No school vacancies in the Richmond Borough

[Slubulino]

Hello there!

My family is moving to Richmond Borough in August. We have been planning our house search in the East Sheen as there was only the RPA school that had vacancies for year 8th.

But now no school in the Borough has any place 🥲. I am lost! Not sure how I should go about finding a home now as I am afraid of finding a home and then get a school 1h away.

What are the criteria of allocating a school place if none of the schools in the Borough have places? I know a child must receive a place.

Thank you!

This happened to me with primary school. I imagine in London they will be a bit more experienced and know what to do a bit better than they did when it happened to me!

You have to be provided with a school place. And within a certain timeframe. There is a process called Fair Access Protocol which may be useful.

You can put her name on waiting lists for any school but find out how each school manages their lists as some ask that you let them know every month that you still want a place.

What I did is after I moved I appealed for the nearest school. In the statement I wrote about how this was the closest school and how this was going to help my child settle in to the area. And that there were no spaces anywhere else! I did win the appeal.

I would phone the local admissions and ask their advice

You cant apply until you have an address and can prove that you are imminently going to be living there.

Then you will get. place under a fair access protocol (FAP)
Depending on where you move to the other boroughs are very close as well

Boy or Girl?
1 hour by bus is a long but not unusual commute for secondary in London (by parental choice)

It seems very unlikely that there are no secondary places in Richmond- there are plenty in Wandsworth. Year 8 (I assume current Year 7) is not a large year group.

Things change constantly in London and you can't really plan on knowing where will have places until you've got the address fixed and see where the vacancies are then. There'll be some schools outside the borough that are closer than some schools in the borough so again it's hard to focus on that ahead of the move. But there will be a secondary space somewhere your dc can get to in the reasonably local area even if it's not where you'd choose if applying at the usual entry points. Go on the waiting lists for other preferred schools and see how things shake down when you're in there. Without paying for private, there's no guarantees but things might get work out okay.

I did receive the information from the admissions team. There were places at RPA but now no school has a place. Of course the situation can shift and change but is very stressful not knowing what area to focus on with the rent now. As I want my kid to be closer to school. 🫣

Thank you! I did email. Waiting to see. They are super helpful and responsive.

Thank you! One thing at a time right? As finding a rent is not hard enough 🤪 (because we are moving with a small dog also) now also the stress of school unknowns.

I am thinking to stay in the initial search area and hope it Wikileaks be more change in August 🫣.

Admissions won't have a full picture who has a place as students come and go all of the time and the borough/s lists are not that dynamic

Get a rental contract in place then contact local schools and admissions
There will be a massive churn over the summer as always.

It is also close to numerous other boroughs. There are 100% places in Wandsworth at less than a hour away.

If you move to Hampton (I know it's a long way from RPA) you can try the Surrey schools too. Ring Surrey county council and ask about Three Rivers, Heathside and Esher High.

If you've not found your house yet, then I'd aim for an area close to several possible schools rather than one hoped for school. That should be the case in most of London of course, but as it's less likely to be about proximity than on where has space, better to give yourself most options, and good transport links. All the best with it - incredibly stressful I know, but you will get a place, no doubt.

What are the criteria of allocating a school place if none of the schools in the Borough have places?

They must find a place for you somewhere. They will normally offer the nearest school with places available. However, if there is no school within a reasonable distance that has places available, the LA can invoke their Fair Access Protocol once your child has been out of education for four weeks or more. This allows them to get a school to admit your child even though the school is already full. However, note that "reasonable distance" at this age is defined as up to 75 minutes journey each way.

75min is really bad I think … after 75min of commute I would be tired 😴 the kid would be cranky 😒.

Yes they confirm that if they can’t offer a school in 15 school days because all the schools are full then this Fair Access Protocol would need to be invoked.

I hope there is more movement and we do not need to wait a month out of school. It would be very difficult for my son that needs time to integrate and get onboarded with the curriculum. We are moving from Sweden.

Thanks!

Neighbouring boroughs will have places
The lea will ask them so you could look yourself already and identify one you like

They can easily travel to Wandsworth from Richmond so look in Wandsworth

@Slubulino , as noted on previous threads, you can move to the Barnes area and start your ds in the Swedish school and move him once a place becomes available at a distance you consider acceptable to your home. As MNetters have stated there are spaces in Wandsworth, Surrey and Hounslow. It's very unlikely an FAP would be used eps as you are not of refugee status.

West London is a wonderful place to live especially in between the Thames and Richmond Park and the schools are very good hence they are full but there are spaces for a year 8 child 75min from East Sheen, it's just maybe not what you planned/imagined.

Thank you! Yes, I know the Swedish School 😃. My kid wants to integrate and wants to be in a British school. Is good to have a plan B I think.

Right now I focus on the rent part 🤞 and I also know that there is some movement before school starts. Now the schools are closed so there are no recent options.

The admission team told us about the Fair Access Protocol if they are not able to allocate school in 15 school days. 🤪

Do you mean Richmond or Richmond borough? I find it extremely hard to believe no secondaries in the whole borough have places - particularly schools like Twickenham School

But Wandsworth is not Richmond. All schools in Y7 have waiting lists now. In Y8 is a waiting list for each of them

But some trains from Hampton are going through Mortlake- faster

Not any longer. Everything is oversubscribed now. Gone are the days when Twickenham was an "overflow" school in our borough.
Maybe it will return in a few years as most of the schools had spaces in reception this year due to falling birth rate. But that 20 perc VAT on Private schools may cause the influx from private to state schools too...we shall see

Which trains go through Mortlake? Is this a new thing? AFAIK, all Hampton trains to Waterloo are on the Shepperton line and stop at Fulwell, Teddington, Hampton Wick, Kingston, Norbiton, New Malden, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, Clapham Junction, Vauxhall and Waterloo.

I think you must be thinking of a different station that has the option of going around the Kingston loop or the Richmond loop. Maybe Twickenham?

But the schools in Wandsworth are easily commutable in under an hour - which was the point that I was making. There are places within a reasonable secondary commute.

The FAP would allocate a school within the borough, none of which would be 75 minutes away. It's Greater London, so there are good public transport links, even if travelling from one end of the borough to the other.

The borough is divided into two halves for the purposes of school place planning.
@Slubulino I'd recommend being in the Western part of the borough (Twickenham/Teddington/Hampton) rather than the East, because there is generally less pressure on places.

You do need to move first, then find a place. If you move now then a place will probably come up by the start of term in September.

Places will definitely come up, it's finding a rental that's the harder aspect.
I'm personally not that sure the VAT on private schools will make too much difference, most people have very strong personal reasons they want their children to go private and will find the extra, will tell though and maybe there will be less people feeling forced into private as Labour may increase spending in schools and the falling birth rate mean more spaces at the better schools

Not all. I was also surprised to find it here on mumsnet out that there is 8 am morning train that go through Twickenham, Mortlake and other stations. I could not believe it and I checked. I also was convinced that everything that goes through Hampton is the so called Kingston Loop