Any insight on Belleville Wix Academy? Post Reply

[adamjp]

Hi - we are looking at sending our child to Belleville Wix (the English side) The last OFSTED report wasn't good. But we know it has recently been taken over by Belleville. Does anyone know if it's improving? Any parents who have children there? Many thanks in advance, Adam

[LisaCaz]

Dear Adam
as a parent with the same question, I wonder whether you have made any progress in finding out news on Belleville Wix. Would really appreciate it!
Thanks
Best
Lisa

[AltenburgMum]

We’ve just started there this year in the English stream and so far are really happy with it. Lovely teachers getting great results and still relatively small class sizes. All the lessons are planned across the Belleville campus’ so Webb’s, Meteor and Wix sites are all on the same curriculum.

I would highly recommend going to see it.

[IoanaB]

We had our child in the school recently (moved to an independent prep school in the meantime). I found the school to be simply average. There is nothing particularly bad about it just as there is nothing particularly exciting about it either. I did not feel that they have a way of stimulating or even accommodating high achieving kids. The lessons seemed quite dull and as the latest Ofsted report mentions, they don't yet have a developed curriculum for science or anything else other than the basic Maths and English. 

[franzkie]

We too had our children at Belleville Wix Academy and moved to an independent prep school.
I would agree with Ioana's comment on this school being average, but it doesn't just fail the high achieving ones, also those that have additional needs. Standard curriculum, standard learning, standard children. Nothing outside that is conceivable.
One point where I disagree with Ioana is that nothing particularly bad: SEN provision is weak (at best) and communication between school and family is appalling. The headteacher does not pay any attention to engaging with parents. We had to go through 6 levels of appeal (over as many months) to finally have the indendent panel censoring her behaviour over a matter however nothing, as far as I am aware, was done to address the "areas of improvement" that have been identified along the way.

If your child is slightly to the left or to the right of the bell curve, look elsewhere.

[LastMumStanding]

You don’t say how old your child is. If you are applying for reception then sending your child to Wix now will be no different from sending them to any other of Belleville’s sites at either Webb’s Road or Meteor Street. Ofsted reporting must be considered in context. To take over a school and move it from inadequate to Good in under 3 years is a tremendous achievement and the leadership will not rest until it is Outstanding. Being part of a school that is striving for improvement and not resting on its laurels is a great opportunity. And benefiting from the resources afforded by banding together with other schools in a Multi Academy Trust creates resilience, recruitment and retention strength that is much needed in these days of financial squeeze.

[Starr]

You can really see the effects of The school funding cuts especially on children with SEN. When I started out as a primary school parent in 2014 it was heartening to see support for children for SEN creating an inclusive atmosphere. Really wonderful for all regardless of ability. within a short space of time you can see the massive detrimental difference I've seen a child leave and the mother felt she had to home school because of lack of support. So I don't believe this is specific to this school but it's a crisis felt in many many schools across the country.

[Fionag]

Those outside the Belleville Wix Academy may like to know that it was inspected by Ofsted at the end of October and the report was published on 3rd December 2019. The outcome of this inspection is that BWA is now graded as good by Ofsted and there are lots of positive comments about the school since the Q1E Trust took over following the previous inspection.
The latest report, plus a letter from the head teacher and chair of governors can be accessed via the school website 
https://www.bellevillewix.org.uk/our-key-data/ofsted/

I have not been asked to post this informaion and I have no direct connections with BWA but was previously a governor at Belleville and involved in the Q1E Trust when the Belleville team took on Wix, hence I know of the hard work and effort the BWA, Belleville and Q1E Trust team have put into making a rapid change to Wix. I also know how pleased they were with this most recent Ofsted report and that they won't be satisfied with 'Good', so the journey will continue.
We are very fortunate in our little corner of London to have such fantastic educational opportunities both state and independent for our children. 
I notice there is a tour date for the English stream on 14th January and, as frequently said by other users of Nappy Valley, the best way to see if a school is for your family is to go and visit.

[3littleones]

Hi,

I  am looking at sending my 4 year old to Belleville Wix in September. He would therefore go to reception. I read with  interest your previous exchanges and was wondering whether you had any specific insight for early years at Belleville Wix. IS that now run in the same way than Belleville Primary School?

Many thanks in advance,

Marie-Laure

[IoanaB]

I just wanted to add that what Franzkie is describing seems very plausible indeed. While we had no particularly bad experience at Belleville Wix (though no good one either) Franzkie is entirely right that there is no communication with parents and the Head Teacher is absolutely MIA. I have never seen her, not even at major school events and the deputy head teachers are amateurish at best. The trust may have great leadership, but the school itself doesn't seem to have a strong one at all. It is also extremely difficult to talk to the teachers and get any updates. The school office is extremely disorganized. As Franzkie said, the school simply does not have a self-confident and experienced leadership team to address any issues that fall out of the ordinary. 

