Thanks so much for all your responses, most helpful indeed. I suppose I'm just wondering if it's worth the agony of being on a waiting list all summer to possibly get a place at Honeywell. When we visit both of the schools later this year it will probably come down to 'that feeling' as to which one is right for our daughter as they both sound great.
Thanks again!

Having done a tour of Honeywell and Belleville - the official line is that children attending nursery are not guaranteed a place in reception year - a new application is required and there is no advantage (officially at least) from having attended the nursery. In practice though most children who get offered a place at Honeywell nursery will be within the catchment area for a place in reception which may be where the idea came from. However, the catchment area for the nursery can be a bit wider than reception year so some who just manage a less popular afternoon place in the nursery may not get offered a place in reception. As far as Bramfield Road location goes I think you are in with a good chance of a place at Honeywell, if not immediately then probably from the waiting list.

I live in Wroughton Road and had a similar dilemma (my daughter is starting in September though, so is a year older).

I don't think Honeywell do guarantee their nursery children a reception place, in fact I'm almost certain they don't. Though you're right that they are a foundation school and have a little more flexibility in some areas.

The main differences I found :

Honeywell is smaller
Honeywell is non-uniform
Belleville appear to have more 'specialist' teachers in some areas, which is nice
Some people see Belleville as more structured, but I think the uniform has more bearing on that view than any actual teaching
I like the outside space in Belleville's reception classes (Belleville Rd site)
The expansion of Belleville put me off
The social scene at Belleville I liked
Honeywell is two separate schools - infants and juniors, with two separate headteachers
Honeywell is a foundation school, meaning they are that small bit removed from the local government (though with these new academies that could apply to many more schools) - in particular, for Honeywell it means :

They can't be told to expand their intake (so stayed at 3 form, not 4)
They 'own' the building (I think ??)
They have their own caterers as opposed to the local council caterers

The parents raise a lot of funds for new resources (as I'm sure they do at Belleville too) - the new ICT room at Honeywell was very impressive and all raised by the PTFA / parents.

The destination schools from Honeywell I felt were more suited to where we hope to be headed (i.e. more went on to independent schools) and the school seemed well tailored for this and supported parents well through the Common Entrance (some state schools we'd seen had been less enthusiastic)

We chose Honeywell. I'm still having my wobbles as we made the choice to go from a place at an independent to state, and I did like both Belleville and Honeywell - but it came down to 'that feeling' when we looked around both. Luckily my partner and I both agreed that it should be Honeywell over Belleville, but for some couples it's a tough call (though a pleasant situation to be in, obviously to be able to choose).

Thanks for that, it's very helpful. I'm still not 100% sure if children in the nursery are guaranteed a place in reception - I know that normally that would NOT be the case but because Honeywell is foundation school I believe they are able to set their own admission criteria. I'm only asking because my daughter is not in their nursery and I wonder how that would affect her chances. We'll be visiting Honeywell again later in the year (as my husband didn't come last time) and I'll be sure to ask the right questions this time!
Thanks again for your response

Hi,

I don't think children in Honeywell's Nursery are guaranteed a place in the reception class...I am almost certain they still have to apply in the normal way through Wandsworth council, and are given no preference, it is still judged on the normal criteria.

This should tell you all you need to know:

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/downloads/ ... chool_2010

Last year all siblings were offered a place at Honeywell, and all other applicants living up to 439 meters... so you might be lucky, or at least be quite high up the waiting list?

I know a couple of people who send their children to Honeywell, and think it is great.

Hope this helps.

We live in Bramfield Road and our daughter will be starting school in September 2011. Being about 500 metres from Honeywell I don't imagine we would have much chance of getting her in there but luckily we should be able to get her into Belleville.
On the tiny chance that our daughter could possibly get into Honeywell, I suppose I'm just wondering what the differences between the two schools are. I've visited Honeywell and it looks lovely but I haven't been to Belleville yet. All I really know is that Belleville is bigger and that Honeywell is a 'foundation' school but I'm not really sure what that means. I also heard that children from Honeywell's nursery are guaranteed a place in reception which I'm sure reduces the number even further of other children getting a reception place there (not complaining - just curious as to how it all works!).
Any information on these two schools would be greatly appreciated!