Out of region admissions - Richmond upon Thames

[Ineedahand]

Hi All

Hope someone can help!?

we tried to register for schools using Eadmissions yesterday and realised that the local authorities in the West Midlands were not available. We are planning to relocate to a school with no catchment and have passed the necessary exams for the area. (Returning to the area).

Does anyone know the alternative route when applying for admissions out of area (has someone done this?) is it a paper form? Or a google form (I saw something on the website)?

Has anyone gone to the Richmond Upon Thames admissions office and picked up the paper admissions form? I only have 2 days to sort this out and without a shadow of a doubt I am really flapping.

I just thought I could do this all online but have been disappointed to learn I cannot and now at a total loss.

Any pointers or help would be massively appreciated.

How old is your dc at the moment, what school year are you applying for, which school do you want? Do you realise that apart from Twickenham School most of the secondary schools are full from dc applying with local addresses?

@Ineedahand do you mean you're relocating to the West Midlands from Richmond-upon-Thames or the other way round? (I'm assuming you mean the former, as none of the LBRuT schools have exam-based entry criteria).

Either way, you need to fill in the online form for the area you're moving to. (Paper forms are just for people who struggle with online technology and are discouraged because they create an admin overhead).

@aluminiumfoil @tennissquare thanks for coming back. We are relocating to the mids. DS is in year 6.

We must apply via LBRUT for the schools outside of area not the local authority we are applying to.

EAdmissions online does not allow the selection of schools outside London and Kent etc. I am therefore looking for someone that has been in a similar situation and whether they have completed a paper form or alternative online form?

Richmond’s 2024 secondary admissions brochure (on their website) says this:

I would call LBRUT admissions first thing tomorrow morning and see if they can add your chosen West Midlands school as an option on their online form (unsurprisingly they won’t have every school as a choice by default). I have a recollection of this issue arising before on this forum.

Thanks @Trickleg @Marisquita i saw the information from LBRUT admissions and now think I might need a paper form to include the schools manually. I imagine the Eadmissions platform has a preset list of schools for the local authorities that have signed up to its use, so adding these schools will be a no go.

@Trickleg do you have a number for admissions. The number I have says they do not take calls and it’s all email only. As you can imagine I am fretting this won’t get picked up in time and if it is a paper form I am going to need to get my hands on it, complete it and send it via post (as they may not accept a hand delivery) 😔. Might need to work out where I can go and knock on their door and ask for help.

We live in Surrey which is covered by the same e admissions system as London.

We were thinking of moving and so looked into an out of area application in Lincs, also to a grammar area where kid had passed the 11+

it was a few years ago but we had to use a paper form that the LA posted out to us. I planned to hand it over in person but we decided against moving in the end

So if you can possibly get to the right office in the morning, fill it out and hand it back, that would work best

@Ineedahand , Richmond's admissions service is contracted to Achieving for Children, a council-owned company. They run admissions for both Richmond and Kingston, so could be based in either, but the main AfC address on their website is the civic centre in York Street, Twickenham. There's a reception desk there that should be able to help you: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/enquiries

@aluminiumfoil @SheilaFentiman thanks for replying and helping. Really appreciated. Will give the offices a go first thing this morning. I saw the Kingston address online too.

Thanks all for your help and support. Just a reply can help ease some tension.

LBRUT school admissions sent me a google form via email this morning for completion. Here I was able to list all my schools with their department of education numbers (available online). You cannot access the form again after submitting so you need to have your list locked down! The form must be submitted by 31st October (2024).

I hope someone finds this useful and doesn’t leave it as last minute as we did.

@Ineedahand I am panicking as I’m now in the same situation as you and Richmond is not listing a local authority I need (planned move) on the online form for reception applications.

The Richmond afc website only has a generic answer message to send an email. I did email and got an auto response that it would take 5-10 business days to respond. I’m worried they won’t be able to add the LA I need in time (15 Jan deadline). Which number did you use? Any tips would be gratefully received!

Twickenham was last year also oversubscribed.

The post you are responding to is 14 months old. It also relates to schools in the West Midlands.

Oh, yes, I have not noticed when it was created. Somebody has dug it out. It not only addresses the schools in WM but also mentions LBRUT, Richmond Borough