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Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School
Secondary · Academy · Sidcup
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Underwhelming
As a parent, I’ve found the school a little underwhelming in its organisation and curriculum. I wouldn’t say this to my child who worked extremely hard to pass the 11 plus, but it does seem to be lagging behind other schools such as Bexley Grammar.
Organisation: Poor. Poor information to parents via apps and websites that either won’t let you log on or crash when you try to book a school trip. The school trip system is also chaotic and doesn’t allow fair access to all pupils. Parents have no visibility on what school trips are planned and are informed at very short notice. This makes budget planning and prioritisation difficult for some families when trips abroad cost up to £1000 a time. Also the registration system never opens on time and crashes when all parents login trying to fight for a place for their child. Payments are non refundable and non-transferable so if your child cannot make it, their place cannot be taken by another child. The current system discriminates against children whose parents are working during times when school trips are launched online and also against households with low incomes. Other schools manage these things much better.
There are a few archaic rules such as compulsory rugby on Saturday for boys and banning of stud earrings for girls (ensure piercings are done by year 6 or at the start of the summer hols) which give a nod to the dated thinking around curriculum options e.g. Latin is taught, but not Spanish, Mandarin etc. Quality of the teaching is variable, but it can’t be right when a whole class of grammar school students score badly in an end of year exam. The end of year reports seem highly subjective and at times inaccurate, however that seemed to be symptomatic of new teachers taking over classes and trying to crank out reports to the best of their ability. Teacher retention is an issue, but I’m not sure if that is a unique problem to this school.
If your child needs support with their mental health, I do not recommend this school. My child is quite resilient, but during a stressful point in year 7, found the support system lacking in empathy, knowledge, and support. Fortunately our child is open with us, so as parents we were able to support our child through the situation.
What does the school do well? The pupils are a credit to the school. Sports and performing arts. Academia isn’t everything and the school places high emphasis on extra curricular activities which is great for the students. The teachers are demanding academically in both quality and quantity of work, so I have no concerns that my child will achieve decent grades at the end of the day. If your child is academically strong and excels in the arts or sport, they should find this school ok. If you are used to a school rated as “outstanding” or have high expectations just be prepared to feel a little frustrated from time to time.
Organisation: Poor. Poor information to parents via apps and websites that either won’t let you log on or crash when you try to book a school trip. The school trip system is also chaotic and doesn’t allow fair access to all pupils. Parents have no visibility on what school trips are planned and are informed at very short notice. This makes budget planning and prioritisation difficult for some families when trips abroad cost up to £1000 a time. Also the registration system never opens on time and crashes when all parents login trying to fight for a place for their child. Payments are non refundable and non-transferable so if your child cannot make it, their place cannot be taken by another child. The current system discriminates against children whose parents are working during times when school trips are launched online and also against households with low incomes. Other schools manage these things much better.
There are a few archaic rules such as compulsory rugby on Saturday for boys and banning of stud earrings for girls (ensure piercings are done by year 6 or at the start of the summer hols) which give a nod to the dated thinking around curriculum options e.g. Latin is taught, but not Spanish, Mandarin etc. Quality of the teaching is variable, but it can’t be right when a whole class of grammar school students score badly in an end of year exam. The end of year reports seem highly subjective and at times inaccurate, however that seemed to be symptomatic of new teachers taking over classes and trying to crank out reports to the best of their ability. Teacher retention is an issue, but I’m not sure if that is a unique problem to this school.
If your child needs support with their mental health, I do not recommend this school. My child is quite resilient, but during a stressful point in year 7, found the support system lacking in empathy, knowledge, and support. Fortunately our child is open with us, so as parents we were able to support our child through the situation.
What does the school do well? The pupils are a credit to the school. Sports and performing arts. Academia isn’t everything and the school places high emphasis on extra curricular activities which is great for the students. The teachers are demanding academically in both quality and quantity of work, so I have no concerns that my child will achieve decent grades at the end of the day. If your child is academically strong and excels in the arts or sport, they should find this school ok. If you are used to a school rated as “outstanding” or have high expectations just be prepared to feel a little frustrated from time to time.
