Waltham Forest Council is preparing to consult on closing Edinburgh Primary School in Walthamstow, a school now running at under a fifth of its capacity.
Senior councillors will decide at a cabinet meeting next week whether to launch a six-week consultation on the closure.
The numbers behind the proposal are stark. The school roll fell by 54% over six years — 521 children were enrolled in 2017/18, and 239 in 2023/24. Today just 109 pupils attend, which is 17% of the school's capacity, and only eight children are enrolled in reception.
The council had already cut the school's published admissions number from 90 to 30. Former headteacher Faye Rider resigned in November 2024 as enrolment continued to fall.
It is a pattern felt across the borough. Waltham Forest's primary schools have room for 4,020 pupils but only 3,158 are enrolled. Because government funding follows pupil numbers, those empty places cost the borough around £2.54million a year.
In its papers, the council says falling demand for school places across the borough means that maintaining the schools is "increasingly unsustainable".
For the families at Edinburgh, the practical question is where children would go. The council points to four schools within half a mile — Barn Croft, Coppermill, St Patrick's and Stoneydown — all rated good by Ofsted, which it says could take Edinburgh's pupils if the closure goes ahead.
The site itself would not necessarily fall empty. The council says it could be repurposed to provide education for children with special educational needs, where demand is rising.
The proposal forms the second phase of the council's Creating Stronger Schools programme, following a similar consultation on closing Lammas School in Leyton.
Nothing is settled yet. If cabinet agrees next week, the six-week consultation is the point at which parents, staff and neighbours get their say.
