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Altrincham Grammar School for Girls
Gymnasium · Academy UK · Altrincham
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A levels
NOT good for A levels
It's a fraud
AGGS brags about being an outstanding school in terms of grades, but in truth, the school offers a terrible working environment. Most students who get good grades get external help through tutors outside of school, worsening the class divide already apparent in the school. Little help is given to those who struggle with school work, and the teachers shame those who have trouble grasping difficult topics in class. Pastoral care is terrible, and school offers little to no help for students who are or could be neurodiverse. In fact, I would advise students against seeking help from the school as it is simply not worth it, the waiting list for the school nurse being over 3 months. The most shocking part to me though is how most teachers at the school either lack any kind of pastoral training or simply don't care for the well-being of students. So many of the teachers use harsh words towards the young people at the school for the littlest things. The priorities of the school are flipped upside down. Why do they care more about a rolled skirt more than the health of a child who is clearly suffering? The same teachers who preach the importance of taking care of ones health during assemblies, are the same ones who harshly condemn students for trivial things such as earrings and then turn a blind eye when a student is silently crying for help. It is disgusting to me how little some of the staff care for the students, and how they only care about grades and exams.
Further, as a single-sex school, students should feel more comfortable with expressing themselves without fear of male judgement and misogyny, but sadly this is not the case. The school preaches gender equality and women's rights, yet decide putting a blanket ban on skirts in the sixth form is a reasonable thing to do. This ban is supposedly due to the concern over the skirt lengths of a few of the students, so now everyone is being forced into wearing something which they may not be comfortable in. What happened to women's rights? What happened to the 'women should be treated no different from men' attitude? It saddens me how the administration could make such a profound change without consulting the parents or students. The school has so much potential to create a safe environment for students, yet it is quite the opposite. Students are uncomfortable around their teachers, and would rather suffer in silence than seek help from the staff. What a shame.
This all being said, the students at the school are very well behaved, meaning lessons are never too chaotic, but this is due to cultural factors and the demographic of the school (e.g. there are no male students) rather than the school itself teaching discipline. Another positive is that although lots of the teachers seem apathetic towards students, there a select few teachers who genuinely care for their students, and it shows in pupils attitudes towards in their classes compared to other teachers. I only wish there were more teachers like them.
Further, as a single-sex school, students should feel more comfortable with expressing themselves without fear of male judgement and misogyny, but sadly this is not the case. The school preaches gender equality and women's rights, yet decide putting a blanket ban on skirts in the sixth form is a reasonable thing to do. This ban is supposedly due to the concern over the skirt lengths of a few of the students, so now everyone is being forced into wearing something which they may not be comfortable in. What happened to women's rights? What happened to the 'women should be treated no different from men' attitude? It saddens me how the administration could make such a profound change without consulting the parents or students. The school has so much potential to create a safe environment for students, yet it is quite the opposite. Students are uncomfortable around their teachers, and would rather suffer in silence than seek help from the staff. What a shame.
This all being said, the students at the school are very well behaved, meaning lessons are never too chaotic, but this is due to cultural factors and the demographic of the school (e.g. there are no male students) rather than the school itself teaching discipline. Another positive is that although lots of the teachers seem apathetic towards students, there a select few teachers who genuinely care for their students, and it shows in pupils attitudes towards in their classes compared to other teachers. I only wish there were more teachers like them.
All of the students seem to be traumatised from this school
I don’t go here but my friend does and with the looks of these reviews, I’m glad I don’t come here 💀
Bad Aggs
All I can say is you better get ready for pressure and a lot of self learning. Mental issues are through the roof and no one cares. Even ofsted is in their pockets as they got it reviewed and it took weeks to come out. No one gives one and the food is expensive and crap, bad as aggs.
Excellent ⭐️
Delighted and DD very happy.
Be careful
Word of caution about the staff this school employs and their ability to turn a blind eye to the wrongdoings. A teacher and his accomplice from this school squatted in someone’s home , verbally assaulted, harassed and threatened homeowners and refused to leave before being taken out by police. Be very careful since this is the environment that is apparently nurturing students.
Worst sh!t show ever
The biggest sh!t show you could imagine. Everyone came out with an eating disorder. Everyone self harms. We all need therapy.
Teachers get paid extra if they predict you lower and you achieve higher so will sabotage your predicteds.
Everyone has tutors so none of the teachers can actually teach cause they don’t need to …
I got banned from tying my hair up cause it was “too uncultured” even when doing chemistry experiments with fire and in PE.
Believe me we all could go on …
Teachers get paid extra if they predict you lower and you achieve higher so will sabotage your predicteds.
Everyone has tutors so none of the teachers can actually teach cause they don’t need to …
I got banned from tying my hair up cause it was “too uncultured” even when doing chemistry experiments with fire and in PE.
Believe me we all could go on …
kinda sucks
this place kinda sucks
i have some positives and negatives tho
✅pros ✅
1.the outside area is pretty
2.the students are friendly
3.crumpets are AMAZING
4.some of the teachers are nice
5.i love the library
6.the sixth form cafe is great
7.lots of nice little bake sales
❌cons❌
1.pe kit is uncomfortable and ugly
2.the pasta `sauce’ is literally just water
3.why aren’t we allowed to take paninis outside?
4.there are very few teachers that are genuinely nice (kudos to all the teachers that are 👏)
5.some of the inside rooms are nasty and the changing rooms have NO ventilation whatsoever
6.the school is infested with karens
7.they NEVER,EVER clean the bathrooms
8.we’re not allowed ANY INDIVIDUALITY AT ALL.
9.they hardly ever talk about diverse history
10.the most boring assemblies ever
11.all they ever do is hockey and netball.i mean COME ON.i don’t want to do only hockey and netball. i wanna try out new sports.
12.why aren’t we allowed to roll up our skirts???
