Kettlethorpe High School

I myself am a year 7 pupil at kettlethorpe high school the way they treat children has impressed me a lot and the teachers there are lovely and helpful and l would recomend khs for your child

Might as well be a Muslim school with Sharia Law. Nothing but scumbags at this school what cater to a minority and not to the English Native people.

at kettlethorpe high school there is a lack of respect towards the students given by teachers however if students do not give respect it results in c1-4. it is appalling how teachers want respect when respect is a two way thing.the facility’s and resources provided by kettlethorpe are no other than a joke. the toilets are filthy and are locked during lessons. this results in students being badly behaved. another issue with this school is the amount of homework students get given is excessive as they are expected to balance it with their home life and extracurricular activities.it is too much! as a student who attends this school i think it is disgusting and am going to leave asap. would not recommend this school to my enemy

when i was 13/14 a teacher rang my mum saying she thought i had something wrong with me because i got moved for talking🤣🤣🤣

Do you want to send your SEN child to a school where you feel listened to? Where they support your child? Where they don’t blame your child? Where they understand………..top tip don’t send them ti Kettlethorpe High School 😀

I am an ex student from Kettlethorpe High School. I was in Set 1/2 for all of my subjects.

From my experience:
Kettlethorpe did not stand out as a high school. There wasn’t anything extra special it could have given but I was satisfied with my 5 year experience.

Induction day was very enjoyable. I took part in a few English and science lessons and met my tutor. It was a really reassuring way to get used to the school, my peers and staff.

The transition into Year 7 was comfortable and easy too. A couple of English and Maths tests to complete but nothing rather too scary or stressful.

Years 7 and 8 were relaxing. We had numerous tests but the pressure of being below target was not summoned upon us and all felt reassuring and comfortable.

Year 9 was my favourite year. This was the year I made the most friends as we were moved around sets to find our best place. However, during the moving of sets - I felt unsupported. I had moved from Set 5 to Set 3 to Set 2 in the space of 4 months and had no support with adding sciences or transferring my knowledge/getting up to date - I was thrown in the deep end. And, in my opinion, this significantly impacted Ed my Chemistry GCSE. In the lower set, I had not completed any work relating to Chemistry - nothing about equations, nothing about the Periodic Table. And yet I landed myself in the Second Set in
March of that school year with absolutely no knowledge of Chemistry and I was expected to carry on with the learning that was taking place. I didn’t expect to catch up on 3/4s of a school year of work but some kind of 1 on 1 support session would have benefited me greatly. Although, now, students are required to begin working towards their GCSEs in this year, I did not, or so I thought. The entire year was spent doing work but none of it accounted for the things we had to revise. However, when I eventually moved into year 10, the work we had been learning in science, apparently, accounted for a topic of GCSE Physics and, unsurprisingly, the lack of warning resulted in low quality work. Did this effect my GCSE results? No. But it did have an affect on my revision of that particular topic and was something that the school should have looked into.

Year 10 mock exams weren’t too pressuring. It felt heightened in comparison to previous Year groups but absolutely nothing could have prepared us for the Christmas Year 11 Mocks that came the following year. As a student who has completed A-Levels and is now at a University in London, I have never felt so much pressure in my life (except GCSEs of course). What we endured during those two weeks was unfair: thrown out of creative subjects to do Maths; daily assemblies on ‘growth mindset’; constant SLT (Senior Leadership Team (Head/Assistant Head etc)) talks about how we have to do well. And then failing one subject, which was due to the Teacher - we were told we wouldn’t pass GCSEs. The quote ‘we normally say from the Christmas mocks you will move up only 1-2 grades’ is a lie. If you put the work in, you can achieve anything. I was told by the head of maths that I would not pass my Maths and placed me in intervention, during PE, and I achieved a 5 (after getting a 3 in the mocks) and I’m currently in training to be a primary teacher. Likewise, I failed English Literature throughout Year 10 and came out with a 6 at GCSE.

For me the predicted grades were entirely inaccurate. With the algorithm being based on where you lived and what former students in that area achieved/what you achieved during your SATs - the entire thing was messed up. These targets did not change during KS4. Although my mock results were relatively the same they didn’t change them accordingly, and some were completely unreachable for the level I was working at/too low. Chemistry was my worst subject and even after many bad exam results, they did not move me onto a lower paper - which I know would have helped me greatly. The pressure to get the predicted grades were high and in parents evening sessions you would be slated for being below such an unrealistic target.

