Wix School - any advice? Post Reply

[emben12]

Hi

I have recently moved to Clapham Common Northside and am looking for a good state primary school. The closest to me is Wix - does anyone have any experience of this school? I'd appreciate any opinions. Or can anyone recommend other good state schools in the vicinity. Definitely not close enough to Honeywell or Belleville!!
Thanks very much.

[northsidemum]

Hi
I have children in the Wix school, who started out in the nursery & are now in the bilingual section of the school. I have been very pleased with the school, & most importantly my kids love going in every day. It feels small & friendly & all the teachers my children have had (some from the English side & some from the French) have been excellent.
I'm sure if you call the school they will give you a guided tour if you have missed the open days.
Good luck

[emben12]

Thank you very much for your post. Its good to hear some positive feedback. Can I ask - did you put your kids into the bilingual stream because you are French or are you English and wanted to your kids to be taught in two languages. I am interested to see how it works.
Thanks.

[northsidemum]

Hi again
We are English, and we put the children in the bilingual stream because it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, as language is easily acquired when young, and neither child was daunted by the idea. I am told that if you acquire a second language whilst young it is much easier to learn other languages later in life.

[Labellalavanderina]

Hi,
do you know how difficult it is to get into the bilingual stream at Wix, please? Does it help if the child already speaks French/ has been to a bilingual nursery? We would be quite keen for our son to join it, but live on the other side of the Common, so we were wondering whether we are just wasting our time even looking into this...

Sorry to hijack the thread somewhat- I hope this is not nappyvalley bad manners. I thought this info might be useful to other parents considering Wix...

[northsidemum]

Hi
The 14 places in the bilingual class which are offered through Wandsworth Council are offered purely on proximity to the school, and as siblings of children already at the school take priority, I think you will need to live quite close in order to get a place, but Wandsworth Council should be able to tell you how far away the furthest child to be admitted lived last year, which should give you a guide.

Application for the other 14 places in the class is via the Lycee, and I am not very clear on this, I don't think it is distance based, and I think being French would help. Hope that helps

[fatherof6]

i am very happy with the school

[monaco]

The catchment area for the 14 places via the Wandsworth council is 251m so forget it if you are on the other side of the commons.

As regards the French track, it's mostly taken by siblings and then for the rest, you have to apply via the French lycée and yes, one of the parents have to be French. Then I'm not sure how they decide between all the French people applying.

[emben12]

Hi Northsidemum - thanks again for the information. We are 200m from the school so i'm hoping this would be within the catchment area for the bilingual stream if that's what we decide on. I'm very interested in the bilingual stream. Can I ask - once you made the decision that it sounded really interesting, how did your children cope with it? My concern is, how does a 4 year old who has never really heard a word of French suddenly join a class made up of a lot of French children and be taught in a language that means nothing to them? I know that they pick up languages really quickly at that age, but surely having had very little exposure to that point must make it a very difficult beginning to school? I'd love to hear of your children's experience if you don't mind.
Thanks.

[northsidemum]

Hi Emben,
I must admit I had the same concerns as you, so I spent the summer holidays prior to them starting school teaching them "Bonjour, oui, non" and how to ask to go to the toilet!....I was also given a copy of Muzzy by a friend who no longer wanted it, and I persuaded them to watch that a few times.
However my concern was unfounded as there were several other non- French speaking children in the class & the teacher takes it very slowly- a lot of time seemed to be spent singing in French which worked brilliantly in terms of picking up the language.

[Flogri]

The French lycee decides by date of birth.
You have some chance if your child is born between Januray and April.
After April it is very unlikely

[monaco]

Great, another school that won't be for me: my daughter was born in August !

[elsietanner]

I have two children at Wix, live locally and looked into other options (Belleville, Honeywell, Mcauley) before deciding on Wix . The school has a new prospectus (available at the entrance) with the words "NO SCHOOL IN LONDON LIKE IT" boldy written in red across the front. This sentiment sums up Wix and is why I chose it over the other 3 schools - it's bold, achieves, is improving at an impressive rate, embraces the diversity which makes London such an exciting place to live and has a great soul. There is a caring and nurturing passion behind the school, from both teaching staff and parents. It has a warm glow and I'm chuffed to bits my kids are part of this, blossoming in a way I never could have imagined. They are loving life and their brains never have a dull moment! If you pop over and have a look, you'll know instantly if it's the school for you and your children - and you’ll get to pick up a copy of the most inspiring school prospectus in Clapham too. All the best.

[KatherineHepburn]

Just to add, I went on a tour of the school yesterday with the deputy head and I was really impressed. It really is a lovely, small school.
The only downer I found was the state of the building. It is old and a bit shabby - but I doubt very much that this affects the teaching or the learning one bit! And no doubt as more parents move Northside and the school becomes even more popular further funding for the building will arrive.
We are really considering it as an option for our daughter. Everyone is so friendly and kind.

[emben12]

Thank you very much for the last two posts on this topic. Its great to hear some positive and passionate comments about the school. I am hoping to have a look around soon and hope I feel the same way about it.