We are 676m from the Webbs road site of Belleville and 3 days into term have got into Meteor. No idea where we'd started on the waiting list because we thought we were way too far away to get in.

Great news but seriously annoying that there were a bunch of parents who accepted the place at Belleville and then didn't bother to let them know they moved away or went private. So ignorant and selfish.

Hi All,

I just wanted to give people an update. We are on Broomwood Road and c. 280 meters from Honeywell and c. 460m from Belleville. We were originally 24th on the waitlist for Honeywell and 14th for Belleville and initially got into High View. We got into Belleville by the end of May and are likely to send our DD there. I just wanted to give a big thanks to Belleville for stepping up to provide the school places that our little area btc demands.

Dear NappyValleyDaddy,

This hasn't happened to me, personally, but I'm aware of it happening pretty regularly.

Once someone else who lives closer to the school goes onto the waiting list (ie because they've just moved into the area; or presumably just asked to be added to the waiting list for a particular school - possibly because they didn't use all 6 choices on their initial application) you get bumped down.

Hope that this helps.

lemonzest

We didn't get into any of our preferred three, although last week we checked the waiting list and our 3rd choice we were 3rd and felt relatively confident. After checking the updates yesterday we have now moved down to 7th?!?!? This is despite knowing three people who received places at said School and turned them down. Has anyone else experienced a similar drop on their waiting list? Am feeling rather uncomfortable about the whole process.

Or how many drop off the kids to school before driving to work...

I'm always amazed by the number of cars you see dropping kids off at these schools. Just shows how many people don't really live within the catchment area!

Yes, we got our first choice which was earlsfield primary. Only 15 non-sibling/state priority places offered out of 60 though, so the initial catchment area is down to just over 200m. Smacks of bad planning from Wandsworth council to not factor in the effect of 2 extra bulge classes a few years ago which mean there are lots of sibling places being sought now.

Hi,
Everyone seems to be talking about Belleville and Honeywell.
Anyone here has heard about Hillbrook Primary School in Tooting?
Our daughter has been offered a place there ( our 2nd choices) and now we might have a choice of 2 schools in the end as she will probably get our 1st school ( Furzedown Primary) choice too as we are high up on the waiting list.
Is there anyone here can give us any suggestions and advice please?

Thanks.

It sounds like you would prefer to send your children to private schools [b]Vista[/b], which is an entirely fair choice. If you would prefer not to do so, I would recommend you visit your other local schools and make a personal judgment without focusing only on a single ofsted rating. Speak to parents who have children at those schools and find out how they feel their children are progressing and learning, and how they feel about being at school. You may be surprised. Remember that Belleville and Honeywell last had an Ofsted inspection before children who are now starting school were even born and there is much more to any school than what is published in inspection reports or league tables. The same is just as true for private schools as state. I wish you and your children well whatever you decide.

[quote="sw1234"]Vista - what school did you get offered out of interest? There are lots of great schools in Wandsworth that haven't got "outstanding" ofsteds for one reason or another e.g timings given the increased ofsted requirements. While league tables should be looked at with some scepticism there are some recently good rated schools that are giving Belleville and Honeywell a run for their money in terms of SATS results![/quote]

Vista can't be that interested in SATS results because the 2015 SATS results at Allfarthing put it in the bottom quartile of Wandsworth primary schools. Allfarthing's last Ofsted (2013) ranked it as "good" rather than "outstanding" but Vista doesn't seem to be aware of that. And if Vista cared so much about access to an outstanding school, there are at least two outstanding schools in the borough which didn't fill all their places.

Vista - what school did you get offered out of interest? There are lots of great schools in Wandsworth that haven't got "outstanding" ofsteds for one reason or another e.g timings given the increased ofsted requirements. While league tables should be looked at with some scepticism there are some recently good rated schools that are giving Belleville and Honeywell a run for their money in terms of SATS results!

[quote="Vista"]Why can't all local state schools be supported to be outstanding? That would take away the whole darn scramble.[/quote]

This reminds me of Garrison Keillor quote about how in Lake Wobegon "all the children are above average".

The problem with Between the Commons is that so many parents of pre-school age children move there for the two primary schools there are not enough places. This year there are 240 places. It's not a case of a shortage of supply, it's a case of excess demand.

Just checked the Council waiting list and we are 98 for Honeywell, 82 for Belleville and 19th for Allfarthing. So, if we want to send our child to an outstanding school, we will have to pay, as with the vast majority of other families in our road. Good thing I thought ahead and have paid the £4,000 deposit for a private school place. Why can't all local state schools be supported to be outstanding? That would take away the whole darn scramble.

I don't disagree with Papinian esp as the Maths I did at University was way back in the mid '90s. In fact the admissions in 2013 were similarly tight in that the furthest distance for Honeywell was c230m for 3 classes and for Belleville it was 240m for 4 classes. It's just interesting that 150 pupils can be taken from within 390m. Last year the distance for first round offers was longer and that was for four classes.

[quote="Bellybean"]Interesting with five classes of 30, Belleville is slightly tighter than Honeywell this year. Given 80m per class in the latter, B'V should be at least 400m. Still not sure with 150 pupils how the parts at Christmas in years 1 and 2 will be allocated....[/quote]

I don't mean to be critical, but this post shows why so many foreigners feel maths education in English schools is severely lacking.

The distances used for school catchment areas are radii. The distance given equates to a circle with the school at its centre and a radius of the relevant distance. The area of a circle is pie times the square of the radius. Belleville's catchment area is 2.68 times Honeywell's catchment area. However, Belleville's intake this year is only 1.67 times Honeywell's intake.

These figures suggest that, contrary to what Bellybean says, those parents in the area where the Honeywell and Belleville catchment areas overlap are preferring Honeywell over Belleville.