13.they hardly ever sell those good cakes with the hardened icing
14.they act like they care about mental health when they don’t.
15.they never clean the gum under the tables.i realised that in year 7.
overall this school is pretty lame and there are lots of better schools out there
i have some positives and negatives tho
✅pros ✅
1.the outside area is pretty
2.the students are friendly
3.crumpets are AMAZING
4.some of the teachers are nice
5.i love the library
6.the sixth form cafe is great
7.lots of nice little bake sales
❌cons❌
1.pe kit is uncomfortable and ugly
2.the pasta `sauce’ is literally just water
3.why aren’t we allowed to take paninis outside?
4.there are very few teachers that are genuinely nice (kudos to all the teachers that are 👏)
5.some of the inside rooms are nasty and the changing rooms have NO ventilation whatsoever
6.the school is infested with karens
7.they NEVER,EVER clean the bathrooms
8.we’re not allowed ANY INDIVIDUALITY AT ALL.
9.they hardly ever talk about diverse history
10.the most boring assemblies ever
11.all they ever do is hockey and netball.i mean COME ON.i don’t want to do only hockey and netball. i wanna try out new sports.
12.why aren’t we allowed to roll up our skirts???
13.they hardly ever sell those good cakes with the hardened icing
14.they act like they care about mental health when they don’t.
15.they never clean the gum under the tables.i realised that in year 7.
overall this school is pretty lame and there are lots of better schools out there
baggs of aggs
positives:
there's a great range of extracurriculars here and the buildings are pretty too. some of the teachers are lovely (shout out to mr humphreys especially he genuinely cares abt his students) and the food is pretty good if overpriced.
negatives:
class divide. about half of students have tutors in more than one subject - it really puts pressure on those who don't. some cultural issues are sort of impossible to fix because everyone here is reasonably smart which creates a lot of competition. yet the staff could easily discourage students from sharing test results and reminding everyone of how many days it is until their gcses but they just don't. 7 = bad grade: not many teachers tell students to be positive about a 'lower' score either. the in school resources aren't great and teachers don't really help with revision either. the trips are literally thousands of pounds. i really don't understand why aggs will spend so long talking about racism, sexism + homophobia (and make the students talk abt transphobia lol) but not mention the intersectionality of all those things w/ poverty. it's insane. teachers also seem to have about no training on recognising and dealing w/ students who are neurodiverse, instead preferring to embarrass students who have difficulty concentrating in lessons. liberty is just a concept here: the school force you to do specific revision and wellbeing activities as if those will work for everyone. the response to a certain petition created a few years ago was shocking, and the school effectively used their power to silence its students. but im sure they'll ignore all this anyway lol
there's a great range of extracurriculars here and the buildings are pretty too. some of the teachers are lovely (shout out to mr humphreys especially he genuinely cares abt his students) and the food is pretty good if overpriced.
negatives:
class divide. about half of students have tutors in more than one subject - it really puts pressure on those who don't. some cultural issues are sort of impossible to fix because everyone here is reasonably smart which creates a lot of competition. yet the staff could easily discourage students from sharing test results and reminding everyone of how many days it is until their gcses but they just don't. 7 = bad grade: not many teachers tell students to be positive about a 'lower' score either. the in school resources aren't great and teachers don't really help with revision either. the trips are literally thousands of pounds. i really don't understand why aggs will spend so long talking about racism, sexism + homophobia (and make the students talk abt transphobia lol) but not mention the intersectionality of all those things w/ poverty. it's insane. teachers also seem to have about no training on recognising and dealing w/ students who are neurodiverse, instead preferring to embarrass students who have difficulty concentrating in lessons. liberty is just a concept here: the school force you to do specific revision and wellbeing activities as if those will work for everyone. the response to a certain petition created a few years ago was shocking, and the school effectively used their power to silence its students. but im sure they'll ignore all this anyway lol
Parent
I was, like most, impressed by the exam statistics and the school buildings.
However, as the children integrate into the years that require revision and exams it was frightening to see how many affluent parents hire GCSE and A level tutors for nearly all the subjects that their daughter studies to secure the top grades. So the grades are a testimony on wealth advantage not the school teaching, this has become the culture of AGGS.
Reading the AGGS students reviews on this website is really sad and rings true to all the other parents and students that have spoken of their own experience regarding exam pressure, poor SENDCO, poor pastoral care and poor teaching apart from the few teachers that have not been drained by the school environment.
A school that has not moved with the times or thinks that spending money on the mental health of their students should be paramount.
The dreadful thing is, if you are unhappy about the school and you speak to the head about it, she will treat your child differently and remove even the tiniest extra support that you previously requested.
However, as the children integrate into the years that require revision and exams it was frightening to see how many affluent parents hire GCSE and A level tutors for nearly all the subjects that their daughter studies to secure the top grades. So the grades are a testimony on wealth advantage not the school teaching, this has become the culture of AGGS.
Reading the AGGS students reviews on this website is really sad and rings true to all the other parents and students that have spoken of their own experience regarding exam pressure, poor SENDCO, poor pastoral care and poor teaching apart from the few teachers that have not been drained by the school environment.
A school that has not moved with the times or thinks that spending money on the mental health of their students should be paramount.
The dreadful thing is, if you are unhappy about the school and you speak to the head about it, she will treat your child differently and remove even the tiniest extra support that you previously requested.
Excellent
Daughter very happy there. Lovely friends, lovely parents. Very mixed demographic - some from prep schools and others from state primaries.
Highly diverse - love this - life is diverse, work, university and society is diverse so prepares children well.
Very aspirational culture so suits able, conscientious children who want to do well.
Daughter feels very proud to be there and whilst she finds it academically stretching, she rises to the challenge but has the confidence and drive to do so.
