We are delighted to have appointed John Budden to the position of Q1E Executive Head for Belleville School.  John is an extremely experienced headteacher who was appointed after a very thorough interview process which included Local Parent Governors, Q1E Trustees, Belleville Heads, staff, and pupils. 

John Budden began his teaching career as a secondary school English teacher before moving into the primary sector. As a successful headteacher he took his last school, Clare House Primary in Beckenham, to Ofsted ‘Outstanding’. Clare House is part of Langley Park Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust of five schools which John led as CEO from September 2018 to August 2020. More recently, John has been working as a Primary Regional Leader for PiXL (Partners in Excellence), supporting school leaders with strategy, curriculum, and assessment.

The Q1E Trust first worked with Clare House Primary on the ‘Good to Great’ school project, which was part of the successful London Challenge programme. It has kept a good link with the school over many years and it was one of the schools that all our headteachers visited as part of their visits to other ‘Outstanding’ schools in 2019. The Belleville Headteachers were particularly impressed by the work John and the school had done. More recently, John has been one of the external advisors that have supported Belleville as part of our continual drive to improve the quality of education for all our children. 

Following Belleville’s recent ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted inspection, John’s role will be to continue our relentless drive for improvement, excellence, and equality. He will work closely with Belleville’s leadership and staff team, local Governors, Trustees, and the Q1E Trust team to provide greater strategic direction for the school, support and develop our ongoing evaluation and improvement plan, and increase Belleville’s engagement within the wider local community.

John Budden says: ‘I am absolutely delighted to have been appointed as the Q1E Executive Head of Belleville Primary School from September 2022. I’m very much looking forward to getting to know the children, parents and staff at the school and to working with the whole community to continue Belleville’s ‘relentless drive for improvement, excellence and equality’.

The school already offers a fantastic education and it is hugely exciting to think about the new opportunities and experiences we can offer the children and staff in the coming years. I can’t wait to get started and look forward to meeting everyone in September.’

John will officially start at Belleville in September, but he will be involved in the planning process during the summer term. We will be arranging opportunities for parents and carers to meet him and ask any questions that you may have in the autumn term.