Honeywell vs Belleville school Post Reply

[busymum75]

Hi
The school application deadline is getting closer, but I still have not decided which school to put as my first choice. Is there anyone in similar situation and how do you decide.
I have been to the open mornings for both schools and they are both lovely of course. I really loved Belleveille and the Headteacher appeared to be very driven. The school looked very organised and well run and I liked the idea of having special teachers for some subject. Honeywell was a very good school too of course, but I was getting a vibe that the school knows that they are outstanding and therefore became complacent. Their results also dropped a bit compare to the year before and I wonder if this is due to it.
So I am kind of becoming in favour of Belleveille but worried that the school success depends on the Headmaster and also that might end up at a Meteor site (I liked the site, just would take longer to walk there). Honeywell on the other hand is closer to me and I think has always been an excellent school.
Would really like to know what other people think

[BalhamMumWorkingFT]

The school that is closer to your house, you ar more likely to get a place. Your situation sounds ideal. Good Luck.

[sezwedz]

Hello,
What a good situation to be in. We are at the Meteor site of Belleville although it takes us a good 20 minutes to get there, it really is worth it. If you think your child will benefit from a small school environment, at the moment there are only 60 children, next year 90 and so on obviously it will fill up every year. They've really made a huge effort to make the site work and it is a lovely environment for children and parents alike.
Good luck!!

[busymum75]

thanks Sezwedz
Glad to know you are having a good experience at Meteor site. Does anyone know if they will also be offering breakfast and afternoon clubs at that site? And is there still a feeling of being connected to the main school?

[townieatheart]

I know they offer the after school club at Meteor Street but don't know about the Breakfast club.
The places at Meteor St for the 2010 and 2011 intake were almost all made up of children offered places 90-120. This was because Meteor St was completely unknown. Now it's up and running and really a wonderful place to be. I think a lot of parents will be volunteering to take a place there so I wouldn't assume if you're towards the end of the list that's where you'll go (unless of course you choose to, and I would!)

[schoolgatesmum]

Not meaning to state the obvious but all schools' sucess depends on the headteacher, not just Belleville. The senior team at Belleville is also very strong as are all the teachers.

[nvmof3]

Hi, I was in a similar position and in the end I chose Honeywell for 4 key reasons:
1) honeywell is 2 schools (infant and juniors) on one site. Separate heads for each. My son's headmistress has only 270 children vs Belleville with over 1000.
2) Honeywell is a foundation school which gives it an extra layer of autonOmy from the coUncil. It could never be forced to take a 4th class for example
3) honeywell has two big playgrounds without any temporary buildings on them. One is for infants and one for juniors.
4) learning through play - this is a core ethos for Honeywell and to be frank I thought it was probably edubabble before my son started but now I've seen it at work, it works and it is so much less pressure for the children with the same results

I'm sure belleville is brilliant too, aren't we lucky to have the choice. But, two years in, I am still Sooooo happy I decided On Honeywell.

[schoolgatesmum]

Just for balance:

1) Belleville does not have over 1000 students. Excluding the nursery, it has approximately 600 spread over 2 sites
2) Belleville is now an academy and therefore has even more automony than a foundation school
3) Belleville has 3 playgrounds split into Reception/Yr1, Yrs 2/3/4 and Yrs 5/6
4)I have seen no pressure on my children - there is no big drive to get children into the private secondaries

At the end of the day, you have to go with your own judgement.

[yummydaddy]

I had to make the same decision a few years back. Not easy because both are brilliant.
At the end, I found headteacher/management team at Belleville a bit more impressive, so my children went there. No regrets.

[busymum75]

Thank you all
It helps to get your views. Two more questions. I have been looking at HW and BV K2 results and was surprised that HW has been outperforming BV by 5%-10% of kids achieving level 4 in both maths and English( I expected them to be very similar, and maybe BV even a bit higher as they are very well structured). I am new to the schooling here and not sure if this difference is significant or I should just ignore it. For information, my kids academic results would matter to me if this is an indication of how well they are taught and if higher results would help them to get into selective secondaries if we decide to follow this route in future.
The last question about English support. We are trilingual family and my kids would benefit from extra English support (as I do not speak English to them at home). Do you know if there is any difference in how English is supported in BV vs HW?

[schoolgatesmum]

The difference of 5% is pretty minimal (5% equates to approx 4 children). There are so many other factors to take into consideration - for example, how many children are SEN (special educational needs), what percentage of children join the school in a later year, how many children have English as their second language - these all affect results. My children are at Belleville and there are so many children for whom English is their second language - mainly French speakers - but I think there are something like 30 odd different languages spoken. My son's class had a new boy join in year 4 (age 8) who spoke no English, only Spanish. A year on and you wouldn't even know he was Spanish. Which languages do you speak?

[PeppermintPatty]

My son went to Belleville, and a huge advantage in our experience was that year 6 classes were small - four classes of just 20 children each.

I think those small classes were a factor in so many children going on to selective senior and grammar schools, certainly in his year.

[kewty]

I couldn't make my mind up either until just before xmas....

Within a couple of days of each other I saw both schools on outings. The first was when I was in my car trying to park, and even though there was enough room for 3 cars, it took me 10 mins to park because the whole of Honeywell school were on an outing to Clapham Common. The children all looked scruffy, and were badly behaved, and when asking staff if they could please just hold the children back whilst I parked, I just got abuse back. A couple of days later I again was out in my car, and I came across Belleville school on an outing. All the children were in their uniforms, smartly turned out, walking in pairs. The staff held the children back to let me pass, but as I was in no hurry and there weren't many children left to pass, I let them go, and every child thanked me.

I certainly know that if my children are offered places at these schools, I would definitely opt for Belleville just on the basis that they obviously care more than Honeywell on manners and smart appearance.

Kx

[Pud1]

Kewty, I think it is very rash to make the assumption that 'Belleville obviously care more than Honeywell' with regards to manners and behaviour, based on two isolated events. It also seems a bit harsh to post on a public forum that you got abuse from the Honeywell teachers and that the children were 'scruffy and badly behaved'. I don't have any personal experience of the school but I would imagine that the teachers are very hardworking and would be very upset to read such sweeping statements. I'm sure there are also some Honeywell parents who would not be very happy to have their children described as scruffy and badly behaved and their chidren's teachers labelled as rude!

[stayathomemuminsw11]

I agree it's a little unfair to make such a generalisation based on one experience... However, that's not great if the Honeywell staff were actually rude to you-what did they say?!

I've been on their tour, and the teachers all seemed great, and the kids seemed so well behaved... I guess the 'scruffy' thing comes from no uniform-they do have a 'dress code' though.

I'm really surprised by your experience. My daughter starts Reception next year, and I was 95% sure I would put Honeywell as first choice, as everyone I know who has kids there loves it and I loved it on the tour. But, I'm definitely going to have another look at Belleville just to be sure...