Looking for feedback on Honeywell and Belleville School Post Reply

[new to SW London]

Hi we moved a few months ago to just off Northcote Road and will need to apply for schools for our eldest next year. Trying to find out more about Belleville and Honeywell in particular. I think that we might qualify for both, Any first hand parent experiences or information on how they differ if anyone could share would be really helpful. Thanks.

[LHill]

We are very happy at Belleville. Our son has been there for 3 years now and our youngest is about to start nursery. It's a wonderful, nurturing school.
We have been lucky with his teachers and class. He does many clubs onsite and we also were luck to get him an After School Club slot which makes our live easier. It's a very diverse school which is very important to us as well.
Every child is different so I'd encourage you to visit both schools and get a feel for yourself?
Good luck!

[noddy]

Hi- same as the post above, my son has been at Belleville for 3y and very happy with it. Pluses have been amazing teachers and high standard of academics, also lovely community of parents and very diverse. Downside is not enough art and sport but that may be true of most state schools, not sure about Honeywell. But given the area is rich with extra curricular activities we just supplement that way. Belleville is a large, busy school though- so if your kid thrives in that environment, it’s probably a good school for them.

[Dad_of_twins]

Our children attend Honeywell since reception and we couldn't be happier. They are about to start year 4. The school is relatively small (90 children per year) and feels really nurturing. Teachers truly make an effort to let every child develop at their own pace while preserving academic excellence. The schools (Infant and Junior) have gone through changes in leadership and staff in previous years and as a result there is a clear ethos and direction in line with the new Ofsted framework. There are great after school clubs on site covering a broad range of disciplines including arts, STEM, languages and sports. The school has traditionally been good at arts and music with multiple extracurricular activities and is currently making an effort to promote sports which is paying off with several active teams and events. The foreign language provision (French) for juniors is very good too.

I would certainly recommend visiting both. We have friends with children at Belleville and they are quite happy too, so this is one of those cases in which you couldn't go wrong regardless of what you decide.

Best of luck!

[Claphamkitten]

We used to be Honeywell parents but have moved our children now. It used to be a great school but has deteriorated massively since the new head joined. I would never recommend it now. I hear some awful stories from people still there. My friends at Belleville still very happy though. Seems a much better school these days We have moved private sadly
...

[Letsmoveon]

Honeywell very much prioritizes mental health (i.e. happy confident polite children who can communicate their feelings and make eye contact with adults when speaking), a well rounded education (art, music, science (it has a new science lab), IT/coding, sport) as well as a high standard for academic performance, in both the Infant and Junior Schools. There is a lot of opportunity for sport and activity during, before and after school. The teachers are lovely and always available to talk/ answer emails, etc. Children at Honeywell get into all the top privates Kings, St Pauls ( Girls and Boys), Westminster, JAGS, WHS, Alleyns, Whitgift, Trinity, Dulwich, etc and many into Graveney. The reality is that almost everyone tutors for privates or does extra studying in both the local privates and state schools, your child just has to have the aptitude so any school in the area can meet this need. What's nice about Honeywell is that if you are interested in privates, your child would have a group of friends that would also be studying for the exams. They will also of course have the option of Bolingbroke, Graveney, etc and going up to secondary with a local group of their friends.

Please keep in mind there is a small group of parents who left Honeywell after Covid. When the new head came in, she tried to mix the classes (which has been very beneficial for my children) and many parents were traumatised by Covid/upset about mixing their own parent cliques or their children's cliques/ blaming the head for the governments shortcomings in SEN provision, and were really nasty to the Head. They have tried to spread rumors and continue to trash it. It was actually quite mean how they attacked a head teacher personally, when she worked really hard through the pandemic to help as many children as possible, personally spending time with kids, making sure children had personal devices to do remote learning, etc, and she had only been in the job two months when covid hit. I thought everyone had moved on but I guess some of the bitter ones who left still haven't gotten over it.

Those who have stayed are very happy and very much enjoy the supportive parent-teacher community.