It is a terrible school for both location, subjects and inclusivity. The subjects are extremely boring with the staff seeming as though they're disinterested in teaching you. The location is awful as there is nowhere to buy food or go to in your free time. There is a lot of racism towards BAME students and it is not surprising as it is a white dominated school
Good school
Definitely has its down points like a sexist dress code but I think most secondary schools are like this there could be more veggi /vegan options in school and the toilets are pretty rank more indoor seating is needed but the teachers are all pretty nice and h never feel alone always someone to contact if need be
Every single teacher has absolutely no interest whatsoever in your childs life. They take every opportunity to ruin it. There is severe racism from both staff and students. Bullying is treated by rewarding the bullies and kids are screamed at on a daily basis. There is no help with GCSEs whatsoever and the school only care about A* students. Teachers have said they gossip about students. Dont put yourself or your child through it. Choose another school and dont ruin your life.
Class of 2020:
Unfortunately we left the school early due to the Coronavirus and didn’t get to sit exams or have a final celebration.
Other than this I loved my whole time at High Storrs (Y7-13) and would Highly Recommend to anyone considering High Storrs.
Teaching quality:
In my opinion the teaching in high quality. Certain subjects such as Maths and Chemistry stood out particularly for me but I also think the school has a very strong humanities department among others. Creatively there are also lots of facilities in the new building for both creative and performing arts which means the quality is also often high for these subjects.
Opportunities:
There are lots of opportunities which put you in good stead for careers but also to help you develop independent of that.
For example there are leadership roles such as the head team and house captains which are quite formal and do contribute the changes within the school.
There are also climate groups, debate societies, food groups, sports teams, after hours additional lessons e.g astronomy GCSE
The Duke of Edinburgh award is also offered
Career support:
In sixth form you are given a careers meeting with an external careers support person who can offer you support. Most teachers are also very willing to support you if you ask.
Unfortunately the school don’t offer work experience internally which means it may be harder to access for some students however in the sixth form study room there are lots of adverts published with these opportunities but you have to organise them externally.
Sixth form also offer interview prep for subjects such as Medicine/Dentistry and for OxBridge applicants.
Food:
There are lots of food options in lower school, with both hot and cold meals being served at break and lunch in different parts of the school.
The sixth form had hoped encourage more vegan/vegetarian options in the common room, and I’m not sure if this came into fruition but that would be my main query.
Sixth Form:
Sixth form at High Storrs is excellent as you have much smaller class sizes for A levels and BTECs, allowing you to have more interaction and support from teachers
Facilities:
Dance studios, DT labs, big field, large assembly hall, Drama breakout space, subject specific labs.
Sports:
Great sports hall, gym and outdoor field. The PE department will support in setting up fixtures if you are interested in competing and a team can be organised. Sometimes students do have to take the initiative, but this is a great opportunity for leading a team.
Ethos:
This is possibly the best selling point of High storrs. From my discussions with pupils at some other schools the inclusivity and diversity or High Storrs seems quite unique.
The lack of uniform let’s everyone express themselves and to the best of my knowledge doesn’t cause bullying and division in the way some fear.
There are also vertical forms which if you are placed in a sociable one, give to ya great opportunity to make friends with lots of people in other years who you will often see around the school.
honestly I really like this school, although I’ve never been to any other secondary so I can’t really compare
the positives:
• there’s quite a large range in terms of quality of teaching, but in my opinion the amount of really helpful and lovely teachers makes up for the not-so-great ones
• pretty decent mental health support, but you have to actively go out of your way to seek it which can be prettyy awkward sometimes, and there’s lots of support available for anyone with special needs or requirements
• sixth form is so much better than the lower school, as class sizes are a lot smaller and people are usually there because they want to learn
• no uniform, but a bit of a stinky dress code
• food is ok, but wayy too overpriced
• there’s a large variety in the students, so they’ll definitely be someone with similar interests / personality to you
• generally quite diverse, and very supportive of the lgbt+ community
• great for performing arts
• a lot of “unique” subjects, such as classics, latin, and the arts
• people are generally quite nice
the negatives:
• strong drugs / alcohol culture (that may not be a negative for you, idk)
• unless you get a good teacher, the core subjects suck
• behaviour is very poor, but that’s probably the case everywhere
• classrooms are freezing but we’re not allowed to wear coats in lessons
• lockers are only available for Y9 and below
• teachers set homework purely for the sake of setting homework
• veryy strict on punctuality, it doesn’t matter if your house burned down and the bus was 2 hours late, if you are even 10 seconds late you WILL get a 20 minute detention after school
• every now and again something really bad happens; this year a guy was being extremely racist and got the crap kicked out of him so,,, that’s fun
if you’re someone boring who actually enjoys the academic side of school (like me) then high storrs is a pretty good option, the social atmosphere waxes and wanes but is generally tolerable as well.
so in conclusion I have spent way too much time writing this, but I would recommend high storrs despite some of its faults (I should mention that the school is currently working to improve some of these, but who knows when that will come into practice)
I guess it’s quite good, I picked High Storrs because I love drama. The food is much better than at my primary school, but the lines for food can be very long, if your not fast. Overall pretty good school, I would recommend this school to parents.
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