Letter to Wansteadium: Read this before applying for school places

Wansteadium reader Clive Ewerton, who has made a close study of the process for applying for school places, writes:

Dear Wansteadium,

I just wanted to give some tips on applying for primary school places as there tends to be lots of confusion/misconceptions about the process in Redbridge. Each year people find themselves unnecessarily without a school place.

1. Visit all your local schools before applying so you can get a feel for the school. Try not to read too much into the Ofsted reports. The school you like most may not have the best report in the borough. Don’t be put off the school you like by friends/family, you know your child best.

2. Read the application booklet THOROUGHLY (it’s available on the Redbridge website) It really is essential!

3. You don’t actually have a ‘choice’ in schools, you have a ‘preference’. Make sure you choose all 6 local schools, so if the worst comes to the worst you are on the waiting list for all 6 preferences. If you are in a black hole area in Wanstead (central Wanstead) think about what your options are if you don’t get a place in a local school) Nothing is guaranteed unfortunately, people also have difficulties getting places at the faith schools too.

4. Know your catchments. Email Redbridge admissions (admissionsandawards@redbridge.gov .uk to find out your distances to all your local schools (do not try to calculate distances yourself, it won’t be accurate). You may come under the catchment for only one school. Compare your distances to those in the applications book. If you live a mile away from Nightingale you won’t get in, even if you apply for just this school. Lots of people think you have to get one of your preferences so only chose one school and then get left without a school place, don’t let this be you!

5. Apply for your catchment school. This may sound obvious but every year you get parents in the Warren Estate/Overton Drive/Wanstead Station/Gordon/Dangan Road/The Green/Seagry Road area applying to only Nightingale and Snaresbrook schools. These areas have not been in the catchment of these schools for the past 5 years (and this seems set to continue). If you aren’t applying to a religious school your only preference is Aldersbrook, but the catchment for Aldersbrook seems likely to have a reduced catchment along with all the schools in Wanstead. There are parents having to journey from the Warren Estate/Seagry Road/Draycot Road/Warren estate areas to Barkingside this year because they only applied to Snaresbrook and Nightingale school and they could have got a place at Aldersbrook but didn’t apply.

6. The application is decided in the following order: 1. ‘Looked after children’ 2. children with medical/psychological needs 3. siblings 4. Distance. APPLICATION IS NOT DECIDED ON ORDER OF PREFERENCE. This means that having a school as your 6th or 1st option will not make a difference to you getting a place. I hear lots of people saying “I’m putting Snaresbrook Primary as my first choice as I’m worried my child won’t get a place if I put Nightingale first”. Each preference is considered separately, purely through the order indicated. If you prefer Nightingale put that as your first choice.

7. Make sure you submit all your documents and application on time.

8. Apply online (MAKE SURE YOU SAVE ANY CHANGES) you get the results a day or two earlier

9. Cross your fingers and hope for the best

Best of luck folks

OTT for art

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(Updated) Local artists Kathy Taylor & Mike Edwards had the idea for their Homefront installation (as part of the Wanstead Art Trail ) while discussing the origins of the phrase OTT. This modern abbreviation came from the trenches of the First World War. Soldiers were ordered to go ‘Over The Top’ leaving the relative safety of their trenches and risk being killed by the enemy in No Man’s Land. Both their grandfathers would have heard these orders when they fought in the trenches of the Somme. Whilst developing the idea Kathy and Mike travelled to Hill 42 in Flanders which gave them the final inspiration for the form of their garden installation.

It can be seen at 13 Redbridge Lane West until 27 September.

Fringey credits

IMG_5283.PNGSomething like the Wanstead Fringe takes a huge amount of effort from a lot of people. It also takes a bit of cash, which this year was again generously supplied by Petty Son and Prestwich. But in case you were wondering, and barring any shameful erroneous omissions, these are the responsible parties who brought you the Wanstead Fringe 2014:

David Adshead, Nick Affleck, Bar Room Bar, Nick Bristow, Allen Chan, Dan Clapton, Jane Clapton, Susan Clark, Richard Corbyn, Jenny Drew, Rob Fearn, Jon Fentiman, Ronnie Finch, Mark Foster, Bassam Gilini, John Gilsenan, Paul Glynn, Paul Grant, Suzi Harnett, Katriye Ibrahim, Anya Lipska, Mel Long, Longhorn, Alistair Macqueen, Bryony Macqueen, Manor House, Teresa Mitrovic, Simon Murray, Shayne Perry, Stephanie Pettigrew, Petty Son and Prestwich, Jaime Ritchie, Caroline Roberts, John Rogers, Mark Rutherford, Scott Savill, Mary Simmons, Pat Smith, Mark Stephens, Sumo Fresh, Suzanne Taylor, Marian Temple, The Duke, The Larder, Time for Tea, John Wagstaff, Adrian Ward, Wanstead Majestic, Wanstead Oxfam, Geoff Wilkinson, Lynn Wilkinson, Giles Wilson, Maura Wilson, and 21st Epping Forest South Cub Scouts.

tilesThe winner of the Cherry Pie challenge was Orla Dean for correctly identifying the tiled bricks as being outside Bennett’s newsagents.

Thank you to all involved. If you feel the urge to get involved for 2015, drop a line to info@wansteadfringe.org. We’re particularly interested in hearing from you if you have ideas about music of different varieties, talks featuring matters of really local interest or history, and theatre. Some theatre would be really great. But time moves fast and so if you have ideas, do bring them forward now.

Scenes from the Wanstead Festival


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