I am sure it wouldn’t suit everyone for these reasons but as a parent I couldn’t be more impressed or happy with the quality of teaching, the drive, variety of subjects, fantastic sports facilities, careers provision and aspirational culture.
Highly diverse - love this - life is diverse, work, university and society is diverse so prepares children well.
Very aspirational culture so suits able, conscientious children who want to do well.
Daughter feels very proud to be there and whilst she finds it academically stretching, she rises to the challenge but has the confidence and drive to do so.
I am sure it wouldn’t suit everyone for these reasons but as a parent I couldn’t be more impressed or happy with the quality of teaching, the drive, variety of subjects, fantastic sports facilities, careers provision and aspirational culture.
The real AGGS
AGGS really do not care about any type of diversity.
The pastoral care is non existent and they favour the rich that can afford to spend 1000s on tutoring to get the high grades. Otherwise you’re asked to leave if you are getting.low ones.
Teachers have faves and there’s only a few teachers that really care.
The head is so scary and is only bothered about results and her new building.
Results are paid for by parents but the suicidal tendencies, mental health, cutting, drugs, anorexia, bullying is paid for by us.
Be prepared to lose your confidence and feel bad about yourself.
The pastoral care is non existent and they favour the rich that can afford to spend 1000s on tutoring to get the high grades. Otherwise you’re asked to leave if you are getting.low ones.
Teachers have faves and there’s only a few teachers that really care.
The head is so scary and is only bothered about results and her new building.
Results are paid for by parents but the suicidal tendencies, mental health, cutting, drugs, anorexia, bullying is paid for by us.
Be prepared to lose your confidence and feel bad about yourself.
absolute honker of a school. cant wait to leave.
this school made me want to literally kms, and i was in y10. the amount of pressure put on every student here is actually insane. y10, the year before gcses and all of my motivation was stripped from me because of aggs 😭😭 everyone preaches inclusivity and diversity, and expressing your identity but as soon as someone actually does anything to differentiate themselves from others, theyre shut down instantly. racism? oh no they dont give one. coloured hair/piercings? told to dye it back instantly or risk suspension or expulsion. we have no free will to do anything. the only good thing about this school is the very few amount of teachers that actually do give one (shoutout dr stutchbury) and the fact that lessons arent too disruptive. but again, imo, the silence in lessons is purely out of fear of punishment. we’re being taught to be literal robots 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒 theres no subjects that could be quite interesting to some people in sixth form, eg geology, but its taught in the boys school? teachers most of the time teach u something once and expect u to remember it forever. and when ppl dont understand a topic, we hesitate to ask for help out of fear of being shamed, or scared that the teachers will think we’re stupid. also the constant tests. why the hell am i being given multiple exams EVERY WEEK??? and then being rude to us when we get bad scores. AND ALSO THE EXPECTATIONS THAT EVERY STUDENT SHOULD GET ALL 9S OR WE WONT DO WELL IN THE FUTURE?? im sorry but i want to go to college, and for that, i need 4s. literal 4s. and from there i can even go to uni?!! THEY ACT AS IF ANYTHING THAT ISNT SIXTH FORM IS BAD. THATS SUCH A LIEEEEE!! i cant wait to get out of this TERRIBLE school. ruined my mental health, my family relationships, AND my friendships. another thing, they dont give one about us students mentally. being told to have a bath to cure my depression yeah thats gonna help isnt it. unless it affects ur grades, they wont do anything. and even then, they only try to ‘help’ so that the schools reputation doesnt get ruined. i have so much more to say, about teachers, facilities, uniform, everything but i actually cba rn theres too much. IF U HAVE ANY COMMON SENSE, DONT COME HERE.
i dislike this school a lot and heres why
this school sucks
1- they give out detentions for forgetting ur book once
2- not allowed to support palestine, but supporting ukraine is advised?
3- extremely racist and islamaphobic even tho half the students are muslim or poc
4- transphobic and homophobic
5- refer to us all as girls
6- some certain teachers refuse to help year 7s if they need help
7- too much homework and still make you do it if u have a broken hand and stuff
8- bullying.
9- teachers dont give a flying f about our mental health and most are racist tories
10- netball girls are the equivalent of football boys
11- misogynistic
12- some people dont even know what politics means
13- everyone blatantly cheats on exams and tests and no one cares somehow
14- ppl lying about wether or not they revised to make u feel bad
15- worst facilities ever
16- kids get blamed not teachers for things we didnt do
17- i found mould in 3 paninis in the space of one week
18- food is overpriced and hardly any options if u go in last
19- teachers dont care about us bc they dont get paid enough
20- cant complain about anything cos u will indefinitely get a detention
21- they want us all to be the same
22- the sixth form cafe- liz (dinnerlady who lets y12s and 13s push in) chased a kid out of the building because they put a suso down too hard
23- that one year 12 shoves us all out the way when were not even close to her
24- feeling bad about a high score because that one person in ur form got higher
25- teachers reading out ur scores to the whole form
26- exam week for year 7s
27- no individuality allowed
28- clear difference between who can afford things and who might not be able to
29- they never tell us about any changes that happen in our school and then get mad at us for not knowing
30- make you sit on the crusty floor that they dont clean
31- why arent we allowed on the front lawn????
32- never speak back to a supply teacher cos they will snitch
33- memepages about the school
34- even if the memepage follows u and u dont follow them u get questioned by ur head of year
35- take peoples phones over the holidays
36- leggings under skorts rule
37- toxic af place
38- smells weird
39- teachers dont let u go toilet even on ur period
40- teachers will hate you for being a year 7 (sorry mate not my fault, blame my mum and dad)
1- they give out detentions for forgetting ur book once
2- not allowed to support palestine, but supporting ukraine is advised?
