Primary Schools Walthamstow/Leytonstone/Leyton

[Coconutfeet]

We are looking to move to one of the above areas, ideally Walthamstow, and would appreciate people's experiences of particular primary schools in the area as ds will be starting in Sept 2013.

I know Henry Maynard is a very popular school in Walthamstow, but property close-by is too expensive for us, I think. I've heard a lot of good things about Greenleaf as well. I'm particularly curious about Barclay Primary in Leyton and Woodside and The Winns Primaries in Walthamstow as I don't know anyone who goes there. But there's very little property for sale at the moment and we may have to widen our search area so I'd welcome opinions on any schools in these three places.

I've been reading Ofsted reports but I know enough to take them with a pinch of salt. I think a parent's viewpoint is far more revealing. (Also, if anyone fancies selling us a 3 bedroom house near a nice school, do let me know!!)

Bump

They are all good. Barclay and Greenleaf would be my first choice then Winns. I think Woodside may just have gone into special measures, but this could be hear say.

Thanks skewiff.

Just to add - last night I couldn't write much as baby on my knee asleep - Edinburgh is a really good school. Many of my friends have children there and are really happy. That's on queens road.

All the parents of children at Winns are really happy too. St Mary's C of E school is v good and all the parents are really happy.

There is a good catholic school too nearby - can't remember the name.

Roger Ascham is supposed to be a brilliant school and is outstanding with ofsted I think and Hillyfields has an outstanding ofsted.

So there are good primaries dotted about all over the place in Walthamstow. The ones I have mentioned I know parents are happy with. But having said that I haven't really heard any complaints from any of the parents round here. Nothing that is serious at all. Maybe just little niggles, but you'd have that anywhere.

All I would watch out for is that with the massive increase in pupils over the last year (and this is set to continue) Walthamstow has increased the sizes of our schools. So some have been increased from 3 form entry to 6 in this last year. They are housing the extra pupils in satellite buildings that are notnecessarily near to the original school.

This may not bother you. But just to warn you - the website and ofsted report will not actually tell you how large the school is going to be next year and in the future. You will probably need to phone the school and ask if there are plans to change the size of the school and the number of pupils etc

Thanks for all this extra info Skewiff. It's really useful to know how actual parents feel about a school. Someone else mentioned Hillyfields as being really nice. I'll check out the other ones too. Interesting about Woodside as we've been looking at houses around that area. I'll definitely check that out. Although at least going into special measures means they'll be getting additional support.

Thanks too for the tip about increasing sizes. Six form entry is massive. I'll approach individual schoolsto find out.

We've moved out of Walthamstow now, but Chapel End which was near us was well thought of. It's a lovely area to live in, loads cheaper than the village and right next to Lloyd Park. My daughter went to the children's centre at Woodside which was fantastic. I don't know anything about the school though.

Actually MissM Chapel End has just gone into special measures. (I am not definite that is the label they've been given, but its the equivalent I think).

I was really surprised because loads of people were encouraging me to look there (DS has a statement so we had some element of choice).

Hillyfields is going to increase from 3 form to 6 form next year. And so is Woodside school. I'm not sure about any others, but it is best to ring and ask the school of course.

W'stow has good Catholic schools if you are so inclined!

Well that's a shame - people raved about it when I was there. Still a lovely area though, and lots of other schools around such as Winns, Roger Ascham, Greenleaf etc.

I'm not inclined towards Catholic schools MrsJoeDuffy, but thanks for the tip.

Well it sounds like there's plenty of choice, but I'll definitely make enquiries about which schools are going to be increasing in size. Thanks again!