[ejacks71]

As a children's nanny and having taken care of several children at Wix and John Burns, I'd have to say that Wix is average. The standard of homework is very poor compared to JB and other schools.. They have good summer clubs and after school sports but they could do better when it comes to academics. The staff were friendly but there is a divide between the French and English teachers and parents..

[Oz_mum]

Hello

I have a child who is currently in reception at Belleville Wix (English stream) and we have been extremely happy so far.  

In response to a few earlier posts:
- I cannot comment on the level of support provided for SENs children but we have generally found the head teacher extremely visible and approachable.  In fact she (or the deputy head) is standing at school gate every morning at drop-off and is very much available for a chat with parents/carers.  We also receive regular communication from the head teacher and school generally.  
-My family is not French (and we do not speak French) and although there are a number of French children in my child's class, I have not sensed a divide between the parents at all.  There is a strong sense of community,  my child loves going to school and the teacher has made a big effort to ensure that our child is not bored despite being slightly ahead in reading and writing because of the nursery school he was at previously.   

We understand the school has changed drastically in recent years (as the last two Ofsted reports indicate) and so I'd encourage you to visit the school and speak to the staff to get a sense for where it is at today.  

3LittleOnes - my understanding is that the curriculum (and homework) at Belleville Wix and Belleville primary is exactly the same in the Early Years. 

All the best with your search and decision making!     

[MamanClapham]

Hello, 
We currently have our child in Belleville Wix Reception and couln't be happier. It was not our first choice, but really glad our child is attending Wix English Stream.
- The last Ofsted was good, and outstanding for Early Years!
- The reception teachers are fantastic
- They benefited from lots of ressources recently, the classrooms are great
- Wix shares the same ways of working / curriculum / preparation of classes than Belleville Webbs Road and Meteor; the teachers meet regularly all together to discuss preparation of classes.
- We have compared notes with friends having their child at Webbs road or meteor, and the reading booklet, homework etc are exactly the same

Good luck.
L.
 

[localmummysw11]

Hi - As others have pointed out, the school has undergone some dramatic changes in the last several years since becoming a new academy. At its recent inspection, Ofsted marked the school as Good and the Early Years as Outstanding.

I currently have three children at the school, and they are all doing well -- I cannot speak to SEN provision personally (although I believe that would have been part of the Ofsted inspection), but my middle child is working to greater depth in maths and writing, and we work at home to further challenge her. I do think there is room for improvement, but I also see the dedication of the staff and the work that's being done and I feel good about that.  There are debates about having more or less homework, I suppose. I really value our home time and believe in the importance of play, so I am happy to not have more homework than we do. But my children (even the Reception child) always have a written home assignment in addition to online reading and maths practice.

I think it would be unfair to compare a state school with local private/prep school options, but the school does follow the same curriculum as Belleville Primary (an Ofsted outstanding school) and there are many joint teacher training sessions, as well as academic specialists that work across the academy. I would like to see more science, geography and art; but again our headteacher has talked in newsletters about the continued work of creating a broader curriculum. In the last two years since she started at the school, I have seen a big improvement to the music provision (a full time teacher who works with each class, and offers private guitar and piano instruction) as well as hiring a specialty PE teacher, in addition to enhanced core subjects.There is also a lot more artwork and creative writing around the school now. We have had a couple STEM days for KS2 and I hope to see more of that. Most exciting to my Y4 student is that they have group swim each week during the full duration of the year, which is not very common for local state schools.

I will readily admit that school communication has not been great, but the website seems to have had a complete overhaul, and emails and texts have greatly improved since the Autumn term -- I think going paperless has forced more organized messaging. Again, more progress all the time and keen to see that continue.

I hope this rambling post might be helpful to someone reading. We have been generally happy and really enjoy the parent community at the school,  but I would second the advice to come to an open day and see if Belleville Wix is the right fit for your family. 

[ClaphamMum2021]

I'd like to give a personal inside into this school.

Positives- the majority of parents are middle class, so you will not see any fighting outside of gates or insult hurling , children will be mostly polite and nicely behaved, PTA is amazing, lots of events and effort put in, organic home made biscuits, posh chocolate at coffee meetings, some of the teachers are superb but a very slim chance that your child will get those teachers.
Negatives - your child will be a collateral damage to whatever decisions school will make, some of this decisions will affect your child's mental health, Covid 19 is used as an excuse to justify inertia, bureaucratic approach to everything, as a parent you will constantly feel powerless, you will not be able to get through ( multiply hoops and you will be shot down at the first stages).

If you have a child who is compliant and you cant be bothered with the outcome - go for it!