Where to move: Ham, Teddington or Twickenham

[Hellenhellen]

Hi Mums,

I am moving to London in a month with 2 daughters, 8 and 12 yo and I am trying to choose from below:

1. Grey Court School - Ham
2. Orleans Park School - Twickenham
3. Teddington School - Teddington

My rental budget is £2500-3000 pcm. I will find the best primary possible around the above secondary schools for my little one.

I want my girls to be safe, and I would like to have some outdoor life. I went to Ham last month, and it felt a bit too quiet, whereas Orleans Park seemed a bit too crowded with the busy road.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to check on Teddington School, but I see there are some lovely riverside apartments around it, which I like.

I work from home at the moment, and I don't see that changing in the next 2 years, but it can change once kids can stay on their own at home.

I am worried about choosing with little information and getting stuck later because of the schools.

Any ideas or advice are appreciated.

@Hellenhellen , have you spoken to the council about spaces? I would be amazed if Orleans Park has a year 7/8 space at the moment. To be at the top of a waiting list you would need to rent next to the school for Orleans Park.

@poppybuttons Yes, I have indeed, and you are right. Many are on their waiting list, so I have to rent right by the school to have any chance. Even then, they could place us in another school, which could involve me driving kids, and I don't want that.

@poppybuttons you now make me think, maybe i should drop my options to two: GC and TS?

Ask the council where the spaces are, I expect they will say RPA in East Sheen. You could wait years for a space at Orleans Park as someone has to leave and you have to be top of the WL to get a space.

Are you catholic as that can help to get into the Catholic schools?

Call the schools you have in mind if there are free spaces and how frequently they occur. I think with Teddington you can have some luck.
Consider also Turing school

@poppybuttons Unfortunately, we are not Catholic, and we only consider unreligious and mixed schools. There were 4 students waiting on the list in the 0.25 miles to Orleans Park. I guess 4 students leaving is a tough chance, right?

@SometimesYouWinSometimesYouLearn , that is a good idea. do you think they will answer, or will they simply forward it to the council, which seems to be the case on their websites?

@Hellenhellen if they have spaces now then they will be gone by the time you arrive so there is no point in phoning schools (and in any case school admin staff don't like getting phonecalls about this sort of thing - they're incredibly busy, so emails are always better).

What is your arrival date? Be aware that the in-year admissions process is paused in July, so apply in June if you can. You can apply from abroad and update your address when you arrive. See page 15 and 19 of the Richmond's in-year admissions brochure for details: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/community-information/information-and-advice/school-admissions/changing-schools-in-year.

If adding Turing House to your list, check the admissions policy carefully. Their main admissions point is in Somerset Gardens in north Teddington, not at the school itself.

Most secondary schools have families that move away and give up places, especially in July, so I disagree that you'd have to wait years. You're just as likely to get a place at Orleans Park as anywhere else so long as you're top of the waiting list when a place comes up. But some catchments are more expensive than others.

@Curdled there is a long waiting list for In Year admission to Orlean Park. People are willing to transfer their kid to attend this school

It doesn't matter how long the waiting list is if you're at the top of it. Same with any school.

However, renting a property close enough to Orleans Park may be more expensive and competitive than renting one close to some other schools. The availability of a suitable rental property should be the decision-driver if the op wants to maximise chance of a place at any of these schools.

That is great info, indeed. Thank you so much!

I realize the race is on the waiting list, and I want to ensure I rent right by the school. We want to maximize the chances of acceptance. I don't want to drive to a school we don't prefer every morning, and I am ready to pay the bill.

However, I want to understand where I will be happy to live.

Would you prefer Grey Court and life in Ham or Teddington School and life in Teddington? I have no idea about either of them, but I know I like walking on the high street, having coffee, and seeing some people around. From what I saw in Ham, there wasn't much happening in the area. Am I wrong? I haven't been to Teddington, but from Google Maps, I saw the kayak club and leisure center around the school, which seem appealing.

Meanwhile, my DD loved Grey Court when we visited during Easter break; she didn't like Orlean Park —though she hasn't been to Teddington School.

If I shortlisted down to two, Grey Court seems to have better results than Teddington, in both GCSE and A Levels.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Well people will answer that question based on their own preferences rather than yours.

They're all lovely areas with green spaces and close to coffee shops.

Is your child into any particular sports or hobbies?

She is into sports and art, plays volleyball and table tennis on the school team, and plays piano. not sure how the transition will be on the sports she does here

Have you thought about Waldergrave School for girls?

I still believe you should call the schools and council to inquire about the waiting lists.

DSs attended Orleans Park, great school but expensive to rent close enough to it be sure of quickly getting in on the waiting list. Fantastic if you can get in there though.

I think Grey Court has a better reputation than Teddington school at the moment and know children of various ages there who have been really happy. Have you looked at North Kingston as well as Ham. Really nice family houses (thought not sure of cost) and community. Less coffee shops etc round there than Teddington, but close enough to Kingston town centre and also the river. If I had to choose between the two without any prior links to the area I’d pick Grey Court and Ham/North Kingston.

I agree with what people have said about Turing House. Again a fantastic school, but the admission point is unusual so to make sure you rent in the right area.