3- extremely racist and islamaphobic even tho half the students are muslim or poc
4- transphobic and homophobic
5- refer to us all as girls
6- some certain teachers refuse to help year 7s if they need help
7- too much homework and still make you do it if u have a broken hand and stuff
8- bullying.
9- teachers dont give a flying f about our mental health and most are racist tories
10- netball girls are the equivalent of football boys
11- misogynistic
12- some people dont even know what politics means
13- everyone blatantly cheats on exams and tests and no one cares somehow
14- ppl lying about wether or not they revised to make u feel bad
15- worst facilities ever
16- kids get blamed not teachers for things we didnt do
17- i found mould in 3 paninis in the space of one week
18- food is overpriced and hardly any options if u go in last
19- teachers dont care about us bc they dont get paid enough
20- cant complain about anything cos u will indefinitely get a detention
21- they want us all to be the same
22- the sixth form cafe- liz (dinnerlady who lets y12s and 13s push in) chased a kid out of the building because they put a suso down too hard
23- that one year 12 shoves us all out the way when were not even close to her
24- feeling bad about a high score because that one person in ur form got higher
25- teachers reading out ur scores to the whole form
26- exam week for year 7s
27- no individuality allowed
28- clear difference between who can afford things and who might not be able to
29- they never tell us about any changes that happen in our school and then get mad at us for not knowing
30- make you sit on the crusty floor that they dont clean
31- why arent we allowed on the front lawn????
32- never speak back to a supply teacher cos they will snitch
33- memepages about the school
34- even if the memepage follows u and u dont follow them u get questioned by ur head of year
35- take peoples phones over the holidays
36- leggings under skorts rule
37- toxic af place
38- smells weird
39- teachers dont let u go toilet even on ur period
40- teachers will hate you for being a year 7 (sorry mate not my fault, blame my mum and dad)
living off academic validation.got good grades tho
lets start w the positive (haha)
- everyone wants to learn to atmosphere is not disruptive
- students are diverse and usually nice
- some teachers work really hard esp during lockdown (shoutout to dr yong)
- women in stem!!!
- lots of extracurriculars
- disciplined
- nice outside area centenary garden's kinda cute and breezehill has heated floor in that one room
negatives
- assembly twice a week ab the most useless topics...and we have to sit on the floor. When the topics are good, they are often poorly explained and not given by someone who has necessarily experienced those things basically i'm saying straight white ppl expressing their white guilt through an assembly to a very diverse group of high school pupils (mrs clearie)
- bro can some teachers stop w the pedophilia i don't need to be sexualised in my pe kit thanks
- hypocrisy from teachers.
- making it seem like an average grade is bad, like yes it's important to push yourself but belittling someone's worth just because of a bad mark?? this way of thinking is set by teachers but very much fuelled by students and also parent's expectations. competitive and toxic atmosphere asf
- sick of the way pastoral team treat sensitive situations like bullying, sa and mental health issues are handled so badly i want to cry. dont trust school w ur problems it only makes it worse. then they take the littlest things seriously like bro focus on the bigger picture pls.
- people pretending to be bi (i like girls but would never date one). please stop.
- school tries to control its students sm like why are we not allowed to wear our coats around school and . calm urself lol
- students not taken seriously and useless rules. phones and letters home for the stupidest stuff
- only cares ab science they get all the funding
- teachers are smart but dk how to teach
- some teachers don't put the effort in because they know we will so don't bother to teach us instead the just say 'do pages 10-15 and you will get what to do' nah bro that's not how it works
- food is overpriced we get that youse are all capitalist loving tories but really??
- tastes shitee aswell barely and vegetarian, jain, vegan and halal options
- everyone wants to learn to atmosphere is not disruptive
- students are diverse and usually nice
- some teachers work really hard esp during lockdown (shoutout to dr yong)
- women in stem!!!
- lots of extracurriculars
- disciplined
- nice outside area centenary garden's kinda cute and breezehill has heated floor in that one room
negatives
- assembly twice a week ab the most useless topics...and we have to sit on the floor. When the topics are good, they are often poorly explained and not given by someone who has necessarily experienced those things basically i'm saying straight white ppl expressing their white guilt through an assembly to a very diverse group of high school pupils (mrs clearie)
- bro can some teachers stop w the pedophilia i don't need to be sexualised in my pe kit thanks
- hypocrisy from teachers.
- making it seem like an average grade is bad, like yes it's important to push yourself but belittling someone's worth just because of a bad mark?? this way of thinking is set by teachers but very much fuelled by students and also parent's expectations. competitive and toxic atmosphere asf
- sick of the way pastoral team treat sensitive situations like bullying, sa and mental health issues are handled so badly i want to cry. dont trust school w ur problems it only makes it worse. then they take the littlest things seriously like bro focus on the bigger picture pls.
- people pretending to be bi (i like girls but would never date one). please stop.
- school tries to control its students sm like why are we not allowed to wear our coats around school and . calm urself lol
- students not taken seriously and useless rules. phones and letters home for the stupidest stuff
- only cares ab science they get all the funding
- teachers are smart but dk how to teach
- some teachers don't put the effort in because they know we will so don't bother to teach us instead the just say 'do pages 10-15 and you will get what to do' nah bro that's not how it works
- food is overpriced we get that youse are all capitalist loving tories but really??
