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Highsted Grammar School
Secondary · Academy · Sittingbourne
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My Highsted Review:
As a newbie to this school, settling in wasn’t too easy. Meeting new people, having to walk to each lesson, different teachers per lesson etc. I have already been told i was weird, annoying etc but most importantly got told to k!ll mys3lf. I turned to the teachers for help and it got sorted in no time. One thing to add, you aren’t allowed to go to the toilet during lesson unless you have a toilet pass. I find this confusing as the teachers apparently have to “know where everyone is at all times” but children with a toilet pass have the right to go? Also, the school does NOT allow phones even in urgent situations. I do understand as all schools in Kent HAVE to do this. Personally, Highsted Grammar School is quite good and I would recommend!
Lack of communication
Not a great school 2024. Poor communication. Lack of Understanding of the needs of the students. Hold out as long as they can before telling students if they have places or classes. So it is too late for them the go anywhere else. This school need to be investigated for illegal practices. If it wasn’t the only grammar School in the area it would have no students.
Math
If I could give 0 I would
I don't go there i but we are neighbors and they are always loud plus they left 2 days earlier
gcse
dont send kids here.
school is not reem.
all the other reviews sum it up, ofsted reports do not match with the actual standard of the school.
got to give it to them in the past year they've improved slightly but not by much, halfway through my gcses and both my maths and biology teacher are both leaving. im not reaching my "target grade" and they're kicking off over it.
dont send your kids here, they'll hate you for it.
dont even get me started about the bullying, racism or downright horribleness of some girls
all the other reviews sum it up, ofsted reports do not match with the actual standard of the school.
got to give it to them in the past year they've improved slightly but not by much, halfway through my gcses and both my maths and biology teacher are both leaving. im not reaching my "target grade" and they're kicking off over it.
dont send your kids here, they'll hate you for it.
dont even get me started about the bullying, racism or downright horribleness of some girls
DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS TO THIS SCHOOL - former students experience.
I went here for secondary school and moved to a different school for 6th form. After experiencing other places I realised just how poor the treatment of students really are.
When i was attending, i was bullied by one girl for 5 years, which they were fully aware of and no one ever punished her. Furthermore, racism and homophobia were condoned and swept under the rug because they put on a hate crime awareness assembly once a year and had a couple of posters around then school.
Every year they had an assembly highlighting the top grades and who achieved them as someone to look up to and aim to be. They did not care for mental health or any conditions that may impact your learning e.g. Autism and ADHD. They put on a couple of assemblies a year and thought that was good enough. The SLG do not care about the students or their wellbeing, they are honestly a joke.
Students were given detentions for the smallest of things, i remember getting in a bus crash which thankfully only gave me whiplash but i still wanted to go home as i was very shaken up and had to go to the doctor. I had to fight to leave after a BUS CRASH. They tried convincing us it was a minor crash but i saw the other car driving home and it was CRUMPLED at the back. You got detentions if you didnt complete your homework in 24 hours, even though most of the time it would be a last period assignment for a first period class, only giving you that evening to get the work done.
I had to write countless statements about my bullying which left me with horrible anxiety and depression that i still struggle with 2 years later. And these statements never did anything as the people responsible were never held accountable for their actions.
At the ‘temp block’ that has been stood for at least 5 years, thats how long i was there. With the amount of funding they get i am at awe at how they never managed to replace that block but found the money for a new pe area. They say they value artistic people, but they push for you to be academic and go into academic based careers and not artistic ones. But that was just my experience.
Honestly i could go on for hours about how terrible and painful my experience at highsted was. Do not send your children. It will ruin their mental health. Please find a better school.
When i was attending, i was bullied by one girl for 5 years, which they were fully aware of and no one ever punished her. Furthermore, racism and homophobia were condoned and swept under the rug because they put on a hate crime awareness assembly once a year and had a couple of posters around then school.
Every year they had an assembly highlighting the top grades and who achieved them as someone to look up to and aim to be. They did not care for mental health or any conditions that may impact your learning e.g. Autism and ADHD. They put on a couple of assemblies a year and thought that was good enough. The SLG do not care about the students or their wellbeing, they are honestly a joke.
Students were given detentions for the smallest of things, i remember getting in a bus crash which thankfully only gave me whiplash but i still wanted to go home as i was very shaken up and had to go to the doctor. I had to fight to leave after a BUS CRASH. They tried convincing us it was a minor crash but i saw the other car driving home and it was CRUMPLED at the back. You got detentions if you didnt complete your homework in 24 hours, even though most of the time it would be a last period assignment for a first period class, only giving you that evening to get the work done.
