St Richard Reynolds secondary school

[Orangebadger]

Is there anyone here who has any first hand experience of St Richard Reynolds secondary school in Twickenham.

My DD is in yr 5 and looking at secondary options right now. She is baptised catholic but we are not church goers at all, my DH is the religious one. I was born catholic but not practising. How religious is RR and what is the pastoral care there like? What's the behaviour of the children like? Academically it seems to do well and I understand it has a good music department.

Interested to hear all perspectives!

My son is in y5 and we also are hesitating between SRRCC or St Paul's Sunbury.
I hate to break it to you but SRRCC is oversubscribed ,therefore, it is unlikely they will accept a child from non- practicing family unless she has EHCP statement or falls under other special circumstances.
Upon admission you need to submit certificate of baptism and Catholic Practice Certificate signed by the priest from the list of local and listed in admission section parishes. The priest needs to know you and see in the church to sign it. Some are more flexible with it but many meet the kids after mass every week and mark their attendance.

SRRCC has a great pastoral care and kids behave exemplary. The school looks pristine inside as if it was private school. Instances of bullying are very rare. The school ethos matters there.

Thank uou@RedFluffyPanda very helpful. Yes I am not 100% about the religious aspect so tbh unlikely to ever be my first choice but curious to hear opinions even if it's only one!

Not sure where you live but if you live in Twickenham /Hampton Hill and you have a girl then look at Waldergrave school or if you have a boy or a girl then Turing House is a great school. If you live in Richmond/ Twickenham then Orlean Park is the best choice.

DC3 is currently at SRRCC, DC2 has just finished GCSEs, DC1 also attended, leaving year 11 in 2020.

I would say that SRRCC is very holy, they make no secret of this. On Thursday this week, the entire school from reception upwards is travelling to Southwark Catnedral (by coach/train depending on age) for a thanksgiving service for 5he 10 year anniversary.

I am not as convinced by the bullying as PP, my DC1 did suffer from some bullying, although it was dealt with.

my suspicion is that if you are not practicing Catholics you will not get a place.

happy to answer questions,

My DD is in Year 9 at SRRCC. She likes her teachers and initially has a very happy experience at the school. Mid-way through Year 8, however, she began to return home anxious about the behaviour of her peers: swearing is common place throughout the school premises by pupils, particularly during lesson handovers, which sound like they are a bit of a zoo. This is something my DD finds intimidating and upsetting, not least because the teaching staff appear to have turned a blind eye and deaf ear. Before anyone says it, I refuse to accept that this behaviour should be normalised and my DD develop a thicker skin. She had a particularly upsetting experience on Friday, just her second day back at school. This occurred when some Year 10 girls jostled her on the stairs and laughed because my DD is one of the few girls at the school who adheres to their joke of a uniform policy and refuses to roll-up her skirt until it resembles a wide belt. We have spent hundreds of pounds on our DD's school uniform and what for? The young people at the school have no pride in it and the school do not seem to care. This seems to be indicative of how SRRCC has, or is, losing its way. The school places pride on its pastoral care and listening to their young people, however, we feel they're possibly 'listening' to the worst and most badly behaved, who are dragging down good young people with them. I am very upset today. My DH wants to go over the Principal's head and speak to the Governors. I do not see the point. We would not be the first family to raise these issues and point out they are not quite so perfect as they believe. We are blessed with a plethora of truly OUTSTANDING Catholic secondary schools in west/south west London and, on its current trajectory, SRRCC will not be able to compete with these. I am now looking at transferring my DD to a school where manners, behaviour and respect for others - as well as safeguarding - are all a priority, rather than pandering to/spoiling young people who cannot adhere to basic rules of civility.

@SignoraFranca

>I do not see the point.

I do see the point very much. A reminder of how things are and how there were and should be. There is a caring headmaster there. Just things slip sometimes.

