Orleans Park, Grey Court , Richard Reynolds Secondary school

[CPF]

We are planning to move to the area this year before Sep , currently living in Chiswick. We need to apply for secondary school Sep 2024. Are any parents here that can share your experiences with Orleans Park, RR and Grey court? All these schools have very similar results. We visited the schools last year and like all of them. Just looking for any personal experience . Thanks!!

I know this is an old thread.. but I’ve somehow stumbled across it and have been reading the replies to the op question.
Which, honestly have left me feeling frustrated and disappointed for the op.

But then I read your fantastic reply! Informative, knowledgeable, and you’ve answered the op question!
What a breath of fresh air to read your answer!
Thank you for being so kind and positive! 🌼🌼🌼

Looking at the results in Locrating, Orleans Park is top 4% in GCSEs but then decends to top 21% for A Levels. Grey Court descends from to 5% to top 19%.
Why is that? Do the brightest kids move to other (independent) schools after GCSEs? Or they just relax??

@hieronymus2 , the pupils move to other state offerings. Until about 15 yrs ago state secondary schools in the area didn't have sixth forms and the pupils went to sixth form colleges. There was a change of policy and most schools now have 6th forms and those that don't have the pupils admitted automatically to Esher College, ie Hampton High.
Esher College takes 1000 pupils via automatic entry and a ballot. There are other colleges offering more vocational subjects - Kingston and Richmond - and then there are more academic routes via Tiffin school (which is mixed for 6th form) and Tiffin Girls.
Schools like Waldegarve are also popular for 6th forms
Pupils (in particular girls) like a change and there are plenty of options . Tiffin girls is in the top 50 Oxbridge schools globally.

As well as what tennissquare said, remember that the GCSE figures are top 4/5% of all secondary schools that do GCSEs, whereas the A level figure is the top 21/19% of all sixth forms doing A Levels. Many secondary schools don't have sixth forms at all, so you can't compare the two stats - they are apples and pears.

Many sixth forms are stand-alone colleges and some are very academically selective, so it is inevitable that they will have higher A Level results than comprehensive sixth forms.

Thanks @tennissquare for trying to solve the puzzle with me!

Probably, a lot of the students try for Tiffin Sixth Form. Looking at the Feeder Schools for Tiffin 16-18 info in Locrating, less than 5% come from Orleans Park and Grey Court, so between 1 and 5 kids from each school. Losing the top 5 students can definitely account for that drop in results.

Esher College is in the top 24% for A Level results, so it's worse than Orleans Park and Grey Court. Waldegrave is in the top 16%, so it's slightly better.
Ashcroft Technology Academy is better (Top 10%) but it's a long commute, and I don't see these schools as feeders. Same for Hinchley Wood School

I guess some more students move to the top performing independents in the area (Hampton School, Kingston Grammar School, Lady Eleanor Holles School, Surbiton High School).

Also, remember that the vast majority of selective independent schools don't do GCSEs (they do IGCSEs) and therefore do not appear in those tables whereas they do appear in the A Level tables.

@hieronymus2 it's a bit of a leap to assume they go private - why would they when they are doing so well in the state system?

See my answer above about how you're comparing apples with pears.

Some of the top performers at Orleans Park & Grey Court do go to the Tiffins. Others sometimes go to Harris Westminster, or Kings College Maths School, both of which are highly selective. Some may also go to Ashcroft Technology Academy if they want to do IB. However, many do stay at their comprehensive sixth forms or go to a comprehensive college like Esher or Strodes. They will be in the top performers at those institutions, and do very well.

Your best bet is to put in an FOI request to the relevant schools to ask where their post-year 11 students have transferred to for the past few years.

Also, be cautious of Locrating data. You are better off getting the data at source from the Government's Compare Schools website.

@hieronymus2 , they really don't go to private schools, the way uni admissions work there is no point is making the move to private for 5 terms of teaching if you can get the same A level results from state education.

Esher College is massive, 2000 students in total, unless you go to a school with automatic entry if you live in a TW postcode then your place is allocated by a ballot so you can't expect to go there. It's results are good and they have 12 Oxbridge offers this year. But the academic ability of the cohort is wide because the entry requirements are low once you have a place. You can read the admissions policy.

12 Oxbridge offers given the size of the college isn’t that great tbh. I’m sure Greycourt and TKA have a bigger proportion than that. And the academic ability varies in the same way as Esher. Not that Oxbridge is everything but I would say Esher isn’t as good as many suggest.

For clarity I’m not saying that Esher college isn’t good but some of the state secondaries are excellent.

@12345change , I wouldn't compare Esher to a school secondary, I would say it's massive with a wide academic ability due to the low entry requirements. It's right for some 16 year olds and not for others. It's tricky for the pupils from Esher High, Thamesmead etc who end up going there because of automatic entry but find it too big etc.
For the posters who asked about school sixth form performance, you need to understand Esher and Tiffin to understand the movement around the borough for 6th form.

@tennissquare I understand what you’re saying but in reality this is exactly what parents and young people do when choosing a place to study from 16-19. So although it’s like comparing apples and pears that’s the reality. Going through this right now I can tell you that many of the secondary schools have quite low entry requirements and are obliged to take pupils from year 11 if they meet the entry requirements. The entry requirements are very similar if not the same as Esher - you can afford to do that when your outstanding provider. However, Richmond upon Thames College and Kingston College have much lower entry requirements by comparison as they often struggle to fill their courses. For instance by daughter was told by Richmond upon Thames College, that they might take her with a 6 in maths to do Maths A level, no where else would dream of that!!