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Isca
Secondary · Academy · Exeter
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My opinion on the school
such an awful school staff bully the children. ruins my child’s mental health and need better teachers because they clearly do not not know what they are doing. i would not recommend this school to anyone.
You never hear from the send team
If your a parent with a child with additional needs. You don't hear from the send team unless, you go to the year head.
The reset system, is shocking. You miss lessons, which are needed for there gcses.
They care more about rules, which some are ridiculous.
Always challenge the school if your child struggling. And read their policies thoroughly
The reset system, is shocking. You miss lessons, which are needed for there gcses.
They care more about rules, which some are ridiculous.
Always challenge the school if your child struggling. And read their policies thoroughly
Isca Academy - punished for being vulnerable
My child has a Special Needs Statement, so when looking for a school that would best support him I chose Isca Academy. Being the smallest school and their Mission Statement it really did look like the best choice for him.
Sadly this has not been his experience at all. Bullying has been an ongoing problem, repeatedly reported to the school. I have been given nothing but platitudes from all levels at this poor excuse for a school. My child’s experience is decidedly more disturbing. After constant verbal taunting, insults and physical attacks my son is understandably distressed. So what have the faculty done to support and protect him? Their answer has been to continue the torture he is suffering, by treating his distress with a barrage of detentions and lesson exclusions.
This place had a lazy and toxic culture towards my son, counting down the few months he has left before his exams.
I should have moved him a year ago, but foolishly believed their assurances. I hate to imagine how many other children with Special Needs are also suffering.
If looking for a school with a child needing support, please do not put your child through this terrible place.
Sadly this has not been his experience at all. Bullying has been an ongoing problem, repeatedly reported to the school. I have been given nothing but platitudes from all levels at this poor excuse for a school. My child’s experience is decidedly more disturbing. After constant verbal taunting, insults and physical attacks my son is understandably distressed. So what have the faculty done to support and protect him? Their answer has been to continue the torture he is suffering, by treating his distress with a barrage of detentions and lesson exclusions.
This place had a lazy and toxic culture towards my son, counting down the few months he has left before his exams.
I should have moved him a year ago, but foolishly believed their assurances. I hate to imagine how many other children with Special Needs are also suffering.
If looking for a school with a child needing support, please do not put your child through this terrible place.
canteen food
i order a cookie from the canteen and it came rock soild im not happy with the quailty of there food my pasta came with barley any cheese
Isca Academy Gimmicks and silly rules
My daughter attends this school and has been completely brainwashed by rules.
Do you really think uniform is more important than learning ? This school obviously thinks that way. Detentions or having to wear second hand shoes for non polish able shoes although they look absolutely fine .
My daughter got a detention for not having a pencil, absolutely appalling .
This school is full of gimmicks, instead of students, pupils , etc they call their students “scholars” .
They seem to be very determined as they are renaming everything to scholar …….
It’s out right stupid, there’s no reason to do this.
It’s an OK school - it’s not the worst in the country, but it seriously needs a new head teacher to stop all these “scholarly” gimmicks.
Do you really think uniform is more important than learning ? This school obviously thinks that way. Detentions or having to wear second hand shoes for non polish able shoes although they look absolutely fine .
My daughter got a detention for not having a pencil, absolutely appalling .
This school is full of gimmicks, instead of students, pupils , etc they call their students “scholars” .
They seem to be very determined as they are renaming everything to scholar …….
It’s out right stupid, there’s no reason to do this.
It’s an OK school - it’s not the worst in the country, but it seriously needs a new head teacher to stop all these “scholarly” gimmicks.
Ableist school
Do not send your child to this school If they are neurodivergent. The teachers and staff are ableist , abd yiur child will leave the school with out an EHCP and feeling suicidal.
WORST SCHOOL EVER
Worst school ever if you’re thinking of sending your child here think again I hate this school so much and it’s the teachers fault they only care about uniform and jewellery than anything else they don’t care about our education at all I hate the head teacher and all the people that make the stupid rules I feel physically sick everyday before entering that school because of how nervous it makes me. They don’t care about your mental health as long as you have the right uniform and are doing what you’re told.