I had to write countless statements about my bullying which left me with horrible anxiety and depression that i still struggle with 2 years later. And these statements never did anything as the people responsible were never held accountable for their actions.
At the ‘temp block’ that has been stood for at least 5 years, thats how long i was there. With the amount of funding they get i am at awe at how they never managed to replace that block but found the money for a new pe area. They say they value artistic people, but they push for you to be academic and go into academic based careers and not artistic ones. But that was just my experience.
Honestly i could go on for hours about how terrible and painful my experience at highsted was. Do not send your children. It will ruin their mental health. Please find a better school.
......
I actually can't comprehend all the awful reviews on here and I don't want to discredit anyone's experiences but it's really not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. I do agree that the school wasn't that good with dealing with mental health previously, but I genuinely think that was due to lack of experience/training, not because they don't care. Over the past three years especially, there has been a significant improvement in pastoral care. Highsted isn't perfect - but no school is. The teachers are caring people who are learning how to do more to support students and I've personally witnessed this. It honestly is a good school in comparison to the others in the area. I do think some students who have wrote negative reviews don't specifically dislike Highsted, they would most probably feel the same if they went to any other school.
The staff suck and the lessons are pointless and incredibly boring
This school is absolutely awful, the staff care more about rolled skirts and jewellery more than mental health, I got a 30 minute detention for “speaking back” to a teacher when I barely did anything, the safeguarding and overall design of the school sucks, the toilets are absolutely disgusting with period products thrown around carelessly when people actually need them. The teachers and SLG do absolutely nothing for the students at this school and absolutely nothing to help the students they make PowerPoints about how you should “never leave a girl in the water” and pointless girls on board sessions that do nothing when in reality, they don’t do anything for students who are mentally struggling or who are getting bullied, instead they are told to “calm down” and are just called attention seeking and dramatic, but what they don’t realise is that the reason why the students are struggling is because of THIS SCHOOL. They don’t support people who are LGBTQ+ don’t send your kids here and if you do, don’t expect them to not leave this school with tears and depression.
A warning to other parents
My daughter comes home crying, she has been bullied since year 8 and she is now in year 10 and they have done NOTHING
GOODBYE TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
The tital is absolutely true. If you are thinking of sending your child here- DONT. They do not give one fuck about your metal health and make it even worse. As a person who has self harmed in the passed, i feel abused at this school and they do nothing about it. The amount of times a teacher has targeted me for talking even thought the whole class is talking is unreal, and it is to the point where I do not
want to come into school. Another reason to not send your child here is the inhuman, unhygienic bathrooms. I have seen period blood, used sanitary products and even feces
in the stalls and it will not be cleaned for over weeks. This school will traumatize you and your child. To be honest they need to just stop raging over your skirt or your phone and worry more on serious problems like mental health or the unhygienic state of this school.
want to come into school. Another reason to not send your child here is the inhuman, unhygienic bathrooms. I have seen period blood, used sanitary products and even feces
in the stalls and it will not be cleaned for over weeks. This school will traumatize you and your child. To be honest they need to just stop raging over your skirt or your phone and worry more on serious problems like mental health or the unhygienic state of this school.
dont come here
this school ruined me so much vandalism and staff actually bully kids 200% dont recommend
It will ruin your mental health!
DO NOT GO THIS SCHOOL IS TERRIBLE YOU GET DETENTIONS FOR FORGETTING A PEN YOU GET PRESSURED TO THE POINT YOUR TO STRESSED TO COPE SO THEY HAVE A LEAR SUITE WHICH YOULL GET KICKED OUT IF THE MOMENT YOU ENTER AND OVERALL ITS JUST SUCH A BAD SCHOOL PLEASE FOR YOUR SAKE DO NOT
Shit it’s vile and horrible
shit horrible minging bitchy school
Heartbreaking
I was a student here 7 years ago and from reading other's reviews, it only seems to be getting worse. I can absolutely support all reviews which state that there is no care or consideration to the students who are struggling with their mental health.
Here are a just a few points that I have to share on my experiences at this school:
Extremely unhygienic (period blood, period pads and faeces on the walls which remain on there for weeks at a time)
Teachers bully the students
Too much pressure
Bullies seem to be glorified and praised.
Teachers do not believe the students
Questionable teachers who do seem to understand a thing about teaching.