Student
It's ok. There are about 3 pieces of homework a week, although there is lots of art homework. They focus on the Sixth Formers. Bullying is taken seriously. The rewards system is weird though. The only places to read quietly at break time is the library and that's closed on Mondays and Fridays. It's ok apart from that
Snobbery
I attended this school over ten years ago as a student and the way that students from the outer limits of the catchment area (gasp, Lewisham!) Was treated was classist and at times racist. On multiple occasions if something bad had happened with no obvious culprit the black kids and the kids that came from Lewisham were removed from the class and interviewed under suspicion. I saw with my own eyes a teacher say the n word to a student. There is a snobbery at this school that I have been fortunate to never encounter again in my adult life and a large portion of the teachers, parents, alumni and students should be ashamed of themselves. This is not the environment for a child from a poorer background, send them to a school where their talents will actually be appreciated and they won't be made to feel less than their peers.
Terrible
Worst school I've ever seen, if u want your child to get severe trauma and fear going to school every single day then yes send Ur child to this school.
Slt are horrible , claim to care about bullying and issues but just make it worse or falsely accused you.
Despite the ongoing covid situation and exams , children are still set tons of work with no time to do it.
Not one good thing I could say about the school. Extremely sexist, racist and Homophobic.
Dissapointed that a community could be so terrible. You should choose somewhere else like crown woods or Bexley grammar
Slt are horrible , claim to care about bullying and issues but just make it worse or falsely accused you.
Despite the ongoing covid situation and exams , children are still set tons of work with no time to do it.
Not one good thing I could say about the school. Extremely sexist, racist and Homophobic.
Dissapointed that a community could be so terrible. You should choose somewhere else like crown woods or Bexley grammar
unsatisfactory experience
it's not 100% horrible but it's definitely not good. they didn't do much about a boy who was actively racist, homophobic, transphobic AND assaulted people in plain view. he's still here. the food is one of the best parts but it's too expensive.
you'd be lucky if teachers didn't set you any homework. if you come here, expect to be set 3 pieces a day (30 pieces on the 2-week timetable). this school has been stressing me and my friends out a lot currently, especially with the covid situation.
3 people have been tested positive and they keep telling us (13-14 year-olds) to calm down, as if we're not in the middle of a pandemic with a virus that could kill any of us. they refuse to send us home and act like young teenagers should be mature about a scary plague, essentially.
most of the slt (senior learning team?) are unfriendly and hard to approach. they've changed the system for behaviour points in our school and having your phone out is on the same level as calling someone a racial or homophobic/transphobic slur. i understand that we're not meant to have them out but it's almost insulting to issue the same punishment for having a phone out and calling a black kid such as myself the n-word.
we start quite a bit earlier than other schools around us (8:15) and we have a bubble system which is, to put it simply, trash. it's not effective. it never has been. we're always mixing with other years during changeover making the rest of their efforts worthless.
there aren't a lot of positives to attending this school.
you'd be lucky if teachers didn't set you any homework. if you come here, expect to be set 3 pieces a day (30 pieces on the 2-week timetable). this school has been stressing me and my friends out a lot currently, especially with the covid situation.
3 people have been tested positive and they keep telling us (13-14 year-olds) to calm down, as if we're not in the middle of a pandemic with a virus that could kill any of us. they refuse to send us home and act like young teenagers should be mature about a scary plague, essentially.
most of the slt (senior learning team?) are unfriendly and hard to approach. they've changed the system for behaviour points in our school and having your phone out is on the same level as calling someone a racial or homophobic/transphobic slur. i understand that we're not meant to have them out but it's almost insulting to issue the same punishment for having a phone out and calling a black kid such as myself the n-word.
we start quite a bit earlier than other schools around us (8:15) and we have a bubble system which is, to put it simply, trash. it's not effective. it never has been. we're always mixing with other years during changeover making the rest of their efforts worthless.
there aren't a lot of positives to attending this school.
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