Richmond Park Academy Park Avenue, London SW14 8RG

"With the previous RPA leadership of 2016-19 replaced;  the governing board replaced;  an overhaul of policies, including a staff disciplinary policy exemplifying misconduct, and thereby also framing what good practice looks like;  the promotion of a whistleblowing policy;  mandated staff training;  and with the local authority having claimed oversight of attendance at the school, RPA should be in a good position to leave behind weak governance and, at times, dangerous and unlawful practice by its staff. As a parent of a former pupil at RPA, although I could comment widely – backed by comprehensive documentary evidence – on numerous past serious failures at RPA, I have limited my review around the points below that I believe the public should be made aware of: ATTENDANCE: My experience of the management of attendance at RPA was that staff were focused entirely on the pursuit of attendance statistics by putting up barriers to absences and lateness, without any apparent regard for, or understanding of, the risk to sick pupils from doing so;  and resorting to off-rolling if unsuccessful. My understanding is that these failures have since been addressed by the Trust. Additionally, the local authority has claimed oversight of attendance at RPA through its Education Welfare Service, which should be reassuring to other parents, as it removes the opportunity for RPA staff to disregard professional advice given to them on the management of attendance for sick pupils, as has happened in the past, and thereby putting pupils at extreme risk. BULLYING: Other reviewers on here mention bullying at RPA, a concern I share. Again, it should be reassuring for pupils and other parents to know that all RPA staff and governors have been mandated anti-bullying training through a court order;  and subsequent advice from an independent complaints investigation panel recommended an independent review into the quality and effectiveness of anti-bullying practice at RPA. GOVERNANCE: In my experience, past governance of RPA was weak and ineffective, i.e. relying on assumed integrity of staff whose actions they were meant to scrutinise and hold to account. This enabled RPA staff to propagate and embed false narratives favourable to themselves, leading to damaging and dangerous responses being formulated and implemented, and thereby putting pupils at risk. Our personal data was withheld for nearly two years after it was first requested – despite it being an organisations obligation to release it as soon as possible – making it difficult to counter false, inaccurate, and misleading narratives as they were put forward by now former RPA staff. I believe the approach has changed since. The previous board repeatedly failed to follow RPA's complaints procedure, even when warned about serious operational failures within the school, simply handing complaints back to the very person complained about, resulting in the issues brought to the board’s attention not being addressed, leaving pupils at continued serious risk. In our case, it was not until the Trust got directly involved in overseeing complaints of misconduct against RPA staff, starting in December 2018, that staff’s actions were scrutinised and held to account. Serious failures at RPA were finally being looked into over the subsequent months. Despite what was a slow take-up at the start of a prolonged process, it seems to me that the Trust has now come round to having a good understanding of recent past failures at RPA. The main staff member in question is no longer employed at RPA. This review was first posted in August 2020, and received over 10,200 views before being removed."

"My son goes to this school and he's very happy. The headmaster Mr Mundy-Castle is a very positive and inspiring man. The progression this school is going through is quite brilliant. I have no doubt that RPA will go from Good to Outstanding in the next Ofsted report and it doesn't surprise me more and more East Sheen and Barnes families are now sending their kids here. Sixth Form students are now leaving here to go to Oxford. I felt compelled to leave a review because all the One Star reviews I'm reading on here don't seem to ring true with what we're seeing."

"My sister was a teacher at this school for a year - the school is totally chaotic. She was completely stressed out by it; the staff are struggling to cope, schedules are totally behind where they should be, and there are certain members of staff that are just as much bullies as some of the worst pupils. It's difficult to learn or teach because there are a few very vocal disruptive students. I would seriously recommend not sending your child to this school if you have a choice. The name sounds nice, but that's all it is - if you can, select a school that is nearer to the centre of Richmond Borough."

"Terrible school. Lessons are so far behind. Teachers rude and very patronising towards students.They stand outside in the morning, eating their cereal, from a bowl, drinking coffee and chastising the students as they walk in for very minor issues. Teachers don't listen to reason and when you go to them with any concerns they are immediately in defence mode and very hostile. Staff on the 'student entrance' are very unprofessional when you go in. One time I was told to wait in the foyer and three of them (including one teacher) were whispering about me. I heard it all. So unprofessional on so many levels. I drove past the school one afternoon and saw the two of them smoking outside and they both threw their cigarette ends down onto the road. Our child was threatened by another student and we were told by a teacher that our child had to "build up resilience !!" I'm sure they would react differently if it was their child being seriously threatened. A few times our child came home and told us about very "inappropriate remarks" made by a teacher. There is little point in complaining about this as all the staff close ranks. We really believed Mr Castle's speech during the Open Morning and how positive he was about the school. However, he is not in the individual classes and can't see for himself what is going on. We took our child away from the school as it's not the environment we wanted our child to be in."

"We have one child at the school in Y8 and one joining Y7 in September. Our daughter loves it and there is so much to get involved with beyond just academic work. The new head has really made a terrific impact since he arrived a couple of years ago and inspires enormous confidence that he will take this school 'outstanding' in the next few years."