Disgruntled people look for places where they can vent and people pleased with something are less likely to bother to leave the feedback. That is why it is good to ask people in the middle :)

I must admit that the roof issues are less of my concerns, I am more after what are the differences between those two schools. Hard choice without knowing both schools well. I went to open days to both and ...both made good impression on me. We are in St Francis de Sales parish and it is very likely that both schools would accept us.

@hockeygrass
We are in Hampton North and we are just in the middle between both of the schools. . The closest is Hampton High but I don't want my DS to go there. I was considering Hampton Boys but it is all boys and I would like him to attend mixed gender school and I would rather spend money on extracurricular activities, tutoring than school. Tiffin boys is again only boys and I know few mums that have distressed kids there. After a peculiar open day experience I decided that ghis is not for us.... I love my son and I wouldn't do that to him...

My daughters are both at SRRCC, my son also went there, most of their primary friends went to St Paul’s.

We are in St Theodore’s parish, but worship at another church, it is your home address that is relevant for category 3 placing, rather than the church you attend if different.

from your approximate location, SRRCC would probably be an easier journey, but not too far for the 290 for St Paul’s. Our nearest secondary is also Hampton High, it did not feature on our lists!

I visited St Paul’s when my son was moving up, but not my daughters, I would say that SRRCC is more “Holy” than St Paul’s, but it is down to personal preference.

my daughter has some health issues that arose in year 10, the school have been amazing about it. I didn’t regret my decisions before this, but I am so grateful now.

St Paul's does slightly better by higher attainers but there is very little in it. I would walk by both schools at finishing time and see what the behaviour of the children is like.

If that is an important criterion then definitely Hampton High is not a good school. I am terrified driving by HH at a pickup time. The kids in HH don't care if the car is driving or not and just walk on the street where they want. The shirts are coming out of the trousers, skirts and they don't care . They yell, run, whistle, push each other. The kids of HH shop in the little convenience store at the corner of Rectory Grove and then they throw the food/sweets wrapping to the front gardens of Rectory Grove residents. But the worse are parent drivers. They consider the Rectory Grove and Dean Road crosssing to be roundabout creating very dangerous situations. They park where they want including double yellow line even in front of the school. Suddenly all of the great British driving manners are gone there and they swear and push in that you have to back up on the left side lane to let the right side driver as they will not move and they will show you " a finger". I am horrified to drive there. Next to HH is Hampton Boys ans LEH and although the buses dropping off kids are a pain in the morning for the drivers, the kids from these school behave much much better.
All my experience with driving by HH make me want to avoid this school at all possible cost. I understand that the catchment is is small and from Hampton but at the same time I cannot believe in it. My fellow Hamptonians are not mad drivers. The parents in our primary school are respectful, they are sometimes parking in the wrong place annoying local residents but it is minor as compared the mayhem in front of HH. There should be a guard or a policeman in front of that school

Yes, I agree re Hampton High, I also wasn't that impressed with the behaviour from St Paul's but have found the behaviour from Richard Reynolds better. Personally, the behaviour of the pupils was one of the deciding factors for me when choosing a school.

What about Turing House? Are you familiar with this school?

I have a child in Y13 (so in second intake year) at Turing and I would recommend it - very committed headmaster, and the teaching staff I have encountered all seem good (some excellent), and to know their pupils well. Maybe because it’s a new school, pupils, parents and staff are very proud of the school and committed to its success. Behaviour (as far as I know) is pretty good and staff are keen to uphold standards and get the best out of their pupils. Hard to judge exam results due to lack of non-covid external exams so far but this summer will be telling - however the sixth form is still small (but growing every year) and there is a low (or no) bar for entry, so hard still to draw conclusions. My child has been very happy there - has great friends and felt supported by the teachers. The ofsted and in particular parent survey were very positive too. I don’t have first hand experience of SRR, but families I know with children there are also happy,

If that is an important criterion then definitely Hampton High is not a good school. I am terrified driving by HH at a pickup time. The kids in HH don't care if the car is driving or not and just walk on the street where they want. The shirts are coming out of the trousers, skirts and they don't care . They yell, run, whistle, push each other. The kids of HH shop in the little convenience store at the corner of Rectory Grove and then they throw the food/sweets wrapping to the front gardens of Rectory Grove residents. But the worse are parent drivers

If this helps - I have no idea what the parent drivers are like at Richard Reynolds, but I live in one of the roads that the children walk down to and from that school and have no issue with them at all either in terms of rubbish in gardens or behaviour. They seem pretty polite.

Richard Reynolds is now in a School Street zone so you can't drive in the roads around the school if you wanted to during start and end of school day.
OP, good luck with you decision, maybe speak to some parents at your church for advice.

@redrobin75 the School Street zone is a relatively new thing and some people would remember how it was before, if it was better than anywhere else.
The thing is that I don't have much opportunity to talk to people before and after mass :)

@Gardener13

The exam results for GCSE at Turing are very good this year

Ghis??

What exactly do you mean here?