>s: swearing is common place throughout the school premises by pupils,

sadly it is a case in every school at this age and you will not find otherwise. It is just something that schools should be reminded about

>I am now looking at transferring my DD to a school where manners, behaviour and respect for others

no idea where would that be apart from private school. I ensure you that in Orleans or Turing, kids swear too

Thank you very much for your reply. I understand your point that teenagers swear, however, my family are practicing Catholics and have made sacrifices to ensure we can live in an area with good Catholic schools to ensure our children receive a Catholic education that has core values of respect, kindness and solid morals at its centre. The young women who on Friday told my daughter she was an 'ugly baby' for not rolling her skirt to her gusset were not demonstrating any of these qualities. Put simply, what my child hears outside the school premises from her peers is one thing, however, when moving between lessons or having lunch she should not have to feel intimidated by the bad behaviour and language of peers. Also, as Catholics, if we move my daughter it will be to another Catholic/Christian school. This morning I had a conversation with the head of Gumley House who has invited my husband and I to tour his school this week. I understand he has worked hard to improve behaviour and uniform standards at the school. He told me that if I visit the school when lessons change I will be able to hear a pin drop as the girls move around the school in an orderly and polite manner. I look forward to seeing this. Their GCSE results were excellent this year too. We are also looking at the Green School for Girls and possibly St. Mark's in Hounslow, although I understand it is likely we'll be on the waiting list for a place for some time with them. I know no school will be perfect, however, when choosing a Catholic education for our children we would expect it to be that bit better when it comes to making sure rules and standards are adhered to. As well as respect and kindness shown to peers and teachers. I have gotten a lot off my chest here so may sign out, however, to anybody embarking on the transfer process to secondary school who is considering SRRCC, I would say dig deeper than the slick marketing, questioning them on discipline and looking carefully at how the children present themselves in uniform.

I know the parents at St Mark's and I am afraid it is not better there with respect to the behaviour. I don't know anybody from Gumley House.
The only girls' schools also are observing a lot of bullying- queen bees with her guardians scenario.
Please talk to objective parents in the schools you considering as the walk around tours are always misleading

There is also St Paul's in Sunbury but it is not much different than StRR as kids are kids.

I have two children in SRR - DD in Y8 and DS in Y13 - and another DS in Y6 at a local primary. I'm with SignoraFranca I'm afraid to say. I do not know what has happened to the brilliant school my DS joined in Y7. It has gone down the toilet. Their last GCSE results were awful and I am not surprised. The school is completely lacking in rigor and while I think, on the whole, discipline in school is okay the school is oblivious - or doesn't care - about the gathered vapers and God knows what else at the back of Waitrose before and after school, the bad behavior on public transport, the children taking the mickey out of the uniform and more. It really hit a nerve with me when SF said that the uniform costs a fortune and for what? Nobody over Y8 gives a cr*p about it and the school do sweet fanny ann about enforcing proper penalties on those who do not wear it properly at school. The skirts are a joke. The ties too. The girls look bad and the boys aren't much better. My partner and I are wondering if the school academizing has taken the focus off the school running properly? The stand-in principal Mrs Simmons says what she thinks parents want to hear but does any of it actually happen? No. Standards are slipping all over the place. There's been a change of governors. Could this be the problem? Mr Burke's never around. We are not sending our youngest to SRR and I too would consider moving my Y8. She's quite quiet and finds the focus on the more challenging children very hard. Our eldest is doing ok but I feel guilty he could be achieveing more if we pushed to send him to the Vaughn or Oratory, which is what we're hoping for for our youngest. Gunnesbury at a push and then St. Mark's. As for single sex girls schools being a breeding ground for queen bee behaviour. That's a joke. SRR is full of it. In fact it's probably worse than a lot of places as the girls really do treat their uniform as a fashion parade. One more thing, in Y7 my daughter wouldn't go to the loo because she was intimidated nastily by Y10s. The school did do something about this but really, if you're reading this with a Y6 and thinking of their secondary school, make sure you drill SRR and ask what they're going to do to improve standards and keeping your child safe. They have definitely lost their way right now.

