Ark Greenwich Free School

Where to start… if I could give this school 0 stars I absolutely would. This was the only school my parents applied to me for in year 7 and I genuinely wish I went somewhere else. AGFS is so strict on behaviour that it actually creates behavioural problems; detentions for not having a pen or for not wearing your blazer mean that my behavioural record to anyone outside of the network looks HORRIBLE. Furthermore, they target certain children. I know this to be fact as I remember entering my head of year’s office in year 7 and seeing folders for specific children, myself included, on the wall and they were filled with witness statements, report cards etc. The class average for detentions by the time I left was 60, if I remember correctly. The school has deteriorated rapidly in terms of personal freedoms students have, and when I joined some years ago it was already one of the strictest schools in the borough. Students cannot enter the building at lunch, and only one toilet is available for 120 children to use. We have three minutes to get to our next lesson, and go to the toilet etc. Whilst on the topic of toilets, they aren’t sectioned off and have no doors. The corridors open right into the cubicles. You cannot under any circumstances leave lessons to go to the toilet, regardless of how desperate you are. Some teachers are sympathetic however they still have to call a member of the pastoral team to escort you there. Moving from lesson to lesson is a silent affair and you receive detention for even whispering. Lunch is a 50 minute period, split into 25 for outdoor time and 25 for lunch. Whilst in the dining hall, you have to participate in ‘family dining’, where you are asked questions and have to sit in silence other than to discuss said questions. THERE IS A SEATING PLAN AT LUNCH. The corridors must be single file at all times. They are extremely strict on uniform; I wasn’t allowed to wear my Doc Martens as they had yellow stitching, and I received an indeterminable amount of detentions for mascara. I have absolutely nothing good to say about this school. They are undeniably racist— they intentionally target students of colour for bag searches, exclusions and isolation. My friend was kicked out after being told she’d be returning the next year, with no explanation. Hannah Brooks, a member of SLT, once told me I couldn’t bring up my issues I had with other girls because, being tall for my age and being seen as black, they saw it as aggressive. I myself over five years must have had over 200 detentions. I was a stellar student in primary school and the insanely strict rules at AGFS meant my behaviour, on paper, had deteriorated, however I’m inclined to disagree, with the benefit of hindsight. The grades I received in Year 11 were brilliant, I will give the school that, however the effect it had on my mental health and relationship with my parents (who sided with the school on many issues) has simply made it not worth it. They’re not well equipped to deal with cases of bullying and sexual harassment. They believe that a no phone policy will help bullying cases to decrease, however they also claim the school to properly prepare us for real life.. if you bring your phone in it gets confiscated for a full term. It has to be picked up by a parent. If these issues were properly brought to light, the school would experience severe backlash from the public, but by writing this review I can only hope you choose not to send your child here. The food is also ABHORRENT. There’s more however I’ve spent enough time thinking about this school already

The school helped me get outstanding grades but had RIDICULOUS rules. My year group in particular were hated by the teachers since year 7 having to stand in a line after school for around 30 minutes because one person made a noise. Very few teachers were good and the current head is an awful human and is so against phones that she tried to snatch my dad’s phone off of him. Miss H brooks is a horrible woman and likes to bully the children and provoke fear out of them on many occasions she would come right up into my face to question me about makeup which is ridiculous. Since moving on to a grammar sixth form I’ve noticed how school life is so much better with much less of a workload and children behave A LOT better than they did at gfs. It’s way too strict and the SLT team are so entitled, the head is awful and gets a kick out of punishing students even when they’re not doing anything wrong. My advice to the school is to tone it down on the rules because it’s ridiculous and I feel so bad for those students who are at the school now as it just gets worse and worse every year. The good teachers always leave while the ones who can’t teach end up staying and the homework isn’t helpful at all and leaves people stressing. If you try to do your homework at lunch time you’re shouted at and given detention. Trying to go to the toilet was impossible and being a girl having to spend all day without being able to use the bathroom is horrific. Teachers lack consideration for the students and expect utter perfection, luckily I never got in trouble at the school but if you even associate with someone who the teachers don’t like you will also suffer from the consequences. If you don’t mind excessive rules and insane discipline with basically no freedom whatsoever (even lunch times being taken away regularly by the head or by the drama teacher) then gfs is perfect. But overall it’s hard to get by in that school with certain teachers especially the SLT or some office ladies. Good school if you’re looking for good grades but in terms of actual school life this school is very limited. If I could go back I would’ve gone somewhere else as it was such a challenge to just get by however I have many fond memories with my peers and certain teachers who were lovely. Good luck if you attend this school.

