521 children were enrolled in 2017/18, while just 239 were enrolled in 2023/24. Meanwhile, former teachers have described the school as having a ‘toxic’ and ‘autocratic’ environment under Faye Rider’s tenure, reports Marco Marcelline

The headteacher of a Walthamstow primary school with a dwindling pupil roll has suddenly resigned after serving five years in the role amid mounting concern over leadership and workplace culture at the school.

No reason for Edinburgh Primary School head Faye Rider’s resignation was given in a letter to parents on Friday 22nd November.

But in just six years the school roll has fallen by a dramatic 54% – 521 children were enrolled in 2017/18, while just 239 were enrolled in 2023/24.

The Echo has spoken to former teachers who have described the school as having a “toxic” and “autocratic” environment under Rider’s tenure, while parents have said their special needs children were inadequately supported at Edinburgh.

In a letter announcing Rider’s resignation, governor Ronke Olubobokun said: “Please join me in thanking Ms Rider for all her hard work and commitment to the school in the five years that she has been here, including a fantastic Ofsted inspection in March 2024. We wish Ms Rider all the best for the future.”

The school received a “good” Ofsted inspection in March with inspectors complimenting the “broad curriculum” and “high expectations” for pupils.

However, the local authority school’s plummeting pupil roll has caused alarm among parents and teachers who worry if it can stay open.

In a May 2023 letter to parents announcing that several year groups would be merged from September, Rider reasoned that the “fall in the birth rate” was why “many classes were 70% full or less”.

Waltham Forest Council says Edinburgh is sited in one of the areas “most affected” by a fall in demand in primary school places.

In her letter Rider had added that the school now had “three classes with under 20 pupils”, while there were just 37 pupils in year one.

Rider had signed the letter off stating that she would not be able to engage in one-to-one conversations with parents on the merger decision, instead inviting them to information sessions.

According to the Office for National Statistics, Waltham Forest’s birth rate dropped 3% from 2014–2019, with 4,618 births in 2014 compared to 4,482 newborns in 2019. Children born in 2019 either started primary school in September 2023 or in the current academic year.

The Echo understands that tens of parents removed their children from the school during Rider’s tenure, citing dissatisfaction with the school’s management.

Many of the children have special education needs (Send).

One parent, Izabela Ucinska, told the Echo that she moved her daughter from the school because it had failed to assign her dyslexia-friendly work for an entire academic year despite knowing she had the condition.

She said: “The school [successfully] screened her for dyslexia, but after one year of them knowing she had dyslexia, I found out from the school nurse that she should be given special homework that would help her. No-one had told us anything before that.”

Izabela also highlighted the high turnover of staff at the school as an issue, saying Edinburgh had “lost lots of lovely teachers since [Rider] has been there”.

Julietta Delissandri opted to take her children out of the school in 2020 after her eldest, who is autistic, told her that her “bully” had been assigned as her “play buddy” during playground breaks.

She stated that the school environment had changed within “weeks” of Rider joining, with the atmosphere becoming “tight and stressful”.

The Echo additionally understands that the school’s leadership decided to stop Place2Be in March 2020. It had previously been an embedded one-to-one counselling and play therapy service for Edinburgh’s Send and vulnerable children.

Piers Maitland, who was deputy headteacher at Edinburgh between 2011 and 2020, said that the sole year he worked under Rider was the “darkest moment” of his 27-year long career in education.

He said: “Her mode of operation was quite simply to divide and conquer, and anyone who stood up to that was quickly suspended.”

Alleging that Rider had put him and other teachers who she clashed with on suspension for spurious reasons, he was prompted to begin a complaint case against her with the support of the National Education Union (NEU).

Piers continued: “The school NEU representative was not allowed to come onto the school grounds so the entire school used to leave the school after directed hours to meet him across the road in the cemetery.”

John Pearson, who until this summer was the school’s NEU representative, said that Rider had “sucked all the joy out of learning” at the school, adding that her departure was “long overdue”.

Prior to joining Edinburgh, Rider had led a Kent primary school for less than six months.

In the 2010s, Rider also held senior positions in several Waltham Forest schools, including at St Saviour’s CofE and St Mary’s.

She moved on from her senior position at St Mary’s in December 2017, with the reason for her departure being the long commute and a decision to take up a headship at a school “much closer to home”.

A council spokesperson said: “Waltham Forest expanded its primary schools to respond to increased demand for places in the 2010s. The demand peaked in 2016/17 before starting to fall, in line with other areas of London. The council has helped the school to reduce the number of places offered in line with the changing needs of the community.”

Edinburgh reduced the maximum number of students it admits into each year group from 90 to 60 in September 2023.

This amounts to a maximum pupil roll of 420. The latest available figures from March 2024 show the school had 239 pupils, though it is understood to have since fallen below 200.

Stating that the council had not received any formal reports of bullying or victimisation from teachers, the spokesperson continued: “[We] received the resignation a few weeks ago. In line with best practice, parents were informed within a few weeks of the end of the current term. We wish Faye Rider all the best for her future, and thank her for her efforts and hard work at Edinburgh Primary School.”

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