Teach us properly with resources
So many staff are leaving but they are not replacing them properly, there is a lack of resources and we aren’t even though half the stuff for our mocks and we are supposed be fine with out grades ????
ALSO PAY THE TEACHERS A LIVING WAGE.
They have to deal with us
They do shit about bullying and racism, the amount of racist jokes I hear and how they do nothing is tiring. Also stop blaming the victim, just stop bullying poster do shit. Also someone could touch your Corpus spongiosum and there is no way to anonymously report this.
ALSO PAY THE TEACHERS A LIVING WAGE.
They have to deal with us
They do shit about bullying and racism, the amount of racist jokes I hear and how they do nothing is tiring. Also stop blaming the victim, just stop bullying poster do shit. Also someone could touch your Corpus spongiosum and there is no way to anonymously report this.
Okay at best
I joined as a yr7 student in 2019. At that time it was considered a great school and had a good reputation, but since then it’s completely gone downhill. First it was completely banning phones for no apparent reason (they mentioned something about how phones stop us socialising or some other total bulls*** like that), which most other secondary schools don’t do anyway.
The uniform policy has also become a lot stricter, we have to wear uncomfortable leather (or vegan leather) shoes with a fully buttoned up shirt, tie and blazer / jumper, and if you don’t have a solid reason for disobeying the uniform policy then you either have to replace what’s missing (shoes, tie etc) or get a full day’s reset (reset is just a nicer way of saying isolation). Because, obviously, looking presentable is much more important than actually learning.
If you’re late then you have to miss tutor / form at the start of the day, then get another hour long detention at the end of the day, as well as write a long paragraph saying how “as scholars, we believe that every second counts”. Because obviously, punishing students into being purely obedient is much more important than actually learning.
Speaking of the world scholar, that’s what they call us instead of students or kids or anything normal which, I guess, is supposed to make us feel better about ourselves except it backfires and just ends up sounding patronising if anything.
As well as this there’s also more teachers leaving that aren’t being replaced, just this term before the summer holidays a lot of teachers left and my whole last week was mostly supply teachers. Im not sure exactly how many left but if I recall correctly there’s only 3-5 teachers in the school who’ve been here for more than 4 years now. I don’t blame them though, if it’s this bad for students I can only imagine how tough it is for a teacher who’s barely paid enough to afford a weeks worth of food, though that topic is for another time.
The uniform policy has also become a lot stricter, we have to wear uncomfortable leather (or vegan leather) shoes with a fully buttoned up shirt, tie and blazer / jumper, and if you don’t have a solid reason for disobeying the uniform policy then you either have to replace what’s missing (shoes, tie etc) or get a full day’s reset (reset is just a nicer way of saying isolation). Because, obviously, looking presentable is much more important than actually learning.
If you’re late then you have to miss tutor / form at the start of the day, then get another hour long detention at the end of the day, as well as write a long paragraph saying how “as scholars, we believe that every second counts”. Because obviously, punishing students into being purely obedient is much more important than actually learning.
Speaking of the world scholar, that’s what they call us instead of students or kids or anything normal which, I guess, is supposed to make us feel better about ourselves except it backfires and just ends up sounding patronising if anything.
As well as this there’s also more teachers leaving that aren’t being replaced, just this term before the summer holidays a lot of teachers left and my whole last week was mostly supply teachers. Im not sure exactly how many left but if I recall correctly there’s only 3-5 teachers in the school who’ve been here for more than 4 years now. I don’t blame them though, if it’s this bad for students I can only imagine how tough it is for a teacher who’s barely paid enough to afford a weeks worth of food, though that topic is for another time.
isca
worst school , was so good for a couple years i had high expectations and good staff , new staff came in it got really strict and spoke to us all like children even yesr 11s that are pretty mature and also young adults , so rude and even half the teachers didn’t want to be there even spoke to parents and older ls like kids , honestly just a horrible environment and bad for mental health i really struggled at this school
Shitest school ever don’t come here!!!
