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

I only know for Orlean Park School and Turing. I wasn't interested in other schools and we didn't apply. The response for Orlean Park in terms of in Year admission was that it moves on average 1-3 per year. They told me " on average". It means you may wait a year, or two if you live just by the school. You would need to move just in front of the school to jump ahead of the queue or have those Special Circumstances. I have to also mention that the schools are swapping or just placing sometimes pupils if they have a reason ( bullying, bullied) and those jump in without a queue.
Just email
[email protected] to find out

For Turing they accept basing on their Y7 admission criteria so if you live just in front of the school you may have less luck than if you were living a building away from the nodal point in Teddington.

If I were you I would write down the target schools and look where is the available place to move in just by the school. A lot depends on how close you will be able to find a place:
Grey Court
Turing ( here look at the place next to Teddington nodal point) They had best results in 2023
Waldergrave (as you have a girl). Equally excellent
Orlean Park
The Kingston Academy ( if you consider Kingston too)
There are also a few Catholic schools with excellent results if you are Catholic:
Gumley School ( Girls) - Isleworth, Holly Cross,(Girls) - Kingston, St Richard Reynolds- Richmond, St Paul's- Sunbury

Remember that you are competing against parents who move a year or two before Y7 admission. The prices on those specific streets are insanely expensive.

btw while you waiting you may get a place in Twickenham School or if you very very lucky at Teddington School. Those are big schools with more movement in particular Twickenham. Please read about Twickenham school in historical posts.

"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."

Schools usually have one admissions officer in their admin office and they often have other duties too. Yes, they may answer phone calls sometimes, but if they were getting "dozens of calls a day" then they wouldn't be able to get anything else done. You and your friend may have called, but most people email because they respect the fact that schools aren't call centres and that lines need to be kept free for parents of current students calling about more urgent things. It's an etiquette thing.

Richmond council does sometimes advise people to "contact" schools, but not "call" schools.

@Curdled Honestly, if the schools wanted to receive only emails or contact only Admission council they would inform about contacting only via email in the letter. In Turing House there is a nice lady in admission who responds to phone calls. Lovely lady. At Orlean you can talk to them about in year transfers but for waiting list details for y7 they ask you to contact via email council. I am not making up theories detached from reality but I have first hand experience.

Lots of kids in parts of Teddington and Twickenham use the lock bridge to cross over to Grey Court as well.

Thank you, mums!

I started checking new rental properties and decided to be as close as possible to either school. Whichever becomes available, I will rent and apply to either TS or GC.

I talked and emailed TS, GC, and the council, and they said both are oversubscribed but there is potential movement in Y9 due to 13+ exam results and kids moving to private/ grammar schools, which is somewhat relieving.

One question I cannot get a proper answer for is this: For the Sep start, below is the info I have. I am trying to understand: can an August application get ahead of the June application? Accordingly, I can wait for the right property or just rent whatever I find in June. Any thoughts appreciated ..

If you are applying for your child to transfer into school in September you can apply from 1 June. All applications received by the end of June will be considered together in July. Applications received later than 30 June will be considered on an individual basis following the processing of the June applications, in the order they were received. The outcome for in-year applications for September 2024 start may not be available until a number of weeks after the children have returned to school after the summer break. This is because the schools have a legal responsibility to ensure that children who have left their school are on roll at another school before the child can be off-rolled and a vacancy confirmed.

"can an August application get ahead of the June application?"

Yes, the applications will be put in priority order using the oversubscription criteria, so an August application closer to the relevant point can be higher than a June application.

However, the June applications obviously get first dibs on any places that are freed up during July. As that is the end of term, it's a key time for students to be notifying schools that they're not returning.

But they can't offer the place to someone new until the departing child is registered in their new school - often that won't happen until September.

Thank you @Curdled !
Do you also know when pupils learn & register for their new schools following their 13+ results?
I understand we still wait till they register with their new schools.

@Hellenhellen
They should do it as soon as they have information from the private school Feb/ March) but the truth is that some do not disclose that information until they simply not appear at school in September...

@Hellenhellen even if they get their 13+ results early in the year, pay a deposit, and tell their current school immediately, they can't be taken off roll until they've registered at their new school. However, I don't know if private school registration takes place in early September when term starts, or at the point that a deposit is paid.

Most of the 13+ intake of private schools is from prep schools rather than from state secondaries. But there are some specialist non-selective state schools that are 13+ too. See here: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/community-information/information-and-advice/school-admissions/atypical-admissions

I personally, would choose to live in Teddington over Ham. There are some parts of Teddington where children still get into Grey Court, as their distance criteria seem to stretch quite far, often to across the river/Teddington Lock. They do have a large intake at GC too.

It may stretch that far for year 7 intake, but a Teddington address probably wouldn't put you at the top of the year 9 waiting list for Grey Court.

update:

Hello all!
I have been to Teddington and Ham, back and forth a few times over a week, and decided that Teddington would serve me better than Ham despite the GC's success. As an adult, I need some life, too, and an affordable riverside apartment within walking distance of a train station, and Kingston is a good formula. Decided to spend on private tutoring with the difference in rent (Teddington is cheaper than Ham).

