Teddington school, any parents with children there

[purplecat1]

Just wondering about teddington school. I'm relatively new to the area and from what I understand it has a chequered past but seemed to come out of it. But I hear there is a new head this year.

Any experiences good it bad from anyone who has a child there or knows the school.

It is a good school. Warm and positive environment. I know a mum who has two sons there. Both happy.

Probably with the exception of 1or 2 secondary schools you cannot make a bad choice in Richmond Borough because you will be chosing between good an excellent :)

They're all good secondary schools. All but one (Twickenham School) are oversubscribed, and even that one has filled up with allocations this year (or so I heard).

Teddington School had financial issues for a few years, but is now back on track. Its a big school with good sports facilities. The new head was a popular deputy at another local school.

Teddington School, Hampton School and Twickenham School are all run by the same multi academy trust. Twickenham School has been advertising for a new head recently, so hopefully they'll get someone good.

If you are in north Teddington you may be in catchment for Turing House as they have a nodal admissions point in Fulwell. Check their website for details.

Out of those three: Twickenham School, Hampton High and Teddington School, Teddington School has the best GCSE results.
And although for grades 5+, Turing House has best result in the borough this year, for grade 7-9 Teddington School has slightly better results than Turing House.

This is only if academic achievement is an important factor for you.

Bear in mind this year's results only tell you about this year's cohort, and their experience. Your child's cohort may be stronger/weaker, and have a different experience.

The 2022 Teddington GCSE cohort joined it in 2017 before it dipped from Good to Requires Improvement, so may be similar to now. The 2017 Turing cohort joined when it was in temporary accommodation, before its permanent site got planning permission, so it was probably first preference for far fewer families then than now, and its catchment was much wider than now. I heard this year's catchment was pretty tight.

The last catchment published in Turing was 2022. Did your source describe how it varies from last year? What way they shrank it?

For us Turing is the third on the planned application list and not considering HH or Teddington

Thank you for all this info. Very useful.

For us Turing will be No 1, I'm just looking for what would be next.

Pastoral care is very important for me, just because I think it's so important for all children to have that. Academically my DD is strong, but I want her to go to a school that will have high expectations of her, rather than just accept a mediocre standard. She's very social, so I do want her to have that expectation when she hits her teens, so she can balance her social life with work! Waldegrave was the other option but neither myself nor her are keen on an all girls school and from what I hear the pastoral care there is lacking.

How many forms does teddington school have per year?

I think 2023 is a peak bulge year so all the schools would have had more applications, and Turing would have had more first preferences because of the new site and good results. I know a couple of families in West Twickenham and Hampton/Hanworth that didn't get places, so they must have fallen between the two catchments, but maybe they'll get a place by September. The school seems to publish their maps in September after waiting list movement, which makes sense.

The Richmond Borough has published a distance at which they accepted applicants. This is obviously in case of Turing House counting from nodal points and Waldergrave has they own way of approaching it

@purplecat1 Have you considered Tiffin Girls or LEH if she is accademically strong?

We have considered it. But I don't think grammar is the right way for her tbh, for a whole multitude of reasons, on top of which she is very adamant she doesn't want to go to a single sex school.

Ah yes, I am also a great supporter of coeducation and I understand your predicament. I , personally, wasn't impressed with Tiffin boys during the Open Day. But my son has been attending 3 h per week of 11+ tutoring since September and is given loads of homework by the tutor. I had a very positive vibe during the Open day at Hampton Boys. Great school but then it is only boys and it is £7.5 k per term while we have outstanding schools around. I am leaning towards fab Catholic schools that we will put as our top two options.

My two girls both went to Teddington (one still there). The eldest started when it was going through a tricky patch, including a bad Ofsted report (which I think was unfair). Then a new HT came in who really turned the school around.

Like every other state secondary, the school needs more money and less teacher churn. A minority of children are a bit disruptive, but theyre not scary. It's a very middle class school and the parents have high expectations. The building is very nice.