Richmond volleyball club is very good: https://www.richmondvolleyball.co.uk/. Many of their juniors are on regional and national squads - they use the beach courts at Teddington School in Summer and the girls' indoor teams use the sports hall at the German School in Ham in winter. They also run beach volleyball summer camps so that might be a good way for your daughter to make new friends over the summer.

There's a table tennis club at the Brunswick Club in West Twickenham: https://www.twickenhambrunswick.com/

There are children's art activities at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington: https://www.landmarkartscentre.org/

I can pm you the name of a good piano teacher if interested.

Also, don't choose a school based on A level grades. Many students move schools for A level or go to a sixth form college.

GCSE results are worth looking at, but they reflect the affluence of the intake as well the teaching standards. A bright child can do well at any school.

They will say "yes we have a waiting list" and "no, we can't tell you how close the person at the top of the waiting list lives because that would be a breach of GDPR". They will also say "No, we can't tell you whether a place is likely to come up soon because we don't have a crystal ball, and even if we know a family is thinking of moving it would be a breach of GDPR to tell you about it".

Trust me, I work in a school. Schools are not call centres, and they are massively under-resourced, so don't be a pain and bother them with daft questions.

@Curdled thanks ever so much for all the info. DD will be very happy in the volleyball club for sure!

@SometimesYouWinSometimesYouLearn I thought about visiting the council to see if they can give some insight but not sure if they accept visitors? They certainly cannot help much as curdled mentioned. we want to consider mixed schools so considering GC, TS and OP. Thank you for the Turing park suggestion, I will add that to our list.

@gegs73 thanks for your input! I hadn’t considered north Kingston so will take a look at it too.

house prices matter in the long term as we want to buy stg once we settle in the schools and learn the area. Surely would love to have a nice family house and community in the long term

@Curdled
They will say "yes we have a waiting list" and "no, we can't tell you how close the person at the top of the waiting list lives because that would be a breach of GDPR".

That is simply not true and I am pretty surprised you don't know how it works. They will tell her which number she has on the waiting list once she gets on the waiting list. They also mention that it is subject to changes.They can also inform her about patterns of admission in last years if she asks. There is no breach of GDPR as she would not receive any personal data of anybody- how would she breach if there is no specific data info?

For year 7 waiting lists one can call and find out at school what place they currently have at that very moment. Also, you can asks about historical place movement that is how many kids were accepted from the waiting list in 2023, 2022, 2023.
I also asked about In Year Admission after the waiting lists will be scrapped and we reapply and the admission officer said thag exactly the same process is in place that is you can call and inquire. They always say that it is data for the very moment. She also given me the patterns from last years for in year admission.

@Hellenhellen
thought about visiting the council to see if they can give some insight but not sure if they accept visitors

There is no need to visit in person. You can call them or email them questions.
You have to apply via council of course but you can get the info for a specific school by calling/emailing admission office in that school.
There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. I recently called to find out info about waiting list position and previous years waiting list movements as well as I got response to the question to how it works for in year admissions after waiting lists are scrapped + patterns of admission after year 7. Turing House and Orlean Park provide that information. At least they did 2 weeks ago

Thank you @SometimesYouWinSometimesYouLearn . I will try that. How likely do you reckon we would wait on a waiting list if we were number 3?

I would also love to start in September and apply in June. If we apply in June, will they offer us a place ASAP this year, or can we be informed about our September start and have a peaceful summer knowing our place is confirmed?

The last thing I would want is, to rent and apply in June but then being left waiting till after September /October.

Yes, of course you can get your position once you are on the waiting list, but the OP is not moving for another month, and your advice was: "Call the schools you have in mind if there are free spaces and how frequently they occur" to help her decide where to move to which is not helpful advice for the reasons I've mentioned.

This is an in-year admission, so patterns from previous years are random and not relevant.

It's reasonable to email the school to ask:
"what was the distance for the last in-year admission to year X"
... but what you really need to know is
"how close do I need to be to be at the top of the waiting list."
If they do tell you that, and you can find a property that is closer, then that's as much as you can do. Of course, if they give the same info to others then it's game on.

But don't phone ... it is arrogant to expect school admissions officers to drop what they are doing and surface the answers to your questions on the spot. Email instead.

@Curdled

course you can get your position once you are on the waiting list, but the OP is not moving for another month, and your advice was
Call the schools you have in mind if there are free spaces and how frequently they occur

Yes she still can call. My friend recently moved out from Richmond to Shepperton and she did called the schools prior to moving. They always can provide details of there are free spaces at the moment and inform about the past patterns.
Patterns are relevant.

.. it is arrogant to expect school admissions officers to drop what they are doing and surface the answers to your questions on the spot.

The admission office is there to address it and they get calls like that very frequently. This is their job. They got dozens of calls per day now from y7 waiting lists and also from In Year Transition waiting list. At Turing you leave you telephone number and question and they will call you back with the answer. Richmond council has published in their admission letter an advice to call school and find out the waiting list place for Y7.

Turing will respond to her right away. Orlean School will advice to go through Richmond Council but they will also respond to questions

@Hellenhellen
Do you have any special circumstances why your kid would need to attend a specific school? Please bear in mind as some schools are taking this into account. And I don't mean here EHCP but other reasons.