I have even put a holding deposit on a flat in Teddington, and I received an email that we are offered a place in Holland Park School (Kensington), which I had also applied to as I have close friends and kids there.

I am now so confused about what to do. I don't mind the holding deposit, but I must decide by 20th June if we want the place at Holland Park. Also, I should receive the tenancy agreement in Teddington in a few days.

Please help! Any advice will be appreciated.

By the way, my kids speak basic English; they are British/Turkish nationals but were brought up in Istanbul and are academically good as they are in private schools in Turkiye. and we are moving from Istanbul. I wonder if either school would suit better to my kids better demographically

@Hellenhellen I'm under the impression that Kingston/N. Kingston has more Turks than Holland Park area, though HP is multicultural as well. Also if you plan on buying a house later it will be cheaper in Kingston and around.

I actually made screenshots of GCSE exam entries and no one was doing Turkish in HP at all in comparison to 5-6 students in Y11 both in Teddingron, Grey Court and TKA.

But you will have to find them appropriate English language tutor or classes because normally schools don't help with this.

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/138460/teddington-school/secondary/subjects-entered

Read the threads on HP. There have been a lot of problems and I have friends there who are not happy anymore. Apparently quite a few families have left the school already. Their facilities are amazing though!

Life in Kensington/Notting Hill and Teddington/Ham/Richmond is obviously very different.

We live 4.5 km away from HP and our neighbours still got a place there in y7 for 2023. It lost it's reputation and results-driven families will now be looking somewhere else for their kids.
GCSE result are pretty similar to Teddington school as well.

@Sirine1708 , your research is so helpful; thank you so much! Turkish GCSE was stg. I would never have thought of checking. Continuing our journey with TD makes sense, considering the GCSE results. Buying a house is a plan within two years, which I completely forgot after the HS email. I couldn't afford anything more than 50 sqm with my budget in Kensington.

@Hellenhellen only very rich or very poor people can now afford to live in Inner London. Prices just don't make sense if you have to start in London from scratch no matter what's the salary.

@onlytherain , your comment aligned with my husband's saying, "People must be running away, or you wouldn't get a place in Y9 that easily."

I have no idea about life either, however, everywhere looks so quiet after Istanbul. I chose TS over GC as Ham is way too calm for me. I wanted a high street within walking distance (Ham Parade is not good enough for me), and I didn't want to pay £10 each time I parked my car. Teddington's winning cards over Ham were Hampton Wick Station, riverside Apartments, and Kingston High Street. I will keep the budget left on private tutoring as Ham is also more expensive than Teddington

Another thing I checked based on a friend's advice is the crime rate. I don't know how reliable the crimerate.co.uk website is, but the results say Richmond is way safer than Kensington.

Hi OP, I have a girl at Teddington and another who has left there and is off to uni. I have been pretty happy with Teddington - it had some rough times a few years back but has turned it round very effectively. My two girls are very different - the older is quiet, well behaved and academic, the younger has complex emotional and behavioural problems - and the school has worked for them both.

Teddington is a lovely area to live in, with a great high street. The crime rate is very low and the transport links are good.

Given your options, I would be going for Teddington too - though I'm biased because I did used to live in the catchment area for Holland Park and moved to come here! Never regretted it.

@Ketzele oh wow! Such good news to hear this indeed! Almost what I needed to hear before a good sleep!

my kids are different too, I will have one in y4 - maybe you can advise on that too as I need to chose the primary after this) , she is very outgoing, and probably will turn to be a party girl. Older DD is Y9, very academic and introverted.

I don't know that website, but they probably scrape official figures that are published by the police You can get the information directly from source here: https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/

But it's worth contextualising it. The crime figures will always be higher in central London where the population is denser and thousands of people are commuting in and out every day, not to mention tourists and shoppers.

@Curdled , I made my mind up on Teddington and made the school application via the council's website. I managed to rent very close to school, 0.25-0.30 miles; I have a rental contract and a TV license in hand and am waiting for the council tax bill.
There were two application forms: one for the 2023/24 academic year and the other for 2024/25.
We ideally want to start in September 2024, so I used that one, but a friend says it is better to apply for this year and accept the place if one becomes available, say in July. She thinks there will be more competition if I apply for the September start.
I am still so confused about this: is there no chance of being accepted for the September start and knowing this by mid-July, before the schools close?
Would we have more luck if I applied for this academic year? Schools just ended in Istanbul, and we need some rest, but I don't want to be on the waiting list for the September review.

I read that you said:
However, the June applications obviously get first dibs on any places that are freed up during July. As that is the end of term, it's a key time for students to be notifying schools that they're not returning.

But they can't offer the place to someone new until the departing child is registered in their new school - often that won't happen until September.

How do we get the first dibs in this case? Do you mean we can be offered places in July but not start before September when the leaves actually rolled -off?

I am thinking about making an application for this academic year, which would probably overwrite the first one and sit and pray that school would not call us to start before September.