Thinking of moving to Walthamstow

[RuthKiang]

We are considering moving to Walthamstow and I'm after some advice about where the nice parts are. We viewed a house on College Road that seems perfect, but isn't in the main part of the village. Which roads are in the village?

Can anyone advise on decent primary schools state or independent? Is Forest School good?

Thanks :-)

IMO Walthamstow is a bit emperor's new clothes. "The Village" is a middle class ghetto consisting of a couple of restaurants, three shops and a deli and a few nice middle class pubs that serve overpriced gastro meals and put on jazz evenings.

There is a lot of investment going on in Walthamstow right now - and dear god, it needed it - but don't get swept away by the #awesomestow hype. It's an area that is still very much grotty for the most part with fried chicken shops and bookies outweighing nice little coffee shops by about seven million percent. It's an area of high deprivation and the whole "village" crap annoys me as it's not an investment in the community as a whole, it's a ghetto as I said before, where white middle class folks can pretend they're in Stoke Newington and that the scummy poor folk don't exist.

But hey, property prices have gone insane in E17 this year so maybe I'm just bitter. Be careful, is all I'm saying. There's a lot of up talking happening about the area and it can't put its money where its mouth is most of the time.

Just don't eat a jacket potato and then go for a drive - you might run yourself over.

Schools are ok in Walthamstow, I guess. Lots which are very good but also a sizeable number which are unsatisfactory. It's such a densely populated area that catchment areas are tiny so check this very carefully. You could actually end up in the catchment for four failing or "requires improvent" schools- happened to us several years back. Just because there are some good ones a fifteen minute walk from you it doesn't mean you'll be in the catchment area.

Gah! I sound really negative, reading back! There are good things about Walthamstow (William Morris museum, new cinema etc).

Just don't drink the cool-aid. Spend a few days there. Wander around, get a proper feel for the area, decide for yourself rather than getting swept away by the bloody #awesomestow hype.

I mean, yeah, the museum is good. But how often will you go there? Four times a year at best, maybe? How do you envision your day to day life working there? What might get you down about it? Can you live with those things?

Thanks for advice. What's St Mary's CofE Primary School like?

That's very much a personal thing, I think. Read the Ofsted report, obviously, but you don't know if it will 'right' for your DCs until you have a look round.

Will you be in catchment for St Mary's on College Rd?

Hmm pretty negative bunch of posts from Avienus there.

As a resident, I'd say there are lots of nice areas outside the village as well as in the village. We live just outside the village, just north of Lea Bridge Rd - apparently the village ends at Grove Road going south - and are very happy there. Lots of young families, friendly neighbours, community feel.

Have quite a few friends who live round the Lloyd Park area which is also very nice and some pretty architecture in the Warner houses. I also know people who are very happy off Wood st and Forrest Rd as well as the non-village (west-side) of Hoe St.

Yes catchment areas for schools are small but there are several decent schools around - look at the Ofsted ratings. If you are a church-goer, you will have precedence at St Mary's regardless of what street you live on.

And there is general investment happening - not just in the village. In fact a lot is being done on the High street area.

House prices have gone pretty mad though but think that is symptomatic of London as a whole, not just Walthamstow.

OP just looked at where College Road is - you're near me but I am a bit closer to Hoe St.

I don't know if you would be in the Catchment area for St Mary's as it is still done from their old site on the Drive, but as I said previously, if you are a church-goer that takes precedence over catchment area. But you would have a pretty good chance of being in the catchment for Henry Maynard which has an outstanding Ofsted rating , think we are just outside it. It had a 0.28 mile cut-off last year and 0.38 the year before.

There is also Barclay primary in Leyton which has good Ofsted and think you would be in the catchment area there, and they are opening a second site on Hoe street this year. HTH