shittest school in the country The staff there like mr engineer mr bass mr judd miss joyce miss harmer only care about your skirt length or if your shirts tucked in or if you’re wearing the correct shoes or mot jewellery they don’t care about the lives of our children or should I say (scholars) My child comes home crying to me everyday saying she feels suicidal because of the school. Scholars is such an annoying word even coming from a parent at 8:30 in the morning good morning scholars then playing classical music that is just stupid. Not being able to go to the toliet worst rule ever everyone has a bladder they can’t schedule when they need to go and on the talk of scheduling things well being appointments I’m sorry but you can’t schedule when your next panic attack or wave of sadness or anything like that comes. 29 members of staff are leaving because of what has happened to this school I will be taking my child from this school and moving her to a better school that actually cares about her education and is not a prison.
Isca worst school in exeter
worst school ever I absolutely hate this school and the teachers there they care more about the length of our skirts and if our shirts are tucked in then our actual education the headteacher is the worst thing to happen to that school and the others that joined when she did.
Life is not fun at isca
So bad l want to jump of a bridge
ISCA IS TERRIBLE
This school is the worst school ever they do NOT care about the students the only thing they care about is there reputation and themselves they don’t care if your being bullied I haven’t been in this school for long but it’s been long enough to see that this school if not acceptable it has gone down hill so much do not send your children here they will have the worst time ever grown adult pick on little children and think it is ok ? It is not the school needs serious sorting out
Awful school.
Awful school. Would not recommend that anybody work there.
Do isca do what they are supposes do
They don’t say what they are going to do even if they are told be upper management and they always let you down
The school needs shutting down
Teachers never show up, the head teacher can't run the school properly. So many bully's and I never learnt a single thing as we were just expected to copy the whole lesson off a board. There are always broken windows and toilets which take months to get fixed
Shambles
Head teacher is uncontactable
Is she totally oblivious of the state of the school? does she care ?
An appointment system for well being
If you could plan a week ahead if your going to have a panic attack or mental Heath issues that would be great .
Sen dept has no coordinator , never answer their phones on reply to emails
Failing children ( sorry Scholars) every day
Do there educational needs come first or
Their shoes ?
They do have a school support dog tho Which the head teacher does make time to walk during the school day Saves Her paying doggie care fees out of her over inflated salary ,. One of many in the Ted wag acadamy trust staff , of which 13 earn over £100,000 per year 1 over £140,000
Do these people put the childrens eduction first or their wallets
Don't let them kid you it's not a school it's a business as long as the moneys coming in they'll take it Staff should have some guts and tell the management / Governors that it's not working ,not try and brown nose their way further up the ladder to get their snouts in the troff Should all be ashamed of their selves
Should be no stars
Is she totally oblivious of the state of the school? does she care ?
An appointment system for well being
If you could plan a week ahead if your going to have a panic attack or mental Heath issues that would be great .
Sen dept has no coordinator , never answer their phones on reply to emails
Failing children ( sorry Scholars) every day
Do there educational needs come first or
Their shoes ?
They do have a school support dog tho Which the head teacher does make time to walk during the school day Saves Her paying doggie care fees out of her over inflated salary ,. One of many in the Ted wag acadamy trust staff , of which 13 earn over £100,000 per year 1 over £140,000
Do these people put the childrens eduction first or their wallets
Don't let them kid you it's not a school it's a business as long as the moneys coming in they'll take it Staff should have some guts and tell the management / Governors that it's not working ,not try and brown nose their way further up the ladder to get their snouts in the troff Should all be ashamed of their selves
Should be no stars
:((((
It is not a good school, out of everyone in the school only 2 staff members care for my mental health. The rest are no help at all towards it and it sucks
ITS BAD
Go to exeter prison at least you can go tolet when ever you want, the school only cares about its reptiaation, go here if you hate life.
