Great Sankey High School

This school is 10/10 On the first 2 weeks was better than all of my years a primary and the teachers are not strict
That is all

* there's very little safeguarding because of the lack of pastoral support. bullying, abuse, neglect, social rejection, mental health issues and 'inappropriate behaviour' are unrecognised or ignored and they fail to act. they have no knowledge of what's going on in the student's lives because they rarely ask them how they are doing or take an interest in their wellbeing.

*my mental health got to the point that i couldn't even brush or wash my hair, no staff intervened or helped, not even my form tutor or 'Welfare' staff.

*frequent 'inappropriate behaviour'. i ended up traumatised here and was often having flashbacks - i was more focused on avoiding a certain person than my education. as the 'inappropriate' incidents piled up, i would gradually avoid more and more places until eventually I stopped going to classes and stayed in Learning Support all day. despite knowing about this, 'Welfare' staff didn't take action or try to find out what was wrong.

*unfriendly and unwelcoming environment. you don't feel you can talk to staff and they don't try to cultivate a respectful and positive peer community. relational bullying (including exclusion and 'false friendships') and social rejection (which can be just as bad as bullying) are major issues, especially for vulnerable and neurodivergent kids.

*girl's PE was awful. staff were harsh to all students and would humiliate and discourage you if sports was one of your weaknesses. because of the lack of behavioural management, students could get overly competitive and/or be verbally aggressive to others. they interrogate you when you have a genuine medical condition.

*lack of academic support for students who struggle. if you end up behind with your work they are slow to identify this and when they finally realise they put it all on you to catch up. i was just sent to homework club to catch up and wasn't given any one-to-one support to find out what I was struggling with and why. they don't teach any study skills, give advice or at least point you towards helpful information. i was told off by teachers and labelled as 'lazy' when i had a genuine untreated health problem that was interfering with my education. although the teaching is decent, not everyone can benefit from it partly because of the negligence and lack of pastoral support.

This school is traumatic and scares me I hate it and it makes me hate everyone around me and feel bad about myself

this school does not care for student issues such as homophobia, transphobia and s.a. the rules are strict about self expression (eg no jewellery or coloured hair) yet preaches for us to be who we want to be. the food is so bad, there is little to no vegan/vegitarian options, and my friend once got food poisoning after eating a wrap.

The PE department are excellent, the library is boring, most of the staff are lovely apart from one of the English teachers who were very racist and said "all Muslims are terrorists" during a lesson about 9/11. They've only just started bringing pastoral care into the school and they don't have many resources for young children in a mental health crisis. The teaching is average. They don't handle bullying very well either.

I left this school almost 2 years ago and am still (and always will be) recovering from the hell I suffered there. Year 7 started off with a manipulative best friend turning some of my form against me, but the teachers wouldn't let me move form. Due to this, the bullying continued and my entire form turned against me, and cyberbullied. School did nothing about this and just told me to ignore them - which I couldnt do as they would not stop. People would pretend to be my friend only to laugh at me behind my back. They'd throw books at me in class, which teachers would ignore. They would throw food (out of the bin) and water. Theyd run up to me and kick me or hit me and the teachers did NOTHING. They knew what was happening and they blamed me because i was "edgy". Some teachers just watched and others joined in. Particularly the PE teacher who apparently had an affair, but thats none of my business. The bullying grew to the point where everyone in the school was involved, teachers and younger and older classes. One day, almost the entire Year 7 group cornered me and my friends and were throwing food and water, i punched one and they wanted to exclude me because i was "a danger to students". One teacher woke up from this and realised how bad things had got. He was the only teacher in that school after that who understood, but unfortunately one isnt enough.

Teaching quality is good if you get on with the work but apart few very passionate members of staff disadvantaged/problematic kids will be left to their own devices...

Unaware member of staff, with very few which are worthy of mentioning. There is no vigilance outside and barely any inside, leading to certain situations which shouldn't happen at all. There's also nothing to be entertained by, unless you really like books. In that case head over to the library and spend your days there.