Detention for not getting an A or A*
Punishment for being upset or not knowing the answers
Punished for standing up for your rights
Teachers telling students that they should know something that they have not even been taught yet and then using the excuse, "YOU ARE IN THE TOP 25%"
Teachers humiliating children on purpose to get their point across.
Pressure, pressure, pressure; and then being punished when you crack.
Unfortunately I was very unwell during my time at school and eventually had to get home-schooled. This school basically kicked me out with the reasoning being that I was making the school's statistics look bad. This was the best decision that my parents ever made for me and I felt so lucky to be out of this prison. Even though I obtained a diagnosis of my Chronic health condition and provided this to the school as "evidence", the teachers still accused me AND my parents of lying and would try and insinuate that I was just a lazy teen who was trying to get out of school.
My teachers made me feel extremely attacked and neglected during my time at Highsted. I was told that I was going to fail and that I wont get a good job or make any money because I was behind on my grades (due to being extremely unwell and having a lot of time off). This could not be further from the truth. I was home-schooled for the last few months of my school life. I got a B in Science, B in English and D in Maths (the first time I got an E!). I am turning 22, living in my own house with a very good job which I enjoy and am passionate about. I am engaged, have my own car, my own friends and my own life. I could not be prouder of where I am today. It just shows that actually, no! You do NOT need amazing grades to have a successful future. Heck, my employer didn't even ask about my GCSE's before I was hired. I am not saying that an education does not help on your road to success. What I am saying is do not be disheartened if you do not come out with the grades that you are being pressured to get. I could not be happier in my life now, but when looking back at my time at this school, all I can remember are the worst times of my life; nothing but depression, tears and misery.
Parents, if you are reading this, I would strongly suggest that you look elsewhere before sending your daughter to this school; otherwise you are unfortunately just asking for your child to have bad memories to look back on one day .
Here are a just a few points that I have to share on my experiences at this school:
Extremely unhygienic (period blood, period pads and faeces on the walls which remain on there for weeks at a time)
Teachers bully the students
Too much pressure
Bullies seem to be glorified and praised.
Teachers do not believe the students
Questionable teachers who do seem to understand a thing about teaching.
Detention for not getting an A or A*
Punishment for being upset or not knowing the answers
Punished for standing up for your rights
Teachers telling students that they should know something that they have not even been taught yet and then using the excuse, "YOU ARE IN THE TOP 25%"
Teachers humiliating children on purpose to get their point across.
Pressure, pressure, pressure; and then being punished when you crack.
Unfortunately I was very unwell during my time at school and eventually had to get home-schooled. This school basically kicked me out with the reasoning being that I was making the school's statistics look bad. This was the best decision that my parents ever made for me and I felt so lucky to be out of this prison. Even though I obtained a diagnosis of my Chronic health condition and provided this to the school as "evidence", the teachers still accused me AND my parents of lying and would try and insinuate that I was just a lazy teen who was trying to get out of school.
My teachers made me feel extremely attacked and neglected during my time at Highsted. I was told that I was going to fail and that I wont get a good job or make any money because I was behind on my grades (due to being extremely unwell and having a lot of time off). This could not be further from the truth. I was home-schooled for the last few months of my school life. I got a B in Science, B in English and D in Maths (the first time I got an E!). I am turning 22, living in my own house with a very good job which I enjoy and am passionate about. I am engaged, have my own car, my own friends and my own life. I could not be prouder of where I am today. It just shows that actually, no! You do NOT need amazing grades to have a successful future. Heck, my employer didn't even ask about my GCSE's before I was hired. I am not saying that an education does not help on your road to success. What I am saying is do not be disheartened if you do not come out with the grades that you are being pressured to get. I could not be happier in my life now, but when looking back at my time at this school, all I can remember are the worst times of my life; nothing but depression, tears and misery.
Parents, if you are reading this, I would strongly suggest that you look elsewhere before sending your daughter to this school; otherwise you are unfortunately just asking for your child to have bad memories to look back on one day .
Big no from me!
My daughter is currently in year 11 struggling with anxiety and panic attacks however the schools biggest concern is whether she is on time to lessons or not. I’m having her call me close to everyday crying over how she is not being taken seriously at all. As a parent, this is heartbreaking that my daughter dosent feel safe at this school. Bullying is horrendous. Girls think it’s funny to mock my daughter when she walks into lessons late due to having an anxiety or panic attack and teachers couldn’t care less. I’ve had meetings after meetings with several members of the senior leader group however everytime they feed me all this bullshit on how they are going to support my daughter but do not follow up on it. I wouldn’t recommend this school to anyone.
