Holgate Academy

This school is absolutely the worst I've ever interacted with. They honestly cannot get anything right and communicating with them is pointless. Calls aren't returned, promised meetings aren't delivered and the overall attitude is disgusting.

The school has had bullying problems for years. I've known several occasions where drugs and weapons have been bought onto site.

The toilets are disgusting and full of students vaping and smoking.

Staff have intimate relations with each other, allowing this to affect the professional performance. It's not unusual to have a falling out with one teacher and have their spouse retaliate against your child. Some teachers have even gone onto marry their former students. I do not belive this is professional.

The school has no ability to support any type of SEN and will lie to you over what your child is entitled to. Only now that I've removed my child from Holgate, are we being given real support and advice.

The school is happy to illegally suspend students without following proper process and then close complaints without satisfactory resolution, making it hard to get anywhere.

Staff make inappropriate comments to students constantly (telling an adopted student to go home to their mum etc) and have no ability to communicate needs.

One teacher will give permission for something and then a second teacher will disagree and issue detention for it.

Dealing with this school is like pulling teeth.

Please research the performance of this school. I've attached some images from the gov website to highlight how poorly this school performs.

Your child will be forced to have fingerprints taken. Refusal will result in your child being denied access to dining facilities and will not be able to purchase food.

Your child may be coerced into signing a behaviour contract under duress. This contract will then be used to justify an exclusion. Only after asking 7 times was I eventually allowed to see this document. An 11 year old should not be forced into signing something they don't understand. Refusal to sign there and then will result in exclusion .

Overall, I've had nothing but problems with this school and I'm now working yo repair the damage caused to my child's mental health by the lack of care, support and responsibility showed by Holgate

I got into isolation for a nose piercing and ik its most school but the fact they take me to the toilet and lunch and break and all that is kinda annoying as I like being alone and they call everyone a bad kid in there! It’s just a piece of metal. ( plus the school food is so gross!! It made my friend sick in 3 hall ways and they made him stay till lunch!!!

Having spent 5 years there and endured the pain of not really learning a whole lot, I can sincerely say this school is shocking. They focus more on how they look to external parties like parents and the general public rather then looking after students who may be struggling or teaching students anything. Being there during covid wasn’t great- they tried at the start to send out work but after a month, we wouldn’t get work nor would we do lessons on teams. But they are getting better over time.

You have good and bad days at this school. For the 5 years i was at this school... i learnt nothing other than how to wear uniform properly. You could have your skirt above your knee by literally 5cm and they"ll give you detention. The rules are strict as you expect them to be but they're too strict. Its more like a prison. The food is okay, the hygiene changes and the education is ok.

The maths teachers are amazing. The english teachers are amazing, the arts department (art, photography, drama) are absolutely fantastic.