My child is in his fifth year at this school. The only reason we persevered was because they wanted to stay with their friends but wish we had pulled him out when the initial problems arose. There has been issues with bullying and safeguarding. Discipline is akin to something out of a military camp. Minor infringements of rules are dealt with as severely as major ones and punishments escalate quickly. When pressed on whether they think holding a pupil for two hours after school for not underlining a heading, the response is as cold as " we are following orders and cannot make exceptions". Children are discouraged from any critical thinking, despite what they lead you to believe. Concerns about the environment creating anxiety in our child have been ignored. They learn by rote and if you don't fit the learning style they will give you "interventions" until you do.
Extremely high turnover of staff, which is perhaps down to the fact that it is a training school with trainees gaining their qualifications on the job then leaving.
The school also withdraws pupils from GCSE subjects if they don't think they will attain a high enough grade.
This school will not be considered for our other children.

I am surprised this school is still running. Read what people are saying and believe them.
Sexual assault and predatory behaviour is covered up here.
Teachers bully students and isolate them for weeks

Teachers mock students about eating disorders
Teachers lie about wheelchair access and claim that they don't have any, so deliberately discriminating against anyone who has a physical disability

It is a disgrace that they are still allowed to destroy students lives

Do not send your child here

Terrible school! Pupils are getting suppressed by staff and talked like they are slaves. Staff dismissing kids who are unwell and using a fear policy to make them scared of punishment. My daughter had mental break down in this school. Thanks Miss Brooks, totally ignorant human. Not sure she shoulfd be working in school but fir prison she will be the most popular.

I cannot stress how terrible and shocking this school is, not only is it prejudice, it is not offering any support to students who cannot immediately retain knowledge. The homework is the same across all subjects , where we simply have to copy out 5 terms across a page which is ineffective and a waste of time, the school then proceed to issue 2 hour detentions to those who cannot remember the word for word definition , in something called "boot camp" , this sounds like a prison more than anything. The work and tests across the sets are the EXACT same, and the idea of sets is completely disregarded as no extra support is available to those in lower sets.Rather than improve the education system they spent their entire budget on a big blue square (The MUGA) which didnt need improving, and is now slippery and dangerous, and means when it rains we cannot play outside,so many people have slipped and fell over when this never happened before,meaning it is basically useless, we also got outdoor changing rooms, however we are not allowed to use them what was the point in this?

I would give this a 0 stars if i could,
firstly they set us an unimaginable amount of work, it is simply ridiculous the workload you want 11 year old children doing,
secondly, we are told that we will receive a detention and it is impossible not to get one
surely this in itself is proof of the broken behaviour system
thirdly, the school is majorly understaffed , i cannot remember the last time i went through a week without a cover lesson, the current year 8 and 10 scholars have not had a science teacher since christmas and have been told not to expect one until easter, half of the science teachers dont even teach science but have had to take on that role. there are only 2 actual geography teachers and over half the stalf are clearly, blantantly racist
staff are constantly mixing up hijabis name, people who are different races, in different year groups and in different sets, the school does not allow people to pray on time and does not offer any support
finally, the school issue detentions for the silliest things , some examples incude sit up unacceptable, entrance unnaceptable
do not send your child here

Ark Greenwich Free School has been very aggressive to me as a student. They once said I would not be able to succeed in life as I had average grades. They are too aggressive and they make everyone feel unsafe. They believe they are making the right choices, where actually they’re damaging everyone’s mental health. I DO NOT recommend this school to any students that want to join it any teachers that want to work there.

This school disregards bulling and children's mental health. I was being cyberbullied by a peer and when I brought it to the attention of the safeguarding team all that person had to say was they don't have social media to be let off without further investigation.

Another incident was when I was given a safety plan as a result of self-injury but the safeguarding team never checked up on my mental heath after that, and the way my self-injury was dealt with happened very fast which was both confusing and traumatising. (my friends have also had negative experiences related to the safeguarding team and the attention the staff has towards children's mental health.)

Lastly, this school only cares weather you get good grades, the mental heath of their students does not matter. This can be proven by the amount of homework I was given from year 7 up to year 11 (i have since graduated.) my peers and I have lost huge amounts of sleep due to the amount of work pushed onto us especially during exam seasons when sleep is vital.

If you value your child, please find a better school.

shit lmao could be a lot better