- tastes shitee aswell barely and vegetarian, jain, vegan and halal options
GCSEs and A Levels
all i got was this lousy depression
went here all the way up until sixth form and finally left this hell hole in 2019. 7 whole years all i got was depression, anxiety and undiagnosed autism, sitting both GCSEs and A Levels with all of these and no support!!! (the councillors were terrible). also so much bullying, being a girls school it was so difficult as girls were very nasty. solutions in this school were to sit in a room with the bully and a teacher and "talk it out" which usually just made matters worse as you'd be bullied for reporting the bullying. teachers were very hit and miss, it's a teaching school so they also get a lot of trainees and boy, if you get one of these during your GCSE or A Level lessons, good luck! some teachers were fantastic and others just couldn't teach for the life of them. there was definitely a lot of favouritism with some teachers blatantly doing this, Ms Mayall was... yikes, as well as some of the PE teachers. there was also a few teachers that were lowkey a little racist, not entirely obvious but it was clear that they did sort of favour white girls a little as opposed to the girls of colour - considering there were a lot of girls of colour it wasn't right at all.
sodexo brownies used to be so good before they charged more for brownies a quarter of the size, extremely depressing as they were the only things that got me through those seven years. the lady who worked the canteen in the sixth form cafe though (i'm so sorry i don't 100% remember her name but i believe it was Liz) was very lovely to us once we reached sixth form and the food was nicer there!
i had a bad experience here but the biggest shoutout goes to Mrs Langridge, she was an absolute angel - she was my sixth form form tutor and she was so sweet, really helped me through some tough times even with the most simple conversations, even though she probably doesn't realise it 😭 Mrs Downing was also an absolute queen of a biology teacher all the way through, so sweet yet so good at teaching so i'll always appreciate her a lot too ❤
sodexo brownies used to be so good before they charged more for brownies a quarter of the size, extremely depressing as they were the only things that got me through those seven years. the lady who worked the canteen in the sixth form cafe though (i'm so sorry i don't 100% remember her name but i believe it was Liz) was very lovely to us once we reached sixth form and the food was nicer there!
i had a bad experience here but the biggest shoutout goes to Mrs Langridge, she was an absolute angel - she was my sixth form form tutor and she was so sweet, really helped me through some tough times even with the most simple conversations, even though she probably doesn't realise it 😭 Mrs Downing was also an absolute queen of a biology teacher all the way through, so sweet yet so good at teaching so i'll always appreciate her a lot too ❤
aggs❌gags✔️
1. We get max ten pieces of homework a week which are all supposed to take like half an hour each but teachers will complain if you haven't finished, so normal workload is 8+ hours a week past gcses if not more which is ridiculous on top of extra curriculars
2. School effectively silenced us when a petition was made to reverse a rule they made, when they had created the problem in the first place - rather than encouraging self expression like they pretend to do
3. Most people have terrible mental health. They could do so much more but instead they will make you see senior tutors for implying you had too much homework as if that isn't a school problem instead of a personal one 🤔🤔
4. School spent millions on a building nobody actually wanted which just means people are late to lessons walking there and back and then teachers complain
5. Teachers are late half the time
6. They put waffles in the canteen and the queue is like seven people thick going through a door which fits one at a time. It is incredibly ridiculous and dangerous too
7. School food has so much plastic and standard has gone down so much
8. Really goes to show how good the social education is here when people don't know the difference between socialism capitalism and communism
9. They expect you to do a ridiculous amount of work and there's definitely a culture of overachieving - people will literally lie about whether they revised or not to make you feel worse about yourself
10. School saw a mental health problem so they made us sit in a room and make presentations for each other for an hour every two weeks
11. It's always fking freezing or too hot in West Wing and they wonder why people hate languages
12. Senior staff do not give a crap they get paid too much to care
13. The Christmas tree was so small this year 😔
14. Gum everywhere under all the tables and it's gross. They will literally guilt trip you into keeping new rooms clean rather than actually cleaning them themselves
15. SO MANY RANDOM STAFF FOR NO REASON
16. The food is literally all carb based there's nothing that won't bog you down during the afternoon.and there's barely anything vegan.
17. The trips are so expensive and there's a clear divide between who can afford them and who can't. They can't just host something fun w ur mates in England, it has to be in America or somewhere
18. Some of the teachers are very nice but they are clearly overworked which is just a vicious cycle from this school to be honest
19. They won't even let you wear badges that aren't school ones, god forbid you have originality
20. School pantomimes can be v misogynistic
21. Teachers don't use gender neutral pronouns
22. Would be nice if the teachers who are actually lgbt / poc presented assemblies on that topic
23. Act like they care about covid and then force 200 pupils to sit in the same room for half an hour when it would have the same effect from our form rooms
24. People blatantly cheat on nearly all of the tests which just makes the people who actually try look bad
25. Teachers have so much favouritism
26. Probably half of people have a tutor again increasing class divide
27. People will be homophobic ect behind ur back
28. School acts like their pupils aren't literally more diverse than the staff. Teacher who basically made a mockery of calling out racism is head of diversity ambassadors
29. Senior tutors literally don't care if you're being bullied, similarly they are always on the side of the person who came to them first even when that person is lying or being dramatic
30. Think the best thing about this school is the fact that there is basically no disruption in class and pupils are well behaved
31. The one way system is so annoying there's one in every building it just takes so much longer to get around
32. I just know if a teacher were to read this they would try and track me down. This is an anonymous review for a reason. They are obsessed with their reputation. Let me have my opinion in piece 👍🏻👍🏻
33. Racism normalised tbh barely any education abt microagressions
2. School effectively silenced us when a petition was made to reverse a rule they made, when they had created the problem in the first place - rather than encouraging self expression like they pretend to do
3. Most people have terrible mental health. They could do so much more but instead they will make you see senior tutors for implying you had too much homework as if that isn't a school problem instead of a personal one 🤔🤔
4. School spent millions on a building nobody actually wanted which just means people are late to lessons walking there and back and then teachers complain
5. Teachers are late half the time
6. They put waffles in the canteen and the queue is like seven people thick going through a door which fits one at a time. It is incredibly ridiculous and dangerous too
7. School food has so much plastic and standard has gone down so much
8. Really goes to show how good the social education is here when people don't know the difference between socialism capitalism and communism
9. They expect you to do a ridiculous amount of work and there's definitely a culture of overachieving - people will literally lie about whether they revised or not to make you feel worse about yourself
10. School saw a mental health problem so they made us sit in a room and make presentations for each other for an hour every two weeks
11. It's always fking freezing or too hot in West Wing and they wonder why people hate languages
12. Senior staff do not give a crap they get paid too much to care
13. The Christmas tree was so small this year 😔
14. Gum everywhere under all the tables and it's gross. They will literally guilt trip you into keeping new rooms clean rather than actually cleaning them themselves
15. SO MANY RANDOM STAFF FOR NO REASON
16. The food is literally all carb based there's nothing that won't bog you down during the afternoon.and there's barely anything vegan.
