Belleville plan to open another site!

[julieh1]

Belleville is considering opening another site. If we want this to happen we all need to show our support. Follow this link for a consultation form as well as explanation from last week's school newsletter.

I imagine this plan is going to receive lots of support which is a shame as I think it is a silly idea.

The council should look at school place need on a borough wide basis and despite the very vocal complaints from nappy valley parents, there isn't actually a shortage of places there.

As well as Honeywell and Belleville, between the commons families have access to Alderbrook and High View is still undersubscribed and only a 15 min walk. Borough wide there were slightly more than enough places this year and a new primary school is already being built in Earlsfield .

So it's not a shortage of places overall that's the problem - it's a shortage of places at the 'right' schools. Everyone in the area is clambering to get into Belleville and Honeywell which many see as an alternative to the local private schools (lots of kids go on to private schools). Honeywell was even recommended by Tatler.

This plan looks awfully like the Council pandering to the sharp-elbowed wealthy families around Northcote Road, whom it knows won't be happy with any school other than Belleville or Honeywell.

But expanding Belleville again will only be a short term fix. A few more will get places but not every kid between the commons can go to Belleville or Honeywell.

By all means build a new school - it will certainly be needed in future years as the population grows - but don't put it under the 'Belleville' umbrella. The council need to tackle the perception that HW and BV are the only decent schools in the area, not create a middle-class school brand.

Not sure how wealth comes in to it? If it's sharp-elbowed to want my child to go to the best local school possible then so be it.

High View and Alderbrook don't have outstanding Ofsted reports like HW and BV.

Is it really so wrong to want the best education possible for my child?

And the catchments of BV and HW have got so tiny now that many of us are right on their doorstep but have to travel further to take our kids to less good schools.

I do really sympathise with people who are 'on the doorstep' of HW and BV and can't get in. But as mrsmum1 says, there are other good schools in the area. OFSTED 'outstanding' is not the be all and end all. High View's results are consistently at least as good as, if not better than, Belleville's for example, but some people seem to dislike its more mixed intake - which is a shame as the children there have a huge amount to offer and it would be great if more people would recognise that. If you are at the north end of the BTC area you are only a 5 or 6 minute walk/scoot from that particular school (from personal experience with a 4 year old) so it's not exactly miles away.

I'm not at all convinced that another school that is 'branded' Belleville will serve the local community well, in comparison with other options. That is not to say that having more school places in the area isn't necessary.