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Great Western Academy
Secondary · Academy · Swindon
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Don’t go here
Worst place I’ve ever stepped inside
my review on gwa
my experience in going to gwa has been s**t. i feel like no one listens to the problems and only care about how the school looks to the public and not how it is for the students it is a rubbish school
Sausage rolls and poor laptops
Laptops are good when they work which is probably once every couple of months. This usually results in endless trips to the IT department who know about as much IT as a toddler. Lessons impacted significantly due to being unable to actually do any school work. Bullying is present in the school and is usually targeted towards children outside of the Tadpole area. Teachers often blame us for issues that are either a problem with their teaching or problems with the laptops they provide. I once had a sausage roll stolen from me in the lunch hall with teachers doing nothing to resolve the issue. It was the best of sausage rolls to, one of those tasty greggs ones.
Mental health and bullying issues
This school is horrible. I and many of my friends in the LGBTQ+ community constantly face harassment- it is not surprising to hear students shout slurs including the f slur and n word in the corridors as this happens on a regular basis and no punishment is given. This school needs to teach their students basic human values and respect. It's not so much the teaching that is the issue but the amount of bullying and harassment that happens in school and online. It is also appalling the way this school deals with self harm and mental well-being. Students are treated as though their mental health is an excuse to get out of class and this is disgusting. My daughter was once shut in some "quiet room" for about half an hour all alone because she was crying. How do you expect students to live in these conditions?
Great school!
An excellent school. The school is very well led and teachers regularly go above and beyond to bring learning alive. Standards are very high and the school works hard to keep it that way. Staff are often seen out and around the local area before and after school to help students and parents feel safe. The school is heavily oversubscribed and their first set of results at A level shows just what a fantastic job they are doing. The enrichment offer is phenomenal, as are the brand new facilities and IT setup, with each student provided with their own laptop. Their teaching through COVID was really strong, with timetabled lessons setup from the start, unlike at so many local schools.
Bullying is not a serious problem, but does of course happen as it might in any school. When the school are made aware, things are taken very seriously.
The negatives? It’s a shame so many parents choose to drive their children to school unnecessarily, making the morning and afternoon arrival/departures so difficult for local residents. Also, as a brand new school, some of the things you might expect from a bigger, more established school are not always there yet - but the school are very quick to respond when any enquiries are made and take parent views into account as they develop.
All in all though - brilliant!
Bullying is not a serious problem, but does of course happen as it might in any school. When the school are made aware, things are taken very seriously.
The negatives? It’s a shame so many parents choose to drive their children to school unnecessarily, making the morning and afternoon arrival/departures so difficult for local residents. Also, as a brand new school, some of the things you might expect from a bigger, more established school are not always there yet - but the school are very quick to respond when any enquiries are made and take parent views into account as they develop.
All in all though - brilliant!
Major bullying issues
Horrible parking, members of the LGBTQ+ community face constant harassment and get called slurs on a horrifyingly regular basis. The school deals with mental health and self harm as if it is a chore and an inconvenience to staff.
GWA review
Personally think the school has a great education, good teachers and provides good facilities. The overall structure of the school is horrendous, picking children up from school is a nightmare and i dread to think how overcrowded it will be when full. They are also more bothered about school uniform that the children’s actual education. My daughter was pulled out of class during learning, simply for wearing plain black trainers and having a second piercing in her ear which is covered by her hair. Overall an okay school, however could work on their student’s wellbeing rather than their reputation.
Good school
All the teachers are amazing, just as the laptops provided to every student for daily lessons. During COVID the outside areas have been sectioned off to try and minimise contact between years however, cross contamination happens in the crowded corridors.
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