Bad mental health
The mental health is not taken care of properly and it’s so so bad. They do one 15 minute assembly on why your mental health should be good since you go to highsted but they don’t understand that HIGHSTED is the reason why people have bad mental health.
The school don’t care about anything and they think that a stupid assembly will cure peoples mental health like no?
The headteacher compared an onion to love brah😭💯💯
The school don’t care about anything and they think that a stupid assembly will cure peoples mental health like no?
The headteacher compared an onion to love brah😭💯💯
SLG r so bad
Slg are so trashy. They don’t care about anyone other than themselves and it’s so hilarious because teachers literally talk bad about them to the students then leave 😂😂. If the SLG didn’t want people to leave bad reviews about them then maybe they should stop being selfish and sort themselves out
…
I don’t like that school
They don’t care about anything really, only phones and skirts but chose to ignore the real issues in the school like racism, homophobia etc. They make very strict rules about stupid things thinking that the students there will actually listen to them it’s ridiculous. Black people get told of for their hair colour when white people do the same, people are getting called slurs, people aren’t safe at this school altogether yet they cross a line when it comes to phones. Hilarious
Head is issue.
Very high staff turnover due to dreadful management of staff by the SLG. Staff are treated like dirt leading to them leaving. Students go long periods without teachers as a consequence.
A great shame.
HT is the issue - a delusional bully surrounded by sycophantic senior leaders. Outstanding Ofsted is over a decade old and inevitably will be downgraded in next inspection. Unable to retain or develop staff, an issue that has been worsening for year on year.
highsted more like high on homophobic tory crack
This school is literal [insert every swear word here it’s censoring me :( ]. It makes me wanna un4l1v3 myshelf. On the plus side everyone’s gay but the teachers and school are actually homophobic as hell. Dont send your kids here for the love of god unless you hate them and want them to end up a depressed alt they/them with no social life sU85t4nc3 4bus3 problems and cripplingly low self esteem.
highsted more like high on homophobic tory cr4ck
This school is literal [insert every swear word here it’s censoring me :( ]. It makes me wanna un4l1v3 myshelf. On the plus side everyone’s gay but the teachers and school are actually homophobic as hell. Dont send your kids here for the love of god unless you hate them and want them to end up a depressed alt they/them with no social life sU85t4nc3 4bus3 problems and cripplingly low self esteem.
Terrible
Highsted is a very bad school. They do not give 2 abt how the students feel but act like they do. DO NOT GO HERE
School
Student
This school is bad. Before sending your daughter to this school take notes:
Bullying (from personal experience in present time) is not dealt with seriously. They make you stay in a room and do stupid sheets on "how to be a good friend". Bullying has been continuous for 3 years at this school now, including my friends. Not only is the Bullying bad, the girls are horrible, but the curriculum is so so poor. We haven't been able to use heat during food lessons during the whole time I've been in this school (because of one tiny accident that burnt a student) It has nothing to do with covid and in fact its to do with the crap curriculum here in almost every subject. I haven't had a French teacher the whole of 2022 and barely an RE teacher either. The practicals in science and in other subjects are incredibly boring and we dont learn anything from them. The science curriculum and teachers have gotten me nowhere. I now have to have a science tutor because of how crap the teachers are here. My classes grades are at 2s and 3s now all because of the teachers are useless. there is no such thing as fun at this school. In form time we are made to look at completely useless PowerPoints on how to revise or about mental health, but they don't actually help anyone. In fact this school has made almost everyone's mental health bad. Mental Welbeing is not dealt with seriously at this school one bit. The hygiene of this school is also bad. In my years of being here, I have not once seen a sanitary toilet which is empty. They probably haven't been emptied ever. This school in general is just bad and I would highly highly recommend speaking to a year 8+ before sending your child here. I am not just saying this because I am a teenager because my friends from other schools have much better experiences with everything including Bullying etc. Just because i am a teenager doesn't mean im saying this out of hate for shcool but overall the school is so poor and needs to sort itself out or I'm moving LOL
Bullying (from personal experience in present time) is not dealt with seriously. They make you stay in a room and do stupid sheets on "how to be a good friend". Bullying has been continuous for 3 years at this school now, including my friends. Not only is the Bullying bad, the girls are horrible, but the curriculum is so so poor. We haven't been able to use heat during food lessons during the whole time I've been in this school (because of one tiny accident that burnt a student) It has nothing to do with covid and in fact its to do with the crap curriculum here in almost every subject. I haven't had a French teacher the whole of 2022 and barely an RE teacher either. The practicals in science and in other subjects are incredibly boring and we dont learn anything from them. The science curriculum and teachers have gotten me nowhere. I now have to have a science tutor because of how crap the teachers are here. My classes grades are at 2s and 3s now all because of the teachers are useless. there is no such thing as fun at this school. In form time we are made to look at completely useless PowerPoints on how to revise or about mental health, but they don't actually help anyone. In fact this school has made almost everyone's mental health bad. Mental Welbeing is not dealt with seriously at this school one bit. The hygiene of this school is also bad. In my years of being here, I have not once seen a sanitary toilet which is empty. They probably haven't been emptied ever. This school in general is just bad and I would highly highly recommend speaking to a year 8+ before sending your child here. I am not just saying this because I am a teenager because my friends from other schools have much better experiences with everything including Bullying etc. Just because i am a teenager doesn't mean im saying this out of hate for shcool but overall the school is so poor and needs to sort itself out or I'm moving LOL
absolutely awful.