Isca review
boring english lessons
Once great. No longer
A few years ago, this school was amazing. Teachers, behaviour, extra-curricular, etc. Over a very short period of recent time, it has become oppressive, coercive, and really really unpopular. Significant staff turnover and what looks like recruitment problem. Pointless alleged and compulsory ‘enrichment activities’ mean longer school day. Overly oppressive teaching expectations means teachers use scripts and pupils are expected to give scripted responses apparently. Just weird. Deputy head seems just to scare everyone, . Headteacher just been sacked, she is probably responsible. But is it really her fault? Just following trust policies?
Don’t send anyone here
Adult school bullying was not sorted atall was told to shrug off now left with crippling mental health so that brilliant would suggest to not go honestly traumatising.
Isca NOT GOOD!
Hi i have been going to this school since year 7 and I am now in year 9 overall when i first join the school was fun and enjoyable but then over the last to years its gone downhill bad and fast. starting off with teachers when you are in this school for the first year everyone one will be nice and will try to set a good example but it wont stay like that for long the teachers will start to care less and less about you there are some teacher that are really nice but most are not. Bullying is a big problem at Isca as the teachers do not respond to you neither do they do anything about it its like they want you to leave at this point. i know that you might no believe me but i am telling the truth DO NOT GO TO ISCA!
Isca NOT GOOD
so i have been going to the school for 2 years now. I wish I that could be back in year 6 and be able to choose a new school not only are most of the staff bad but they are also rude they do not deal with bulling neither do they care. PLEASE DO NOT GO TO ISCA
English
Isca is badddddd
All I'm saying is that you should probably just not even do anything BC most teachers don't even respond and you will get in trouble for the most pettyest things.
My point of view as a student
The teachers here are way too strict. I was on my way to the toilets and the head teacher stopped me and asked where my toilet pass was. I didn't have it on me because I was waiting for a new one and she told me to go back to my class!!! I was on my period at the time and I made that clear and they still proceeded to tell me me go back so i did. That's not the only problem, i got excluded because I said no (NICELY) to a member of staff. Here's another problem I went to wellbeing and I was crying and they told me to go back to my class, I felt unheard and uncared for. I promise you if you send your kid here your kid will feel like a box, they don't care at all for anyone's mental health. They only care about uniform and how you treat staff, you get detention for not having a pen!!! Or not reading a book with a reading ruler.
steer clear 😋
Don’t go to this school because they are going to punish you for not having a pen or for not saying hello in the morning. They’ll never listen to you only ever see you as an object. They always tell you that they care about your mental health and your social life but expect you to complete 3 pieces of homework on a day you have a useless period six until 4:15 where you can learn how to code break or go and do arts and crafts instead of education. You will be overloaded with homework to waste your free time on too.
They are very sexist and if you are a girl your unable to complete compete in things such as contact rugby on the odd occasion you’re allowed to play tag rugby. Sometimes we play football but you’ll never guess what. It’s not proper football because obviously you’re too fragile for proper football and you won’t understand about the positions and they just expect you to kick a ball about and put it in a goal, not to learn anything.
A lot of the time in presentations they mentioned about being the best school in Exeter and being the best students in Exeter but in reality the bar is so low that the aspect of that is completely out of reach.
There are many cases of racism and homophobia as mentioned by some pupils. These cases are not dealt with.
You probably know of the skirt protest in 2017 which was more or less unsuccessful because all they allow shorts for about six weeks. But gosh don’t forget! You’ll get a detention though if they aren’t tailored grey shorts with little pockets.
It is not worth coming to this school, you are treated like a mannequin in a shop window. All they care for is your skirt, the colour of your trousers, if your shirt is tucked in, and homework. They couldn’t care less about any of your physical and mental health and even if you do bother to tell someone about your mental health, it will take about 5 weeks for them to finally contact you of which they ask you questions and then they’ll never come and see you again.
Very few of the teachers are friendly and try to help but there’s only so much they can do because the assistant headteacher cares more about the way you look than you as a person.
