Twickenham Secondary

[Slubulino]

We are moving to Richmond in the summer. We plan to rent a property in Kew or Barnes.
my son will be year 8th is September and by the looks of it Twickenham is the secondary school most probably to have a place for him.

The academic results it looks above the average and is rated as a Good school. However being the only school not Oversubscribed and reading some old reports on the internet looks like is not a popular choice?

I am looking for some reviews or experiences you had with this school?

Another school that might have a place is Richmond Park Academy. This one looks like is below average academy.

Thank you!

There will never be a swap with a well-behaved pupil unless that pupil needs to move for other reasons - fairly obviously, people can't be made to move well-behaved children simply to leave a space for a managed out pupil.

To be fair, that is because this is one of the highest-attaining areas in the country. There are some areas where those results would put the school amongst the top ranks.

No, of course not - hopefully that was clear. The "swap" will always be with another child who would benefit from a managed move.

"There’s no 6th form so you do have to consider where they would go after GCSEs."

It's worth mentioning that all Year 11 students from Richmond borough schools without 6th forms (i.e. no year 12 or 13), including Twickenham School, get priority access to Esher College, which is Outstanding.

I know that Hampton High has that arrangement but I have not heard that about other schools

It's not an "arrangement". It's in the Esher College admissions policy.

Something else worth posting - for the first time in living memory, Twickenham School has a waiting list for 2024. See yesterday's offer day stats here: https://5f2fe3253cd1dfa0d089-bf8b2cdb6a1dc2999fecbc372702016c.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/15285/LBRNotestoparents_following_secondary_2024_allocation.pdf

This is good news for them. As mentioned above, being full in Year 7 is the best way to ensure a stable cohort. Their future results will inevitably improve because of this.

It does say all preferences were met, which means some of the offers were allocations rather than preference-based, but nevertheless it's a positive sign.

If he is bright, Have you considered the Kingston grammar schools?

Many kids will still move as the waiting list moves.
But thank you very much for this link. I can see now that we will get Turing offer on the April 2 as we are only 100m away from yesterday's offer. I am not sure if I am happy about it or not because we got our second choice offer from a school with equally good results as Turing 🤦🏼‍♀️. We will struggle to decide what to do 🤯.

Which school did you get offered? Was it your second choice and Turing is 1st?

Of all the schools I have knowledge of in Richmond I would say Twickenham is the last place I would want to send my child. I second the Swedish School if you can't get into a decent state school.

Our first choice was Turing and second was St Paul's Catholic Sunbury. The offers were 2293m from Turing Nodal Point in Teddington. We live only 100 meters further. It is likely that we will get offer in April as a result of waiting list.
Both schools are great, have very similar results 🤦🏼‍♀️🤯🙄🙈. It will be tough choice!

Yes, both good schools. Although St. Paul's also has the religious aspect as well. Good luck to you 🤞

We are catholic family. We are not desperate to be in catholic school neither it bothers us. Do you know anything more about the schools? Is there a lot of bullying?

Can't comment on bullying, but have heard St. Paul's is very strict. Which can be both good and bad.

Ofsted Parent View has some stats on parental perception of bullying. It's the survey that parents are invited to complete as part of an Ofsted inspection, and some schools encourage parents to fill it in every school year (because the data refreshes each year): https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results

Thank you. Definitely useful to look at the schools. For Turing and St Paul's results are similar there- people are happy. Which makes it an awully difficul choice 🙈😵‍💫😃

My niece and nephew
Go twinckenham and they are doing pretty well...

Nephew has adhd and he's not been in trouble atal and gets the support needed!

Niece is very shy but again is doing well..

If you write to the grammar schools they will be able to tell you if there are spaces for year 8 and whether there’s an entrance exam. The grammar school will be free of charge.
The 13 plus schools will be private but he could get à scholarship which might mean money off the fees.

"If you write to the grammar schools they will be able to tell you if there are spaces for year 8 and whether there’s an entrance exam."

No, that's not the right advice. This is the process for in-year admission to Tiffin School (and there will be equivalent instructions for other grammar schools): https://www.tiffinschool.co.uk/admissions/in-year-admissions/

But people leave the area etc. I still think it's worth asking if places are available. Nothing ventured ...

@Rainydayinlondon

When some kid miraculously ( rare case) leaves grammar school there is a waiting list of drooling parents whose kids almost got in. And they are happy to join at any time.

Similarly with good state secondary schools. Those who didn't get in jump in June into the in year admission waiting list and are happy to be transferred from the school the got to the great secondary state school.

The immediate places may ( or may not) be available only on less popular schools

If you read the policy, you'll see that there is a process for being added to the waiting list for a place, which takes time. Whenever a place comes up, all the applicants on the waiting list are invited to sit a test. Test results are ranked according to clause 11.5 in the admissions policy.

The place doesn't stay vacant until somebody phones up.

Oh, wow! Thank you. It means that the confidence in the school is increasing. 🤞

First: Congrats 🎊 to everyone that got a place in year 7th! I hope you got where you wanted!

Second: stupid question 😅. Can someone apply in multiple municipalities at the same time? Let’s say one lives in Richmond and applies for schools in Richmond and Putney or in Richmond and Kingston etc?

@elsie888 thank you for sharing your personal experience with the school! I am happy your nephews are doing well!

Thanks!