@UrbanRhino

What school are you planning for your Y6?
Have you heard any opinions about StPaul's Sunbury or Turing House?

@UrbanRhino sounds awful. Where have they published this years results? Are they on their website?

We went to the open evening at Turing House yesterday. Have to say I really liked it and it's my daughters favourite so far. It came across much better than SRR and imo waldegrave.

I think Urban Rhino means last year results which were slightly bit lower than usual but not bad. 71 perc got 5+ and 7+ were 33 perc. This year 72perc got 5+ at GCSE and 40 perc got 7+. These are good results as compared to the nation average.

The only problem I have with Turing is that there is no choice of languages. Spanish is the only language on offer. Whereas at Orlean Park they have two languages in the first two years ( French and Spanish)and then you can add German if you wish.

Also ( and this is a minor thing) they could paint the school walls in a more positive colour or white rather than dirty blue/grey. And since they have so many great art pieces they could decorate the walls.

But academically the school is top notch for a comprehensive school, of course

Yes it might be limiting for some. My DD is really keen to do Spanish, certainly not German! So it would work for her.

Interestingly though I have heard that Orleans now don't expect all children to take a foreign language at GCSE, it's very optional, where other local schools still expect 1 language.

I know what you means about the walls, they could put some things up! But from all I hear and what I have seen, a small probably not relevant detail.

Exactly, the walls are the detail and definitely I would not use it as a deciding factor.
Spanish is spoken by vast part of the world and definitely useful but it would be nice if they continued French. In our primary we had French.

@SignoraFranca the only way you’ll get a truly Catholic education for your children is if you home educate. My children have been bullied in Catholic schools because they come from a practising Catholic family. Most Catholic schools round here (West London) have parents jumping through hoops to get their children in to the school, and then they give up their pretence of faith.

If it’s accessible to you, have a look at The Laurels School. It’s fee paying but they also offer bursaries. Genuinely Catholic and a very special place.

@LeftFooter the assumption of the schools we have in mind is that the priests are issuing Certificate of Catholic practice. In our parish the priest is checking in his notebook the attendance . So there is no way that somebody will be baptised last minute and go to catholic school. That simply would not work.

Btw a very Catholic people can have naughty kids too. It happens in all circles.

@ADogAndThreeCats I’m talking about people going to Mass for two years in order to get the form ticked, then never going again.

My DS got bullied because he was catholic at a Catholic school. It’s happened to friends’ DC too.

The certificate required 5 year attendance. I understood first time what you stated. You should have raised it with the headmaster.

The walls were white weren't they? Each classroom seemed to have one wall in a feature colour from the same palette as the school logo, but I'm sure they were otherwise white. But white isn't the most practical colour for a school, so perhaps there were a few grubby fingerprints making them look greyer than they should be! 😁 The classrooms and noticeboards had lots of displays - especially the history classroom. The canteen had screens advertising the after-school clubs, which caught my daughter's eye. She liked the food too! 😋

it is a lovely school. Kids are there so kind. I meant the corridor walls

Ha! I'm guessing they don't want the kids hanging out in the corridors reading the displays when they should be somewhere else! 😁

@ThingsWillWorkOut Interesting. It was two years when my DC applied but having checked it’s now 5 years. One way or the other, there were only a handful of children from practising Catholic families. That’s not a problem in itself. It’s a free country. The problem is the weird and surprising level of hostility towards the catholic faith from the supposedly Catholic pupils, and some of the teachers. Maybe this is specific to the schools my DC/their friends went to rather than Catholic schools in general.

The kids participate in weekly mass at StRR school, and they go on Lent Retreat at school. They have two hours on Catechism per week and in the other school three.

There were dozens and dozens of kids from the local Catholic schools in the Holy Communion preparation course. And it is not a requirement by school.

Honestly, I have never heard of such instance as you described Left Foot.

Hi there,how did you get on with your Year 9? Did you find another school? I am having similar problems at another school