William de Ferrers School and Specialist Sports Academy is the secondary school in town that the majority of children attend. A number also travel out to Chelmsford and Westcliff for grammar schools. The standard of education in the town is generally considered good. Individual Ofsted Reports appraise each school and can be viewed online.
There are six primary schools:
Elmwood Primary School, CM3 5NB
St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School
Pre-schools
South Woodham Pre-School by Woodville Primary School
Elmwood Pre-school, CM3 5NB
Collingwood Pre-school CM3 5YJ
Parking near schools and congestion
There is temporary traffic congestion around the primary schools at arrival time in the morning and at the end of the school day when parents drop-off and collect children by car.
Buses transport children to and from William de Ferrers from outlying areas. These park in the school car park at designated times. The car park is always very well used but is sadly is inadequate. There is a separate car park for teaching staff and and many six-formers also drive cars. A small central section is marked out as dedicated parking for the leisure centre and shows a lack of forward planning because of the limited number of parking spaces. This inevitably results in opportunistic parking on pavements and yellow lines.
The small amount of parking reserved for people using the leisure centre is within the area enclosed by barriers. People using the leisure centre have to pick up a token to operate the barrier before departure. How anyone thought that parking space for a maximum of 12 cars is sufficient to cater for users of a leisure centre is beyond belief. Although the leisure centre is mainly used by school children during the day, there is public swimming at lunch times and various activity slots during the afternoon.