17. The trips are so expensive and there's a clear divide between who can afford them and who can't. They can't just host something fun w ur mates in England, it has to be in America or somewhere
18. Some of the teachers are very nice but they are clearly overworked which is just a vicious cycle from this school to be honest
19. They won't even let you wear badges that aren't school ones, god forbid you have originality
20. School pantomimes can be v misogynistic
21. Teachers don't use gender neutral pronouns
22. Would be nice if the teachers who are actually lgbt / poc presented assemblies on that topic
23. Act like they care about covid and then force 200 pupils to sit in the same room for half an hour when it would have the same effect from our form rooms
24. People blatantly cheat on nearly all of the tests which just makes the people who actually try look bad
25. Teachers have so much favouritism
26. Probably half of people have a tutor again increasing class divide
27. People will be homophobic ect behind ur back
28. School acts like their pupils aren't literally more diverse than the staff. Teacher who basically made a mockery of calling out racism is head of diversity ambassadors
29. Senior tutors literally don't care if you're being bullied, similarly they are always on the side of the person who came to them first even when that person is lying or being dramatic
30. Think the best thing about this school is the fact that there is basically no disruption in class and pupils are well behaved
31. The one way system is so annoying there's one in every building it just takes so much longer to get around
32. I just know if a teacher were to read this they would try and track me down. This is an anonymous review for a reason. They are obsessed with their reputation. Let me have my opinion in piece 👍🏻👍🏻
33. Racism normalised tbh barely any education abt microagressions
The school doesn't care about the students.
It could totally be worse, but it SHOULD be so much better. They pay no attention to mental health unless it's causing harm (that they can see) to a student's grades, but LOVE giving assembly after assembly and lecture after lecture on why 'we care' and 'you can talk to us and ask for help'. If those things were true? Great. But nooooo. No matter how obviously a student is struggling (and sometimes even when the school have been explicitly told), they only ever provide help when our academics are being pushed to below a level they're okay with. The level of virtue signalling and lack of care is frustrating at the best of times, and outright harmful at the worst.
Some of the teachers are amazing, sure, and they work really hard to support everyone, but loads don't teach us the material we need to know, and expect us to self-teach the material in our own time - not mean homework to reinforce previous learning, but teaching the material to ourselves having never been taught it in the first place. They advertise themselves as one of the highest achieving schools in the country, but that's basically due to the students going above and beyond reasonable expectations, not the school itself.
Most of our learning is completely geared towards how to pass a test, rather than with any intention of truly fostering knowledge and understanding. I don't have a problem with learning information that is not strictly speaking 'necessary' at all, I know knowledge and learning are important in their own right, however there's no point in simply 'learning' to pass a test, in such a way that it realistically gives no indication of our actual understanding of a subject, and we are more likely to just forget the information after the test than to remember it long-term. I get that this is really a problem with the education system as a whole, but the school takes it to extremes.
They also REALLY want us to be machines. Like, they'd probably rather we literally all looked identical, sat silently through lessons, and had absolutely no opinions of our own. Piercings or hair dye? Forget it. People get harassed for refusing to remove healing ear piercings with literally NO regard for their mental health. Assemblies could be taught by teachers with actual experience of the issues, because our staff is pretty varied, but nah, always the same 3 teachers who really have no clue. Oh, and a trainee teacher stopped me going to the loo for no reason even though I was literally on my period. No 'sure you can't wait for the end of the lesson?', just a straight up no.
The school don't provide enough indoor space for younger years to eat lunch, and although there are some outdoor benches, they aren't usable for many weather conditions, especially because students aren't allowed to wear coats around school during school hours. Most of the benches are unsheltered, and even if they all were sheltered, there wouldn't be enough for everyone. People end up eating standing up or hiding in locker rooms/toilets. The only indoor spaces where they can eat or even go to stay out of the rain are the dining hall or any lunchtime clubs they might attend, and the dining hall has time restrictions placed on when people can be inside it, meaning that before a student enters or after a student leaves, they usually have to wait outside in horrible weather or hide in the school toilets. It's unfair to expect students to either attend a lunchtime club every day, hide in the toilets, or wait outside in weather that is often some combination of rain, freezing cold, and wind, it being England and all. This is less of a problem for students in older years, as they are allowed to eat in their form rooms, but they are stopped from socialising with friends because they aren't allowed in other form rooms, and it's still not okay to expect students in younger years to deal with this.
This is also something that has been repeatedly brought up to teachers for years, and the student body has been ignored or brushed off with no compassion or understanding by senior leadership, even when other teachers have agreed with us.
Recently, several students have been made very uncomfortable by some of the teachers making comments about their bodies. I don't know what happened or what was said, but it doesn't really matter. When most of the student body was super uncertain and on edge, instead of taking the time to talk to us, they tried to end any and all complaints and told us to change the uniform that they had previously had no problems with us wearing, for reasons that they completely failed to communicate to us, but feel a lot like a reiteration of the message that someone should change their outfit to stop someone else making them uncomfortable, rather than the other person just not taking clothing as an invitation or excuse for their actions.
There are teachers who ARE amazing though. There are some teachers who go above and beyond to help students, and I can't say enough how important they are to the school as a whole. They are so, so appreciated by the students, and it is so valuable for individuals to have teachers that they DO feel comfortable going to when they have a problem or need help/advice.
