Alderwood School

This school is awesome. I am in year 7 and all th teachers are soo nice and helpful when I am stuck on my work. I have places I can go to get help if I am feeling down, or upset. I had some friendship issues at the beginning of the year and my head of year and tutor helped me sort it all out and now I have lots of friends.

All I can say if you are thinking of coming here it is great, you wont regret it.

This school is amazing! All of my children have done so well since coming here. The transition events they put on for the new year 7s are so welcoming as well. I am so glad we chose Alderwood.

I hated my experience at Alderwood senior school. I was there when it was Connaught and was in year 9 when it changed to Alderwood. The staff are incredibly ignorant to the poverty and problems of the area. The school has a high rate of free school meals which isn’t a bad thing but the way the school chooses to talk and deal with it’s less fortunate students is ridiculous. They aren’t given proper support, a counsellor, a social worker etc. The teachers aren’t trained on mental health or learning disabilities. And some are so horrible when talking to the students. I felt so alone and not good enough when I was there and a lot of people felt the same. The teaching is awful and none of the teachers can get control of their classrooms. When they are called out on their lack of teaching they get very defensive and blame the students. For example the whole of the year was failing science but the teachers didn’t take it upon theirselves to teach better or understand peoples learning styles instead they all shouted at us and said that we weren’t working or trying hard enough. Why would you want to work hard when nothing you do is good enough?
I have recently been going to another school as my college is in a senior school and having only been the since November 2020 I can see just how awful Alderwood is. They can’t just hide it under a new name. I don’t think anyone should go there.
It has completely ruined my mental health and my self worth.
Because of it I also will not be subjecting my future children to going to school. To feel rejected, not good enough, not hard-working, dumb or not get the right support.
I asked for a counsellor over and over and over, I didn’t get one. In the end I had to go outside of school to get one as I had a massive meltdown and swore at the teachers.
They also neglect to realise that pupils who are in higher sets also have trouble at home and trouble with their mental health. Just because someone is doing ok or better in school doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be paid attention to.
Furthermore, bad pupils were praised for doing the smallest thing leaving the rest of us feeling stupid for even trying. Praise needs to go to everyone that has done something good not just to people who stopped doing the bad thing they were doing.

I’m a student at Alderwood Senior School. I like coming here, the school isn’t too big, however there are many aspects which the school can improve. Firstly, the school is bad at handling racism, homophobia, sexism and ableism. Although the school is good, the students are extremely racist, sexist, ableist and much more, they use inhumane, derogatory language and the staff does nothing about it. There have been many instances where students have discriminated other students and the teachers have ignored it. Secondly, i feel that the school does not provide staff to talk to about anxiety, depression, and stress. As a student i think we should have a confidential walk in area where we can talk freely, however we do not have one or any staff which specialise in this. This is negatively affecting my schoolwork and life and i feel that i have no help. Thirdly, i do not feel as if the school provides opportunities. Other schools in my area compete in more competitions and provide opportunities for students, however my school doesn’t and i feel that this is limiting me and my work. If i had this however, i think i would excel more in my studies and i’d have a more successful career.

Aside from all this, the staff here are kind and pleasant, and the teachers are very positive, and the food is good and of good quality. We recieved a good from Ofsted in 2019. however there are a few teachers which do not teach well and from experience i think should not be teachers.
The school has improved a lot over the past few years, and continues to improve in a variety of ways, for example by including more students and having student voices. This school has a lot of potential.