absolutely awful. all of the teachers are leaving. everybody who goes here wishes they didn’t. the head of the school is absolutely awful and is girls are put under so much pressure.
Please read before sending your child here !
My honest opinion,
This school on the outside has a great reputation for good grades and bright students, in the inside reality is that 80% of students are suffering as a fault of mental health neglect.
Bullying is not taken seriously here, being bullied through each year of school here i was often reaching out to key stage mentors for help and nothing was being done. At most they give you a positive report (which is very degrading and belittling) and call it a day. The way they dealt with bullying by isolating the victim from the bully and letting the bullies off with no punishment definitely causes a lot of issues in year groups with intimidation of peers.
They have no care for your health either as past pupils i knew had vomited, fainted or had severe menstrual problems and were not allowed to be sent home. I think this speaks volumes for the respect of pupils as the leadership team treats their students as machines.
At a younger age i was a very confident and happy child, whereas in this environment i had lost all of my confidence. I felt very threatened by bullies in the school with casual threats made to me each week with nothing done to punish the perpetrators. As a matter of the school having no action towards my mental well-being after 4 years of struggling with anxiety and periods of depressive feelings i reached out to the NHS who were not unfamiliar with this circumstance from Highsted pupils.
The school building in general is also filthy, sanitary bins never emptied often resulting in used sanitary products having to be discarded onto the floor. There was also food that had not been cleaned off of tables for weeks and had turned into a mould cluster.
Teacher support was minimal purely due to the immense pressure put on them by the senior leadership group. In lessons i had witnessed multiple students leave the room with a panic attack due to the stress of being in the school.
The last straw for me was when i started to suffer from panic disorder and had multiple panic attacks in school, teachers who helped me and were genuinely concerned were not allowed to deal with matters meaning that another teacher who treated my problems as blasé and not important was left to deal with it. I had written many “statements” on events that had occurred thinking that i would receive support after this, in fact no action would be taken as if i spent hours on end writing for it to be disregarded!
The only advice i used to be given was to “ignore” the bullies which felt very belittling to me as it was very difficult for me to ignore a situation that was my reality.
Students are also pushed and forced to stay on for sixth form, being made to choose 4 A levels at least. My peers were bullied by teachers into staying at Highsted for sixth form and hated every moment of it.
As for the 100% pass grades, i do not believe this for the fact that due to the mental health neglect many of my peers never achieved their full potential.
Over the last few years of not being in the environment i have realised the effect on past students as each story i hear is the same about this school ( and they are not stories of a positive experience )
Overall i believe that this school is very outdated and needs a lot of training on mental health problems - not just a 15 minute assembly on a concern as a solution!
I urge for Parents to not become blind-sighted by the “Highsted girl” status of your child nor the grades achieved as none of this is worth the mental damage of attending this school.
This school on the outside has a great reputation for good grades and bright students, in the inside reality is that 80% of students are suffering as a fault of mental health neglect.
Bullying is not taken seriously here, being bullied through each year of school here i was often reaching out to key stage mentors for help and nothing was being done. At most they give you a positive report (which is very degrading and belittling) and call it a day. The way they dealt with bullying by isolating the victim from the bully and letting the bullies off with no punishment definitely causes a lot of issues in year groups with intimidation of peers.
They have no care for your health either as past pupils i knew had vomited, fainted or had severe menstrual problems and were not allowed to be sent home. I think this speaks volumes for the respect of pupils as the leadership team treats their students as machines.
