Keen to hear from experienced parents / teachers

[RGP]

Hi,

Good day! I was hoping to learn from anyone willing to share their experiences or knowledge of primary schools in East London.

We live in East London (near Chigwell) and are looking to upsize. We're looking for proximity to a good primary school (DS starts school next year) and easy access to a station, as I travel into central London fairly often. I've read that Churchfields Infants school is rather good and based on the gov website, have seen that Fairlop Primary has good progress scores as well. While I intend to visit the schools, just hoped to also learn from others, as I grew up outside London and would really appreciate any pointers, tips.

Thank you for your time.

Take care.

I don't have any helpful area-related advice, but to be (relatively) sure of a place at a catchment or local primary, you need to be in residence by time of application - in other words by 31 Jan 2025, if your DC starts in Sept 2025. Are you currently near the schools you mention or do you need to move? Do you rent so could you move in four months?

Thanks for the message. We’re not currently within the catchment but are looking to move. We can rent in the short term till we find a house.

Do you have a house to sell? Some LAs will consider your owned home as your permanent address so maybe check that. You don't have much time at all – so I would focus on actioning the move tbh as long as the LA will accept the rented house.

The closing date for on time applications is actually 15th January 2025 (the specific LA may have a grace period for movers to prove residence at a new address, but you need to check, and it is usually a few weeks, not months).

Both the schools named are Redbridge Community Schools, so their admissions criteria are here
https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/media/12405/admission-arrangements-for-2025-2026.pdf

Other useful links

https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/media/12180/admission-to-reception-junior-2024.pdf

https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/schools/primary-school-admissions/

@RGP you should look carefully at the admissions arrangements for all the schools around the area you are interested in - if they are not named as a community school, then the specific oversubscription criteria may be different (e.g. giving priority to members of a specific religion, or those living within a defined area). Be realistic about where you apply, but use all the 'slots' on your CAF; if none of you preferences can be met when your application is ranked for each school you name according to its oversubscription criteria, your home LA will allocate your DC a place at the nearest school with a space, which could be miles away and / or a school which is unpopular for a good reason.

haha sorry @MarchingFrogs I was conflating 31 Oct and 15 Jan! yes you are right of course. So a bit less than four months @RGP

Sort of assumed you were thinking of the secondary admissions one. Our LA and the next door one do have a grace period (at least they used to) which is / was something like 3 weeks, but I'm not sure whether its a given thing.

Thanks very much for the responses! We are looking to move now and hope it happens in time.