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.

There won't be time for an appeal to be heard before September 11th, but the FAP being invoked doesn't negate your normal rights of appeal and there is nothing to stop you starting the process asap for any or all of the schools for which you have been turned down. You may be lucky and the school which takes your DC through the Fair Access Protocol Iis one of the ones you have already identified as a preference (or even luckier and get a phone call offering a waiting list place at one of them on the second day of term), but you could be found a place at a less desirable / convenient school.

You can always withdraw appeals, if a place you are happy with is offered beforehand.

What MarchingFrogs says is technically right, but ... to win an appeal you need to demonstrate that a) the school that rejected your application did so incorrectly for some reason or b) your child's need for a school place is greater than the school's case for being too full to admit your child. Those are very high bars. You have a greater chance of winning an appeal if your child doesn't have any place at all, or a place at the opposite end of the borough to where you live. Preference for another school carries no weight - you would need a specific, compelling and provable reason (e.g. "my child has mobility issues, so needs a school with an elevator" or "the appeal school is the only school that can keep my child safe from x,y,z threat"). Appeals panels don't have much sympathy with appellants who appear to be just trying to avoid less popular schools.

Some people will suggest you appeal anyway because you have a right to, and/or "nothing to lose". But others would see that as irresponsible because every appeal creates a volume of admin work for the appeals service and for the school. The school has to pay the local authority appeals service for every appeal lodged, even if it is later withdrawn.

... so in the op's case it might be justifiable to lodge an appeal for Teddington School (by far the closest) to mitigate the risk of the FAP offering a school at the other end of the borough, then withdraw it if the FAP offers a relatively convenient school. But, unless there is a need we don't know about, it would seem unreasonable to lodge appeals for every desirable school on the Twickenham side of the borough.

I am so thankful for this website and its mums!

Honestly, I was only waiting for the admissions to get their lists sorted and confirm the no-returners. I thought they would offer a place within the first 1-2 weeks of school opening, as they advised earlier (they can only provide once the leaver is registered with another school), so I didn't consider being rejected. Still, from what the AFC officer wrote, it seems/may be the case.

I will do the school run for the younger DD to primary school. My older DD needs to get used to the country and local transport, and until then, I will have to give her a lift if her school is far away. Besides that, I can't think of why Teddington has to offer her a place. I mean, psychologically, she would feel more confident if she could make a start at a school near home as everything would be new to her.

Thank you,@Br00m ; it's lovely to e-meet you! That is a great offer indeed! my DD would be so excited about this. I will PM you now

An appeal panel would expect a secondary school student to be able to travel independently and, while they would be understanding of the "new to the country" argument, it would be too temporary to carry much weight. They might be more sympathetic if your elder child was responsible for picking up your younger child from primary school while you are working elsewhere, but only if there were compelling reasons why you couldn't use a childminder for that. As that isn't the case, you would be heavily reliant on weaknesses in the school's case for being full. You might be able to find previous appeal statistics on their website - the local authority asks all schools to publish them - most do, some don't.

Nevertheless, the FAP process will have to offer you a place in the borough, and Hampton Wick train station is handy for travel to most areas, so journey times won't be excessive.

Thank you @Curdled . So we had the call with the AFC person who will present my DD on the 11th at the panel. He went through all the schools in Richmond borough with me, asking what I was thinking of them. I wasn't expecting it, and I did not have a great idea of all the schools as we were only interested in the ones nearest to us. so I took it as it went, and we chatted through, saying RPA and Hampton High would be too far, she could be left out in the religious schools, etc.

He said headteachers don't welcome the idea of a child picking up her/his sibling due to safeguarding purposes. So I asked not to put it then.

I sent him my DS's school report, which is pretty decent. He mentioned that academic achievement doesn't make much difference, but he will note it. The same goes for her sports interests. I said she is on the school team for volleyball and table tennis, and she loved the sports grounds in both Teddington and Grey Court, and he said he would make a note of it.

He also said GC and OP are pretty far from us, so they would not be pressured to provide us with a place. But then we talked through all the schools, which I later found much farther away than GC and OP.

I felt a bit down after all.

Meanwhile, when I asked about rejections and appeals, he was surprised that we hadn't received the rejection letter yet. He said he would ask it to be sent asap, and maybe I may consider an appeal to Teddington by the week schools start. The reason for the timing is that he thinks we may be offered a place by then, and also, even if we appealed now, he said appeals need 30 school days to be evaluated, and it will be October by then, and DD would be placed at a school by then.

Fingers crossed - good luck!

If you live near Teddington school then Hampton High is one of the closest schools to you. RPA is miles away but kids from the same Hampton, Hampton Hill primary schools are going to either HH or Teddington

I hope your transition to the area goes well. It's a great place to live.

thank you mums- I will let you know how it goes

@Hellenhellen , hope all has gone well and your 12 yr old has a school place and the primary school has worked out.

Hellooo Mums! Hello @poppybuttons
My daughter is offered a place at Teddington and we are thrilled. She is still at home waiting for the TS to do the registration. It happened on the day of the panel took place last week and we received an email from AFC saying a place become available in TS during the panel happening. AFC sent the phone number of the school saying we should continue the process with them. we contacted on Thursday but they said they are busy and we have to wait until they get back to us. DD2 was easily registered with St John's Wood and she started on the 4th with everyone else. The school administration at St John's is amazing. I guess TS is a big school and they have a lot to do, and DD1 keeps praying to start asap. It is a happy ending for me, as our home is right between two schools and can't wait to settle.
All mums on this forum helped me so much, which I am so grateful for 🙏