Whereabouts is Chingford E4?

Chingford, in the South East of England, lies in the far north east of Greater London in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and lies within the circle of the M25 motorway, close to its junction with the M11. Right on the boundary of Essex, Chingford used to come within that county, but we ‘relocated’ and became part of London back in the early 1960s.

The Old Church, Chingford

Oh, and by the way, guess who used to go to our school! . . .

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David Beckham, the world famous England footballer!

We believe that everybody at Chase Lane is special and enriches the life of the school.

Our Vision Statement

At Chase Lane Primary School and Nursery Unit we are committed to the concept of high quality teaching and learning. We therefore believe the children should strive to develop to their full potential. Achievement in all areas of the curriculum is celebrated. In order to ensure that we are able to meet these expectations, we believe our teaching approaches should comprise a healthy mix of class, individual and group teaching, but at the very heart of whichever approach adopted at a given time is experiential learning. Children, governors, learning support assistants, nursery nurses, office staff, parents and teachers, are all learners together. A real and meaningful partnership between these groups enhances quality education. Everyone in school is special and enriches the life of the school.

All members of the school community are to show respect to each other by always listening to one another and of course all staff take pride in themselves and their work. In striving to continually improve the quality of learning and teaching it is necessary for the school and all its members to be open to critical scrutiny by people within and beyond. Indeed developing quality curriculum will require staff to share their practice and be willing to submit it to the constructive analysis from colleagues and others.

Please see the Head Teacher's letter to read more about the ethos of our school.

A history of Chingford

Chingford has a long and interesting history touched by Kings, Queens and infamous politics.

In Neolithic times it was part of the great forest, its clay soil being unsuitable for subsistence farming. Following the Saxon rule and William's reign it became more populated. It was mentioned in the Domesday book commissioned by William the Conqueror and its name is thought to be a reduction of the Saxon caegingeford, meaning 'the ford of the dwellers by the stumps"! King Henry VIII himself enjoyed stag hunting on the plains of Chingford and commissioned a mansion overlooking Chingford Plain to observe the royal hunts in Epping Forest. The building remains and is now known as The Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge. On Chingford Mount stands the Norman built Old Church, which had fallen into ruin by the early 20th century and was restored by the Boothby-Heathcote family. Their manor house, Friday Hill House, still stands.

Chingford is also famous for being on the Meridian line. In 1824, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich erected a stone on Pole Hill to mark the 0 degree line of Longitude passing through Chingford. This was moved in the mid-nineteenth century when a new international standard was adopted. The smaller stone marks the location of the new line.

In 1873 Chingford became a popular suburb when the railway came to town and was also a popular holiday retreat for inhabitants of East London, for whom The Royal Forest Hotel was built. The original station was in Kings Road (then Bull Lane) but was replaced in 1878 and moved to its present location in what has become known as Station Road in North Chingford. This new station was visited by Queen Victoria in 1882.Within the countryside on the borders of Chingford, Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, set up Gilwell Park, the World headquarters of the organisation. Being on the outskirts of London, Chingford did suffer bombing in the Second World War but has developed as a multi-cultural area where we can enjoy the cultural best of both worlds – and picnic in leafy Epping Forest one day, or take a tube to the heart of the buzzing London metropolis the next........... Chingford is a town for all people!