The Belham Primary School

Our overall experience with Reception at Belham Primary has been mixed. On the positive side, our son loves school and is happy to go every day, which is the most important thing. The teachers are approachable and open to conversation, the children are respectful towards one another, and the school community is strong. The building itself is quite small, but the weekly visits to the nearby gardens (if weather and staffing allows) are a nice balance.

On the downside, while phonics is the main focus in Reception, we felt that children who are struggling are well supported, but those who are ahead—like our son, who could already read—don’t always get the attention they need to progress further in other topics. We do receive books to read each week, but on more than one occasion our son told us he hadn’t even read them with a teacher the following week. Sometimes the only comment in his notebook was “book changed,” without any feedback, which felt like a missed opportunity to track and encourage his progress. While his teacher promised to give other work than reading, it was mostly forgotten, probably due to lack of time.

One of the biggest issues for us was Charter schools' strike action, which felt very disorganised and unfair. At first, one Reception class was allowed to attend school every day during the strikes, while the other was not. The strikes happened on Thursday, Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, the school changed the plan so that every class could attend for one day during the strike period. Then, on the following Monday—when it was supposed to be a normal school day—the strike was suddenly called off and children had to return to school.

This constant back-and-forth left all Charter Trust school parents juggling childcare with almost no notice. For example, many of us had to arrange extra care on the Friday afternoon, only to cancel it again on Monday. While we completely support the teachers’ right to strike, we feel the management should have handled the situation much more responsibly. Instead of apologising and changing the plan every day, they could have given families a clear, fair, and consistent approach from the start.

Overall, I would describe my experience with Belham Primary as “okay.” My child is happy, safe, and enjoys school, but I was expecting more in terms of academic stretch, communication, and organisation.

Awful awful awful.. one of the most racist experiences of me and my child's life had to get him out of there quick. Full of bigots and snooty horrible people. The reception and up to about yr1 staff need to be somewhere else as the school does not deserve them. If your child is of colour or needs sen support do not put your child in this school. My son was I jured due to neglect I was lied to to safe the teachers who's fault it was the headteacher socks her head in the sand. I went through so much my son cried every morning. They have only celebrated black history month 2 times. Once because I had to beg for them to at least mark the occasion.. do not send ypu child here.

Had to get our child out of this school. Despite the promise of an 'inclusive' and 'glittering' school, our child's mental health would have been destroyed had we stayed here. Individual teachers are good, but management was terrible particularly after they joined a multi-academy trust, which made them coldly corporate. They refused to get the correct training and use the correct (expert-proven and advised) strategies to support our child's specific needs, and as a result they massively exacerbated our child's challenges in school rather than supporting them. We were horrified, but we are all so completely happy and thriving now that we are out of there. Virtually no meaningful outdoor space either, very cramped.