At a younger age i was a very confident and happy child, whereas in this environment i had lost all of my confidence. I felt very threatened by bullies in the school with casual threats made to me each week with nothing done to punish the perpetrators. As a matter of the school having no action towards my mental well-being after 4 years of struggling with anxiety and periods of depressive feelings i reached out to the NHS who were not unfamiliar with this circumstance from Highsted pupils.
The school building in general is also filthy, sanitary bins never emptied often resulting in used sanitary products having to be discarded onto the floor. There was also food that had not been cleaned off of tables for weeks and had turned into a mould cluster.
Teacher support was minimal purely due to the immense pressure put on them by the senior leadership group. In lessons i had witnessed multiple students leave the room with a panic attack due to the stress of being in the school.
The last straw for me was when i started to suffer from panic disorder and had multiple panic attacks in school, teachers who helped me and were genuinely concerned were not allowed to deal with matters meaning that another teacher who treated my problems as blasé and not important was left to deal with it. I had written many “statements” on events that had occurred thinking that i would receive support after this, in fact no action would be taken as if i spent hours on end writing for it to be disregarded!
The only advice i used to be given was to “ignore” the bullies which felt very belittling to me as it was very difficult for me to ignore a situation that was my reality.
Students are also pushed and forced to stay on for sixth form, being made to choose 4 A levels at least. My peers were bullied by teachers into staying at Highsted for sixth form and hated every moment of it.
As for the 100% pass grades, i do not believe this for the fact that due to the mental health neglect many of my peers never achieved their full potential.
Over the last few years of not being in the environment i have realised the effect on past students as each story i hear is the same about this school ( and they are not stories of a positive experience )
Overall i believe that this school is very outdated and needs a lot of training on mental health problems - not just a 15 minute assembly on a concern as a solution!
I urge for Parents to not become blind-sighted by the “Highsted girl” status of your child nor the grades achieved as none of this is worth the mental damage of attending this school.
dont come here. ever.
highsted is shit.
having endured a painful five years at this school I'm so fed up. having done three sets of mocks in the last 6 months it's very evident that this school lies their focuses on grades to keep their high reputation which is a complete disregard for students' mental health and has become crippling. it was brought to their attention in year 10 how messed up the people were and how ill our mental health had become and it was all "fixed" by some shitty support sessions where they made bottles filled with glitter like four-year-olds.
another thing that has come to my attention is that the maths department is insane - there are support sessions at lunchtimes which are supposedly compulsory as well as support sessions in the mornings which are also compulsory and during pe lessons which are also compulsory. they demand that you attend all of these to keep your grades up as I have heard from my maths teacher that part of her criteria as a teacher is that she makes everybody in year 11 get a 5 in their maths GCSE. so we have little to no free time. what doesn't help is the complete lack of maths teachers so much so that we have to combine classes and this is hindering our education because there are two sets of classes together that should not be together.
the lack of support for mental health is ridiculous. they just dont seem to care because it isn't a good grade... having struggled with poor mental health for years. highsted has never handled it well and have made me feel constantly pressured to say this i dont want to and sign people up for irrelevant support programs that just clearly arent working for anybody - its a complete pisstake. they fail to see that part of the dilemma is highsted is a horrible place to be , the people are awful. the students are awful to eachother and its a dreadful environment to be and many others feel the same way. i fear going around in school alone anymore because of the spite and aggressive mindset of other students.
most teachers are genuinely lovely people and get the work done with us and are helpful but also have a bit of fun too , they are my favourite part of highsted. its a shame that highsted is so shit that it drives them away. there is hardly any teachers in most departments are we are having lessons upon lessons of substitute teachers who know nothing about the subject and this close to are exams its honestly dangerous to our learning. its not fair on us- we are having weeks at a time of cover teachers and shoving a textbook infront of you. i feel so awful for the teachers at this school. having heard them talking about the SLG and the head teacher at this school is heartbreaking to hear what they have gone through: sometimes traumatising experiences as i heard from one of the teachers. the headteacher may seem sweet and nice but she is awful to these teachers from what ive heard , theres a lack of care for their wellbeing as well as their families and capabilities , theres only so much one person can do. my heart genuinely goes out to some of these teachers.
they care so much about the stupid uniform and if im wearing hooped earrings rather than what actually needs to be looked at. the school is falling apart. they slut shame students wearing their skirts how they want to and what doesnt help is the pedophile teacher that stares at girls chests and legs and hovers over them and calls the students "good girls" this teacher has even been seen having porn on their screen when their shared an education video with the class. their are completely inappropriate at should not be a teacher at the school. they have been very well known to make students uncomfortable and its common knowledge at highsted that their are a creep and students tend to try and keep away. this teacher also posts rascist things online and i do believe it has been reported to a teacher before.
