Herschel Grammar School

Disgusting IT department

I was working as a junior it technician in the it department for the schelwood trust. I felt belittled by both the network manager and the senior IT technician. Multiple times I asked a question because I did not understand something I was told to Google it. The network manager once told me I’m not a teacher I don’t have the patience to teach. Why would you put someone in a junior role when they are trying to learn? One time I was giving a desktop to take apart I was having trouble taking out one of the components, I asked Susan Edgehill the senior IT technician for help she told me ‘Google it, no one helped me when I first started’. Another time I was using the iPad to turn on the projector for the school assembly. The iPad was not connecting to the internet so I called the network manager Kathy Jakeman to ask what network the iPad needed to be connected to her response “for god sakes seriously” and put the phone down on me. During one of the review meetings Miss Jakeman told me “i’m south African I’m not going to apologize for my behaviour, that’s how we are”. How is that acceptable behaviour in a work place environment ? And especially towards someone in a junior role who is still learning? Another time I was in the office when Kathy Jakeman a ticket came through on the helpdesk system which the message “Hi Kathy we have a visually impaired student who needs help with setting up their laptop, we will let you know when they will be in the school”. I asked if she would like me to go check on the ticket, she told me her name is on the ticket so she would deal with it. The next day another ticket came through to say the student is in the school. Miss Jakeman go off her desk and told me she was going to the ground floor. I asked if she needed me to do anything. She told me “no I’m just going to respond to the ticket you have clearly ignored”. Even though the day before she told me she would deal with it as the ticket had her name in it.

I left herschel some while ago, and the hype surrounding it is not the truth. Compared to other schools, the facilities and extra curriculars are just…meagre? The staff usually lack energy or enthusiasm for their subject, the biology department is in shambles and for a whole year we had an incompetent teacher try to teach us physics. That teacher really ruined physics for me, if i’m being honest.
honestly, if you want a school that has the grammar status and hard working students, herschel might be for you- for me it wasn’t however

why would you even send your child here 😭😭