The school as a whole gives so little value to (read: doesn't give a shit about) student wellbeing compared to academic performance, and desperately needs to reassess why they are actually academically high-achieving, and it needs to listen to students on a much larger scale, as well as not pick and choose which feedback they follow through on based on what they care about or what is easiest for them.
Unfortunately, my opinion doesn't matter. Or the VERY similar opinions of almost everyone else who has left Alty a review on this site. Because the school don't care. They'll continue to lie about caring and blame us for problems they cause, because that's what they always do. If it works, right?
Also, they flaunt that outstanding Ofsted rating like a 6 year old who just won a medal of participation at their first gymnastics competition.
Some of the teachers are amazing, sure, and they work really hard to support everyone, but loads don't teach us the material we need to know, and expect us to self-teach the material in our own time - not mean homework to reinforce previous learning, but teaching the material to ourselves having never been taught it in the first place. They advertise themselves as one of the highest achieving schools in the country, but that's basically due to the students going above and beyond reasonable expectations, not the school itself.
Most of our learning is completely geared towards how to pass a test, rather than with any intention of truly fostering knowledge and understanding. I don't have a problem with learning information that is not strictly speaking 'necessary' at all, I know knowledge and learning are important in their own right, however there's no point in simply 'learning' to pass a test, in such a way that it realistically gives no indication of our actual understanding of a subject, and we are more likely to just forget the information after the test than to remember it long-term. I get that this is really a problem with the education system as a whole, but the school takes it to extremes.
They also REALLY want us to be machines. Like, they'd probably rather we literally all looked identical, sat silently through lessons, and had absolutely no opinions of our own. Piercings or hair dye? Forget it. People get harassed for refusing to remove healing ear piercings with literally NO regard for their mental health. Assemblies could be taught by teachers with actual experience of the issues, because our staff is pretty varied, but nah, always the same 3 teachers who really have no clue. Oh, and a trainee teacher stopped me going to the loo for no reason even though I was literally on my period. No 'sure you can't wait for the end of the lesson?', just a straight up no.
The school don't provide enough indoor space for younger years to eat lunch, and although there are some outdoor benches, they aren't usable for many weather conditions, especially because students aren't allowed to wear coats around school during school hours. Most of the benches are unsheltered, and even if they all were sheltered, there wouldn't be enough for everyone. People end up eating standing up or hiding in locker rooms/toilets. The only indoor spaces where they can eat or even go to stay out of the rain are the dining hall or any lunchtime clubs they might attend, and the dining hall has time restrictions placed on when people can be inside it, meaning that before a student enters or after a student leaves, they usually have to wait outside in horrible weather or hide in the school toilets. It's unfair to expect students to either attend a lunchtime club every day, hide in the toilets, or wait outside in weather that is often some combination of rain, freezing cold, and wind, it being England and all. This is less of a problem for students in older years, as they are allowed to eat in their form rooms, but they are stopped from socialising with friends because they aren't allowed in other form rooms, and it's still not okay to expect students in younger years to deal with this.
This is also something that has been repeatedly brought up to teachers for years, and the student body has been ignored or brushed off with no compassion or understanding by senior leadership, even when other teachers have agreed with us.
Recently, several students have been made very uncomfortable by some of the teachers making comments about their bodies. I don't know what happened or what was said, but it doesn't really matter. When most of the student body was super uncertain and on edge, instead of taking the time to talk to us, they tried to end any and all complaints and told us to change the uniform that they had previously had no problems with us wearing, for reasons that they completely failed to communicate to us, but feel a lot like a reiteration of the message that someone should change their outfit to stop someone else making them uncomfortable, rather than the other person just not taking clothing as an invitation or excuse for their actions.
There are teachers who ARE amazing though. There are some teachers who go above and beyond to help students, and I can't say enough how important they are to the school as a whole. They are so, so appreciated by the students, and it is so valuable for individuals to have teachers that they DO feel comfortable going to when they have a problem or need help/advice.
The school as a whole gives so little value to (read: doesn't give a shit about) student wellbeing compared to academic performance, and desperately needs to reassess why they are actually academically high-achieving, and it needs to listen to students on a much larger scale, as well as not pick and choose which feedback they follow through on based on what they care about or what is easiest for them.
Unfortunately, my opinion doesn't matter. Or the VERY similar opinions of almost everyone else who has left Alty a review on this site. Because the school don't care. They'll continue to lie about caring and blame us for problems they cause, because that's what they always do. If it works, right?
Also, they flaunt that outstanding Ofsted rating like a 6 year old who just won a medal of participation at their first gymnastics competition.
Please don't come here
crappiest place Ever they ruin your mental health and expect everyone to be geniuses. Create family problems don't know what privacy is and will hunt you down until you're ruined. the school is so broke you'd be glad your child didn't go here.
AGGS is not what it seems
The school system is shit but I have to admit it’s better than some other schools I’ve heard of. Academically, the teachers don’t do jack shit and put too much pressure on students expecting them to complete more tests than I can count. The food is overpriced and the portions couldn’t feed a child. Half the time the food isn’t even edible. All this school cares about is the reputation is tries to uphold as they ignore all mental health issues and only care about the students getting any grade above an A. Most of the teachers can’t teach and students have to rely on themselves to learn the content so they don’t fall behind. Lots of discrimination and romanticizing mental illness and self harm. Had multiple teachers hit on the students and the school refuse to address the issue, only firing 2 of them after rumours start to spread. Then proceeding to tell us to cover up when they are the ones who created our school uniforms as well as our pe kits. Constant talks about ‘diversity’ whilst refusing to let us express ourselves and the concerning rules set into place within the school. They also say that they won’t refer to us as ‘girls’ and will use gender neutral terminology to be more inclusive but half the staff still refuse to do so and most, if not all, refer to every pupil using she/her pronouns. However I have heard of schools in far worse condition so at least this school hasn’t hit rock bottom just yet. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, given the awful mental state majority of students are in as soon as they start coming to this school to the moment they leave.
please don't come here LOL
1 - i've been bullied multiple times here and the school did nothing but make it worse.