i dare not continue because theres so many things that make this school shit , its a school built on heavy discrimination , disregard for health and lies. dont send your child here for their own sake and yours.
having endured a painful five years at this school I'm so fed up. having done three sets of mocks in the last 6 months it's very evident that this school lies their focuses on grades to keep their high reputation which is a complete disregard for students' mental health and has become crippling. it was brought to their attention in year 10 how messed up the people were and how ill our mental health had become and it was all "fixed" by some shitty support sessions where they made bottles filled with glitter like four-year-olds.
another thing that has come to my attention is that the maths department is insane - there are support sessions at lunchtimes which are supposedly compulsory as well as support sessions in the mornings which are also compulsory and during pe lessons which are also compulsory. they demand that you attend all of these to keep your grades up as I have heard from my maths teacher that part of her criteria as a teacher is that she makes everybody in year 11 get a 5 in their maths GCSE. so we have little to no free time. what doesn't help is the complete lack of maths teachers so much so that we have to combine classes and this is hindering our education because there are two sets of classes together that should not be together.
the lack of support for mental health is ridiculous. they just dont seem to care because it isn't a good grade... having struggled with poor mental health for years. highsted has never handled it well and have made me feel constantly pressured to say this i dont want to and sign people up for irrelevant support programs that just clearly arent working for anybody - its a complete pisstake. they fail to see that part of the dilemma is highsted is a horrible place to be , the people are awful. the students are awful to eachother and its a dreadful environment to be and many others feel the same way. i fear going around in school alone anymore because of the spite and aggressive mindset of other students.
most teachers are genuinely lovely people and get the work done with us and are helpful but also have a bit of fun too , they are my favourite part of highsted. its a shame that highsted is so shit that it drives them away. there is hardly any teachers in most departments are we are having lessons upon lessons of substitute teachers who know nothing about the subject and this close to are exams its honestly dangerous to our learning. its not fair on us- we are having weeks at a time of cover teachers and shoving a textbook infront of you. i feel so awful for the teachers at this school. having heard them talking about the SLG and the head teacher at this school is heartbreaking to hear what they have gone through: sometimes traumatising experiences as i heard from one of the teachers. the headteacher may seem sweet and nice but she is awful to these teachers from what ive heard , theres a lack of care for their wellbeing as well as their families and capabilities , theres only so much one person can do. my heart genuinely goes out to some of these teachers.
they care so much about the stupid uniform and if im wearing hooped earrings rather than what actually needs to be looked at. the school is falling apart. they slut shame students wearing their skirts how they want to and what doesnt help is the pedophile teacher that stares at girls chests and legs and hovers over them and calls the students "good girls" this teacher has even been seen having porn on their screen when their shared an education video with the class. their are completely inappropriate at should not be a teacher at the school. they have been very well known to make students uncomfortable and its common knowledge at highsted that their are a creep and students tend to try and keep away. this teacher also posts rascist things online and i do believe it has been reported to a teacher before.
i dare not continue because theres so many things that make this school shit , its a school built on heavy discrimination , disregard for health and lies. dont send your child here for their own sake and yours.
Serious.
As a student of Highsted grammar school I can confirm this is such a bad school. It may not seem as if that's the case when you come to review your child's school, but as you get up in the academic year things change a lot. In year 7 my mental health was terrible. I'm not saying it was all over the school but the majority of it was caused by Highsted. The pressure, bullying, expectations and the overall aura of the other students. Maybe the Oxford Ratings are high due to the grades and education but I have not been the same person since I joined that school, I've lost all my confidence, I'm not complaining but please before you think about sending your child here just think about their mental health and if they tell you they don't enjoy the school take it into consideration.
In my only 2 years of Highsted Grammar School I have encountered many issues that seem to be reaccuring. I've been accused of serious things such as launching a shoe at another students head, this resulted in an isolation and further exclusion ,then in the longrun the truth came out that it wasn't me however the senior lead said it was to late to punish the student who done this.
There's been many times I've reported how I've felt about Highsted to the Senior roles but they either ignore you or tell you "It's a you problem" So I thought I'd get it out on here.
All the best x
In my only 2 years of Highsted Grammar School I have encountered many issues that seem to be reaccuring. I've been accused of serious things such as launching a shoe at another students head, this resulted in an isolation and further exclusion ,then in the longrun the truth came out that it wasn't me however the senior lead said it was to late to punish the student who done this.