They are very sexist and if you are a girl your unable to complete compete in things such as contact rugby on the odd occasion you’re allowed to play tag rugby. Sometimes we play football but you’ll never guess what. It’s not proper football because obviously you’re too fragile for proper football and you won’t understand about the positions and they just expect you to kick a ball about and put it in a goal, not to learn anything.
A lot of the time in presentations they mentioned about being the best school in Exeter and being the best students in Exeter but in reality the bar is so low that the aspect of that is completely out of reach.
There are many cases of racism and homophobia as mentioned by some pupils. These cases are not dealt with.
You probably know of the skirt protest in 2017 which was more or less unsuccessful because all they allow shorts for about six weeks. But gosh don’t forget! You’ll get a detention though if they aren’t tailored grey shorts with little pockets.
It is not worth coming to this school, you are treated like a mannequin in a shop window. All they care for is your skirt, the colour of your trousers, if your shirt is tucked in, and homework. They couldn’t care less about any of your physical and mental health and even if you do bother to tell someone about your mental health, it will take about 5 weeks for them to finally contact you of which they ask you questions and then they’ll never come and see you again.
Very few of the teachers are friendly and try to help but there’s only so much they can do because the assistant headteacher cares more about the way you look than you as a person.
Once good now bad
Absolutely awful, gone down hill in the past couple years due to new rules and restrictions. New deputy head sucks she has single handedly made it worse
Please read
I am a student at Isca Academy and I have attended it for 4 years. I will not put this lightly, Isca has crushed the individual freedom I have as a person and conditioned me to not have any opinions out the ordinary.
Racism
- I have heard stories when muslim girls at my school have been harassed in corridors by people trying to take off their hijabs
- We had one singular BLM assembly when someone shouted out "ALL LIVES MATTER" and did not receive and punishment for it
- The school prides itself on being diverse but does nothing to protect POC students against the discrimination they may face
Sexism
- As seen in other reviews, we have a strict skirt policy and we are not allowed to alter our skirts at all
- The school is deep-rooted in victim blaming and blames the feminine students at the school being targeted on their appearance
Homophobia/Transphobia
- I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and I feel most scared to be who I am at school. Slurs like 'f*ggot' are common language within the school, especially the boys, and I have been called this on several occasions and nothing has been done about it
- Our Trans peers have been ridiculed and bullied for changing their names and have even been frowned upon by teachers
Mental Health
- The school says it treats mental health like any other health problem but they do not.
- They scraped our wellbeing room for a year that was meant to be a safe place for people with mental illnesses, and you can be crying all lesson and the teachers will look you dead in the eye and do nothing
As a non cis (cis is identifying as birth gender) person who has many POC friends, I am scared for what them and I will face when I walk through the school gates. Do not be fooled by the facade they put around themselves
Racism
- I have heard stories when muslim girls at my school have been harassed in corridors by people trying to take off their hijabs
- We had one singular BLM assembly when someone shouted out "ALL LIVES MATTER" and did not receive and punishment for it
- The school prides itself on being diverse but does nothing to protect POC students against the discrimination they may face
Sexism
- As seen in other reviews, we have a strict skirt policy and we are not allowed to alter our skirts at all
- The school is deep-rooted in victim blaming and blames the feminine students at the school being targeted on their appearance
Homophobia/Transphobia
- I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and I feel most scared to be who I am at school. Slurs like 'f*ggot' are common language within the school, especially the boys, and I have been called this on several occasions and nothing has been done about it
- Our Trans peers have been ridiculed and bullied for changing their names and have even been frowned upon by teachers
Mental Health
- The school says it treats mental health like any other health problem but they do not.
- They scraped our wellbeing room for a year that was meant to be a safe place for people with mental illnesses, and you can be crying all lesson and the teachers will look you dead in the eye and do nothing
As a non cis (cis is identifying as birth gender) person who has many POC friends, I am scared for what them and I will face when I walk through the school gates. Do not be fooled by the facade they put around themselves
Showing 30 of total 33 reviews
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