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.
Lucky for those parents that Nightingale has done that. I wonder how many of those parents who “missed out” chanced their arm at getting into other smaller local schools, ie faith schools, failed and then hoped that nightingale would accept them despite placing it further down their list?
Nightingale is a great school but should not be used to mop up the places for parents who saw it as somehow not good enough for their first choice.
But the catchment bias to South Woodford will be maintained by the use of the front gate on Ashbourne Avenue for measurement purposes.
Not such a good story as it might appear……
Local Conservative Councillors Nolan, Cummins, Michelle Dunn and I joined with Council Officers in working hard for this so we’re thrilled to see such a positive result!
Every child should be able to get a place at his/her local state school. Sadly this is not the case, because some state schools, as we know, are exclusive. Nightingale has indeed mopped up – a very good thing all round, especially for those local kids who didn’t have a school place – and yet those exclusive state schools remain undisturbed…. this doesn’t seem fair to me.
Great post @Jenny
I’m with you; can’t be right that a child struggles to get a local education because of their ( lack of ) religious beliefs.
Easier to build classrooms than deal with the real issue. Just saying.
…. whilst Aldersbrook, a Wanstead school and only a short hop on the bus from the high street, has to take in from other boroughs due to lack of demand from the residents of Wanstead?
Are we really supporting our local schools?