There's been many times I've reported how I've felt about Highsted to the Senior roles but they either ignore you or tell you "It's a you problem" So I thought I'd get it out on here.
All the best x
DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN HERE
As a student at this school i would advise for nobody to go here after the terror that i have endured here. They have no good way that they deal with discrimination such as racism and homophobia and think that a little board saying “black lives matter” or “some people are gay get over it” means they are not a discriminatory school that do not deal with bullying, homophobic or racist comments in any way and if you are a bystander and try to stop racism or homophobia happening you will be called a “bully” by the school and be discriminated against yourself.
We have so much disruptions in the lessons due to the amount of teachers leaving as the management of this school is awful and they drive teachers away and pressure them so much that many teachers don’t even last a year meaning many lessons leading up to our gcses have been disrupted and we have been left with cover teachers for a number of subjects who don’t know what they’re doing for weeks and sometimes even months meaning we feel we are at a disadvantage for the upcoming gcses.
Some teachers are amazing and do care about you but when they express their own opinions they are pushed away by the school, the school is like a dictatorship where you should have no opinion other than the head teachers.
The head teacher is seemingly nice to pupils but seems horrible to all staff and is a reason as to why many staff have chosen to leave the school.
Many teachers only care about grades and do not care about your mental health and medical health and the teachers would rather you stay in school than leave. there has been an incident at school where a girl felt so faint the whole day and was not allowed to leave, she asked to cool down outside and stood up to walk outside the classroom where she fell forward as a result of her being faint and smashed her head onto the door and then onto the ground knocking herself out all because highsted pastoral care are absolutely awful yet highsted will not investigate the mishandling of this event or the actions of the staff at the time
Also highsted care more about nail polish or the colour of somebody’s bag or coat more than anything else and people will be told to leave they’re coats in their lockers as it is not black or blue no matter if it is freezing outside.
This school has its priorities all fucked up and ofsted need to come in to this school and ask the pupils what they really think about this school as highsted will not allow for their opinions to be heard.
for your child’s sake or your own please do not send your children to this school unless you want them to become an anxious mess with fear that grades are equivalent to their self worth .
We have so much disruptions in the lessons due to the amount of teachers leaving as the management of this school is awful and they drive teachers away and pressure them so much that many teachers don’t even last a year meaning many lessons leading up to our gcses have been disrupted and we have been left with cover teachers for a number of subjects who don’t know what they’re doing for weeks and sometimes even months meaning we feel we are at a disadvantage for the upcoming gcses.
Some teachers are amazing and do care about you but when they express their own opinions they are pushed away by the school, the school is like a dictatorship where you should have no opinion other than the head teachers.
The head teacher is seemingly nice to pupils but seems horrible to all staff and is a reason as to why many staff have chosen to leave the school.
Many teachers only care about grades and do not care about your mental health and medical health and the teachers would rather you stay in school than leave. there has been an incident at school where a girl felt so faint the whole day and was not allowed to leave, she asked to cool down outside and stood up to walk outside the classroom where she fell forward as a result of her being faint and smashed her head onto the door and then onto the ground knocking herself out all because highsted pastoral care are absolutely awful yet highsted will not investigate the mishandling of this event or the actions of the staff at the time
Also highsted care more about nail polish or the colour of somebody’s bag or coat more than anything else and people will be told to leave they’re coats in their lockers as it is not black or blue no matter if it is freezing outside.
This school has its priorities all fucked up and ofsted need to come in to this school and ask the pupils what they really think about this school as highsted will not allow for their opinions to be heard.
for your child’s sake or your own please do not send your children to this school unless you want them to become an anxious mess with fear that grades are equivalent to their self worth .
Not good
The leadership team of this school are not great. It's beyond how they have never been investigated over high turnover of staff. There is limited communication between the SLG team and the rest of the staff. Not many people last beyond a few months as if you are not in the management team you are not respected and treated like you don't matter and can be replaced. Many that have left have now realised what a bad place it was to work. Having healthy relationships with other staff members is frowned upon, certainly no fun or laughing is allowed. Leadership just pass the buck and never take responsibility for anything. There is zero compassion for students or their families. It is run by delusional adults who do not care about anything other than the students getting the grades to keep their reputation. The teachers on a whole are great but would be so much better under different management.
Just dreadful.
Awful school. They don't care at all about children's mental health. I was a former student here and I self harmed all the way until I left. I felt very suicidal because of how depressed it made me. Shame on you.
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