Wokingham School advice

[djinthailand]

I'm due to move to Woosehill in October with a 3 yr old and a 6yr old. I was excited by the choice of outstanding schools. However, now that I've applied for the schools close to the house I've discovered that they're all full and not much chance of any spaces becoming available. I've been told that there are places at Emmbrook Primary, Bearwood and All Saints. Does anybody know anything about any of these schools? Thanks

I've just had my letter confirming that we haven't got a place in the three schools I put down for my son. We've been told that once we move we will be offered a place at the nearest school which has places (although all of the schools are over a mile away). I don't want to accept this as I want to choose the best out of the available schools. DOes anybody have any recommendations or know of any schools I should avoid in Woosehill / Wokingham? Really beginning to worry now as we've only got 5 weeks until we move and we still don't have a year 2 place.

If you are in Woosehill the two catchment schools are Walter infant and Hawthorns primary depending which side of the Woosehill Road you live on.

I looked around Walter today and was very impressed (my son will start school as a rising 5 next September). The Head confirmed that the school is always oversubscribed but does take from outside the catchment as it's a large school with three classes of 30 in each year.

Emmbrook school is quite close to Woosehill though, within a mile.

Presumably you can go onto the waiting list at Walter and Hawthorns?

Our catchment school is Wescott and we're also going to see Nine Mile Ride School, which we've heard good things about and has a new Head teacher this year.

What have you decided to do?

Hi Waspie.
Our situation has changed as the house we were buying fell through at the last minute. We won't be moving into the area now until 18 December. We wanted to keep in the catchment of Walter because we'd heard such good things about it so we've decided to rent somewhere until we can find what we're looking for. Unfortunately the only house available for us to rent within the time frame we wanted and the catchment we wanted is out at Barkham. We've put down on our list of schools Walter, Bearwood and St Teresas but they're all full. We haven't been offered a school yet but I presume it will be Emmbrook or All Saints. I've given the whole situation a great deal of thought and have decided to homeschool until a place becomes available at one of our choices. Walter has 3 classes per year group, so hopefully a place will come up at one of the schools soon! The more I read about homeschooling the more I'm liking the idea - for the short term, at least - just haven't told Wokingham Council yet that's what I'm planning to do!

Sorry to hear your purchase fell through dj. The head at Walter said that when the children move to St Pauls for year 3 they have additional spaces (St Pauls is a larger school) so if you are willing to homeschool until then the chances may be greater, especcially if you are closer to/in catchment by then.

We went to see Hawthorns last night (also Ofsted "Outstanding") and the head is leaving. This may affect the school as most of the posts I read on here say that at primary level the Head is the most important element. Hawthorns was only ever going to be our 4th choice though as it's about 2 miles away and they never have to go outside catchment to fill their 2 classes per year, so our chances of getting a place are miniscule.

If you decide against home ed - another to consider (particularly if you are in Barkham) is Winnersh Primary. The school is improving at a rate of knots and the Head there is well regarded. Also, they have a growth intake because there are lots of new houses so they are talking about taking three classes per year to cover the expanding numbers.

Best of luck!

Thanks. We now have a place at Bearwood Primary and are on the waiting list for Walter. We're going to see how it goes at Bearwood, although I hear they are talking about moving the school. I guess we're best waiting to see where buy a house - hopefully closer to Walter.