2 - my mental illness got so much worse when i came here, school didn't care until i started failing classes, even then did nothing
3 - lol yeah there are so many pro-ana students here
4 - continue to call us girls when many students aren't even girls
5 - (SOME) teachers will ignore you if you ask for help
6 - offer basically no good subjects for gcse / alevel
7 - you will have to teach yourself everything lol and also if you even want hope of passing ur gcses u better get a tutor
8 - racist as hell but will ofc preach abt how diverse they r online
9 - smells bad tbh
10 - so many p3d0s. at least 5 here and only like 2 got fired after AGES.
11 - true the whole school is infested with wasps
12 - !! TW SH !! the mental health team here is so bad. one of the nurses literally taught me how to s3lf h4rm. and also a teacher literally yelled at me when my scars were visible because it was a 'bad influence' on the y7s??
2 - my mental illness got so much worse when i came here, school didn't care until i started failing classes, even then did nothing
3 - lol yeah there are so many pro-ana students here
4 - continue to call us girls when many students aren't even girls
5 - (SOME) teachers will ignore you if you ask for help
6 - offer basically no good subjects for gcse / alevel
7 - you will have to teach yourself everything lol and also if you even want hope of passing ur gcses u better get a tutor
8 - racist as hell but will ofc preach abt how diverse they r online
9 - smells bad tbh
10 - so many p3d0s. at least 5 here and only like 2 got fired after AGES.
11 - true the whole school is infested with wasps
12 - !! TW SH !! the mental health team here is so bad. one of the nurses literally taught me how to s3lf h4rm. and also a teacher literally yelled at me when my scars were visible because it was a 'bad influence' on the y7s??
shocking tbh
1. everyone here is privileged and obnoxious
2. so many pro-ana mfers
3. sixth form is shite and the pastoral team there are patronising
4. transphobia
5. half the schools brown yet the staff cant address racism
6. they pressure u into going to the sixth form
7. B = bad grade
8. rubbish subject variety
9. r4pe culture.
10. heteronormative terfy feminism
11. they only just shut up about jk rowling as a feminist icon
12. west wing smells dutty
13. the schools a greenhouse mannnnnnn
14. they aren't lying when they said u will come out mentally ill. i was fine before i came here
15. they don't take student voices into consideration and the headmaster is practically inaccessible
2. so many pro-ana mfers
3. sixth form is shite and the pastoral team there are patronising
4. transphobia
5. half the schools brown yet the staff cant address racism
6. they pressure u into going to the sixth form
7. B = bad grade
8. rubbish subject variety
9. r4pe culture.
10. heteronormative terfy feminism
11. they only just shut up about jk rowling as a feminist icon
12. west wing smells dutty
13. the schools a greenhouse mannnnnnn
14. they aren't lying when they said u will come out mentally ill. i was fine before i came here
15. they don't take student voices into consideration and the headmaster is practically inaccessible
Honest review
Awful treatment for students’ mental health. Care more about the results than the students, and even then, the good results come from the intense pressure applied onto the students to excel- the teachers are rarely particularly outstanding. The resources are limited and distinctly underwhelming and the school relies upon the students to put in their own money and extra effort to receive the books and resources necessary to complete the courses for subjects. I would like to reiterate how AWFUL the mental health is at this school.
School
You will most likely become mentally ill, but you can get good grades if you work really hard and probably have a tutor.
yolo!
the teachers kinda hot though
AGGS summary
AGGS has a generally great community. There's lots of fun events, and many clubs so there's always something extra-curricular thing to do, if you're into that.
Yes, it is an extremely academic school, which means that we receive top notch education - however this ctestes a pressured environment which is nothing short of toxic. most of the teachers are great though so you can like vent to them.
AGGS will affect your mental health, more so than many other schools. If you don't want to deal with that, don't come.
However, if you reach out, you will ultimately end up with amazing friends who will make AGGS worth it. there are cool trips. subjects are boring and limited. some of the buildings are nice but most are not. food is okay. accessible by many means of transport. very diverse community. nice teachers.
Yes, it is an extremely academic school, which means that we receive top notch education - however this ctestes a pressured environment which is nothing short of toxic. most of the teachers are great though so you can like vent to them.
AGGS will affect your mental health, more so than many other schools. If you don't want to deal with that, don't come.
However, if you reach out, you will ultimately end up with amazing friends who will make AGGS worth it. there are cool trips. subjects are boring and limited. some of the buildings are nice but most are not. food is okay. accessible by many means of transport. very diverse community. nice teachers.
Debatable x
U will probably pass your GCSEs, and get decent teachers, but you will also be crushed by academic pressure and literally everyone becomes mentally ill. There is also no interesting option choices :/
I would recommend if you are super good at revision and extremely motivated, but for most of us normies, even though you would be great at a regular school, ur bad scores will just bring you down and yeh 💆♀️
The classrooms are also decorated like the 1970s and the green box is freezing, leaky and i’m pretty sure the whole school has a wasp infection
Otherwise, met some nice people and the school trips are great if u can afford them
I would recommend if you are super good at revision and extremely motivated, but for most of us normies, even though you would be great at a regular school, ur bad scores will just bring you down and yeh 💆♀️
The classrooms are also decorated like the 1970s and the green box is freezing, leaky and i’m pretty sure the whole school has a wasp infection
Otherwise, met some nice people and the school trips are great if u can afford them
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Better go to any other schools for your kids A levels