If your child is academic she will be fine. My eldest got straight As at GCSE, as did many of the kids I know. She's introverted, and I did worry about her in such a large school, but she never had hassle or bullying. The school seems to serve the bright kids well.

My youngest struggles with learning issues and anxiety and has had a trickier time. The school has been kind, but I do wonder if she might have got better support at a school with more experience of troubled kids, frankly.

But no regrets I sent my kids there.

I'm happy to answer any further questions, BTW.

@Ketzele do you know about many forms per year? Also what is the pastoral care like? Does your child with anxiety get support with this? Just very aware how many teens develop mental health problems now rather than any specific reason with my DD. It's important for me for her to go to a school that is holistic and supportive and this seems to vary widely!

Also did a new HT start last September? I have only heard this locally but through people who have no links with the school.

Thank you

I think it's four forms per year? There's a lot of mixing across forms for different classes.

I think the pastoral care is good. They had to make cuts to pastoral care a few years back but it seems up to strength now. The pastoral care team is well used - lots of kids pop in for chats during the day and there doesn't seem any stigma to doing that.

There's also a guy who works with the more troubled kids who is fantastic. He is ex police, martial arts expert and has interesting patterns shaved into his head. The kids LOVE him (possibly because he always invites them to punch him in the stomach). He has spent a lot of time with my daughter teaching her how to kick box, and also meditation techniques for her anxiety.

In addition, the teachers have been very kind to my daughter. And actually so have other kids - several times when she's been upset older kids have intervened and taken care of her. My dd has complex needs and schooling has been a nightmare, but to be fair that is mostly due to CAMHS and post-adoption support. She herself says that it's a good school and she wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

The new head is called Mr Grills, and I haven't got the measure of him yet though my daughter likes him. I was very keen on the old head so was grouchy when she left. I have only complained to the school twice, once to each head, and was impressed by their response.

Finally, this area is spoilt with good schools and the parents have very high expectations. There is lots of comparing Teddington unfavourably with Waldegrave, the girls school, but if you adjust for the fact that Waldegrave is all girls they are neck and neck in terms of results. In most areas of London this would be the school that everyone was killing each other to get into.

As I say, there's lots of good choices in this area, and also different schools suit different kids, so I'm certainly not trying to persuade you. But I will say that my girl could have picked any school in the Borough (because adopted so priority admission) and I've never been sorry I chose Teddington.

It is 8 forms per year, it takes 240 children.

>The kids LOVE him (possibly because he always invites them to punch him in the stomach)

🤣🤣🤣

>It is 8 forms per year, it takes 240 children.

Omg...huge!! Larger than any other local school!

Not at all. Grey Court and Waldegrave both take 240 children per year.

I must admit I have never researched Grey Court as it is on the other side of the river.

But I am amazed that Waldergrave squeezes 240 girls from such small catchment😮

I thought the Waldegrave intake was 216 girls as they like to have less than 30 to a class, but still have 8 forms. The classrooms are small, so understandable.

I guess as so many people move to that area specifically for the schools catchment. Mind you we are just outside their catchment and last year a girl on our road got in on first round. I have a feeling that some parents might be choosing Turing House over Waldegrave as never before have we had someone offered a place at waldegrave at first offer.

Hmm, Waldegrave lost its extremely popular head. I haven't heard anything negative about the new head but it might have had an impact. The ex head of Teddington, Kathy Page, is now at Orleans.

And sorry, you're quite right it's 8 form entry. I got confused because they split them into two 'populations' of four forms each. They mix across classes within pop's, but never across.

It is a big school. I think they all are round here. Our primary was enormous.

@Ketzele one other question is do they stream pupils from yr 7?

I can't remember exactly, but I think they start setting for maths halfway through Y7. They are not streamed as such - they stay in mixed ability forms, and lessons are with different kids from across their pop. I'm not sure if they use setting for other subjects.

I would hazard a guess that they have a narrower range of ability than most London schools - very few kids who can't speak English, for example - which must make differentiated teaching easier. Remember that pretty much all Richmond schools are largely educating kids who are going to do well anyway!