Bennett Memorial Diocesan School

The school is terrible, but somehow they dodged Ofsted investigation for over a decade and maintained an outstanding rating when they finally were investigated. But don't be fooled. Notice how all the Google reviews are from 5+ years ago and have no detail? The school administration hides all critical reviews.

The rules are stupidly strict: shoes need to have heels, coats need to be exclusively black (a safety issue for those who live far enough from the school to walk in the dark in the colder months), the service blockers are a safety risk (what if a student needs to report an incident on the website so they don't get seen "snitching"? Or they need to change their method of transportation before the end of the day?). The only reason this is said to be one of the top schools in the country is because they set far too much homework for the students to cope with, affecting their mental health only to provide incredibly poor "help" by welfare staff assuming circumstances and refusing to listen to what students seeking help have to say. The school has a classist system: teachers set homework due the day after they're set, one teacher even sets homework due on Saturdays, students get detention for missing these homework, but what if they can't get the space at home to focus on their studies due to material deprivation? The school does nothing to help them. They support racist students and suspend the victims for retaliating. The teachers bully students, one even threw a table without any consequences. Teachers search through students' phones whenever they please, even without a real reason. The school doesn't do anything other than keep students' belongings, no checking CCTV to find a culprit. A student's phone was broken in the possession of staff. A student who has committed sexual harassment and made racist comments is allowed to stay in the school just because his mother was a teacher previously. No rules state anything against having confectionary, yet students still get punished for it. They offer no support for those with dyslexia and other disabilities. A student with diabetes was checking his heart rate on his phone and got shouted at by his teacher despite being given permission by the school. A health and social teacher told a student they "don't care about their mental health". Children with genuine medical conditions with bathroom passes are denied access to the bathroom during lesson, defeating the point of the pass, and get an after school detention if they go to the bathroom without permission. Female staff stand inside the boys' bathroom. The staff running the school are incompetent and cruel to the children attending, and allow crimes, including sexual harassment to take place on the premises.

Why is there bullying at this school and the teachers and governors are not dealing with

Ok if straight forward academic minded child. No focus on independence & developing own sense of individuality. Strength of character & development of own opinions are just not tolerated, as are challenges on having a different point of view. It’s a tightly run ship with huge amount of focus on homework. No laptops or tablets for pupils to use as the norm & very old fashioned.

Bennett is a supportive and encouraging academic environment. It allows students to flourish and thrive through hard work and extracurricular activities.

Though many on here have complained about the welfare team, it is much more advanced than many other schools in the area (from experience) the main problem is the fact that a lot of students expect something impossible to come out of the welfare team. Dealing with teenagers that do not know how to explain their feelings or their actions well is incredibly challenging to deal with - while also making sure that students keep on top of their work.

The staff take a different approach to learning than a lot of nearby schools. Teachers are often friendly with students. Teachers also make sure that students complete their work to a high standard, and although that may seem like a burden to many students, you'd be surprised at how many of my classmates would do literally no work if they weren't supervised to do it with firm-but-fair homework rules and classroom expectations.

Bennett Memorial is a growingly diverse school. Students come from all around the globe, with many from countries such as: The Philippines, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Ukraine. Not just that, but students come from many different economic and social backgrounds. Bennett is a comprehensive school, so there is no strict requirements to be accepted, it is also a gender-mixed school. Due to this diversity in race, gender and class, students grow with the fundamental skills of interacting with people of different backgrounds - helping them be more aware.

Finally, Bennett offers a range of extracurricular activities and clubs including, but not limited to: a variety of sports, chess, debating, computing, poetry, and a range of religious clubs.

Overall, Bennett is a wonderful school, I have definitely enjoyed my time here. I am currently in year 11 and I'm leaving soon. The school has treated me well, and I'm coming back for sixth form. I've had experience with practically every area of the staff and students, and they've all treated me well. If you're considering taking your child here, do. My parents decision to send me here was one of their best.

I had been there since year 7 till year 13, I struggled a lot through school and have mild dyslexia. It took then till around a month before my real GCSE exams for the learning support team to even notify me I was allowed to use a laptop in my exams, worst yet, I went into my real RE exam with a strange pen looking thing and headphones which I had never seen or heard of before. I then went to them after about it and they had no clue about my lack of knowledge on this piece of equipment. Sixth form sucks also, the uniform is unfair and very pick and chosen between students, the welfare sucks in sixth form and there is absolutely no support. Sixthformers have no freedom to become grown adults, were able to drive to school yet not allowed to have our hair dyed or boots that are above our ankles. We are not allowed any piercings other than a small stud, we are not able to be individuals who can express themselves as there own person. We have to stay in school all day long unlike other schools where they are able to leave during lunch times. They say they are preparing us for working in a professional environment however we are treated like we are still 13 years old. ** ******* ** *** *** ******* ****,
Alicia and Holly.

The school deals with mental health realy bad. They act like they care but all they care about is how the school looks. They preach about mental health but yell at you to go to your lessons when your crying. The SLT are horrible and don’t support you, just put you on report

I left recently, they dealt with my mental health poorly and were not good.

Bennett is a great school in terms as it is a non selective school of academic success prior to pupils attendance of the school. Sometimes with some of great teaching offered you would feel like you are in a grammar school.

However, the religious element is never ending and sometimes off putting. Especially to those who are not religious.

In terms of welfare I think the school try to have a sufficient welfare team, however I think that the welfare team can be insufficient. For example I think that for the welfare team to be sufficient, the welfare team need someone who is not a disciplinarian who can build a report with student.