Gosforth Academy

Terrible school children are getting treated so badly if the even talk in corridor isolated exclusion detention for the littlest thing children are suffering from mental health problems because of fear of teachers so disgusted by this school

Don’t put your child in unless they are brain of Britain less bright kids are brushed aside as they want the high ratings I found teachers are quite bad not all odd one good kids can’t breath without getting put in isolation or excluded beware of this school so false .

I was a former student (graduated within the past 5 years), and I witnessed first-hand the gradual decline in the school. In years 9 and 10 teaching staff were 5 stars, this was due to a plethora of experienced staff members in all departments. They were gradually replaced by new teachers fresh from university. Overall teaching staff went from 5 to 3 stars in my time, which still isn't awful but it's a significant drop in quality.

As others have noted this school is an exam factory, ultimately all they care about is your grades. Academic students tended to excel, and probably still do because of this. Seldom was the potential brought out of "intelligent" pupils who were not academically inclined, there was a large focus on those who were already high achievers. "Gifted and talented" was the name given to this cohort of students and they received extra academic support and added benefits such as meeting a holocaust survivor which other children were denied.

Another review has also noted that this school does not help with mental health, which I can personally attest to. For example, when I experienced panic attacks in class I was given planner comments for "disobedience", I also regularly self-harmed in front of teachers as a cry for help and this went unnoticed. My mental health ordeal ultimately led to a good few years of my life being wasted as I tried to pick up the pieces that this school left me in, with no help from them. I could go on, but I won't. All I will say is that if your child experiences severe/moderate mental health issues you should not enrol them in this school, because they will not be supported effectively (mental health is classed as low-level SEN, look at their recent Ofsted Report).

In terms of bullying, the culture of denial continues. As with mental health issues, bullying is also ignored. Though I myself was not bullied I saw many instances of bullying go unaddressed in my time and I have since heard from others that this has not changed. The reason for this is that the senior leadership team do not want to admit that this school is not perfect, ironically such denial is the root of most issues at this school.

It's an alright school. The corridors are tiny for so many students and the overall building is messy. The bathrooms are unbelievably tiny and there are random holes in the roof that leak (both in classrooms and corridors). Not much support for mental health either. Some students will catcall and harass you while monitors will do nothing about it. I even saw a box of scissors be thrown down stairs by a student. A big variety of clubs though and extra-curriculars. Their coat policy is insufferable. Teachers seem more focused on whether students wear their coats rather than students who vape or misbehave.

This school does not help with children who struggle with their mental health, which is obviously someone necessary at a time like this. Not only this, but I find a lot of the education to be lack lustre and i’ve had to teach a lot of courses to myself. However, they do offer a lot
of different activities in the form of clubs, some of which are student ran.