Parents of young children living in central Wanstead who faced having to take them to school in Barkingside may be about to celebrate a breakthrough – an extra reception class is being added at Nightingale Primary School to cope with w
hat has been termed a “bulge year”.
The new class will mean the school will have four reception classes. To cope with the increased numbers Redbridge is funding two new brick-built classrooms, one of which will replace a temporary classroom. Extra staff will also be recruited, and there is funding for new laptops, a larger entrance and, touchingly, extra water fountains.
In May we reported that parents living in Nightingale Lane, Grosvenor Road, The Avenue, and Leicester Road had been told their children could not go to school in Wanstead, even though there are four primary schools relatively close. Several were told they could have places in Barkingside, though there were twins in one family who were given places in two different schools.
One of the affected parents told us that the difficulties of getting her daughter to and from a distant school meant she or her partner might have to give up work.