My drama GCSE was a whole mess. Students were favoured depending on how much a teacher liked them. And, so, in a practical exam, the group grades were 19/20 (for the favourite students) and 17/20 (for the non-favourite students). And the feedback was completely unjustified and unfair. Although 2 points didn’t seem like much, it can significantly impact your results. The coursework side of the subject was absurd. We started it in early Year 10 and did not receive any marks until April of Year 11 where we had a mere few weeks to go back to our Year 10 performances (without rewatching them) and improving on work which could have been done so much earlier. Similarly, the information for the written exam was insufficient. Some students were given an information sheet - the morning of the exam - about something we did not learn about. For those who didn’t receive one, had no idea about that particular theme/topic of information. My friends and I were in the same group, working at the same level and yet we all did not receive the same grade due to favouritism.

Pupil 1: achieved a 7. This student was a dancer, singer and actress and was very liked by their teachers.
Pupil 2: achieved a 7. This student was an ex dancer and a very good actress. Again, one of their favourite students.
Pupil 3: achieved a 5. This student was a dancer and an actress. A very good student who achieved very high grades but was not a favourite student.
Pupil 4: achieved a 5. This student was a singer and an actress and the lack of dance abilities meant they were not the favourite student. (very clear why we got the grades we received).

The whole skirt fiasco - which I’m sure still continues, was unbelievably degrading for the female student body. We were humiliated. In assemblies showing pictures of nuns by one of the members of SLT (a true story) to fire alarms with the sole purpose of measuring the length of our skirts. I have never been in a more unprofessional situation in my life. As a trainee teacher, I understand the need for smartness and cleanliness but ripping apart each female one by one for the length of their skirt was sexist and cruel. I would have been embarrassed to work at such a school that inflicted this on it’s students. This has to be changed if it is still a continuation.

Another act of unprofessionalism was the lack of privacy with personal matters. I had a teacher approach me in the lunch queue, asking about something that was very confidential and had no means for anyone else to know. And similarly, a teacher announced to the whole class that I could come back because ‘we aren’t doing that topic anymore’, raising questions from my friends and peers.

The end of the year celebration was ridiculous. After watching 4 other year groups leave before us, and receiving nothing, we were upset when we left. Every year group that left received an end of year book and an amazing assembly that kost students looked forward too. The assemblies contained live music, food, laughter, pictures, speeches and were something that we genuinely looked forward too. But the school were so caught up in GCSEs that we did not receive any reward for enduring the pressure of 24 exams. I didn’t feel that we deserved just a prom when every other year group received so much more.

The food was decent, especially in year 10/11 with the upper crust but the queues were unmanageable and meant that some students would miss an entire lunchtime trying to get food.

The one way system in the corridor was frustrating at times and I’m sure students would have benefited greatly from the corridors being a free way kind of place.

The outdoor areas were spacious and freeing. My friends and I used to sit on the floor beneath the upper crust and so they put in a few benches for us.

The music department was fun and endearing. Very, very inclusive.

I think more clubs could have been set in place but I understand why there may not have been too many.

Whatever you think about GCSEs - they are important. Have fun, be free with your revision and your academics but don’t hamper your success by messing around in English because you don’t like the subject. One day you will need them and you’ll regret not doing them.

this is good they offer
equal rights
mix culther
solving bullying

As a student at Kettlethorpe high school I’m absolutely disgusted on the way they have handled a bullying situation I am in. They think grouping everyone together and talking it out will solve the problem, but it won’t it has gone way past that AND I have had to be pulled out of school for my own safety since of a teacher letting a year 11 pull me out of choir to bring up the bullying situation on the other persons side. The teacher never asked why I was being pulled out or even stopped them from doing so, I could have easily been beat up outside of that classroom because of it. The head of year said they had “no idea” why they let that happen. It’s bulls***. If they want a school that’s safe from bullies don’t tell them we have to “talk it out and understand each other’s feelings” when it’s way past just one argument. Take action before the students do themselves. They have even believed the bullies bulls*** excuses of wanting to stop this when they’re the ones bringing it back up, not me.

On their website they don’t even have a bullying form that tells parents what they do to punish the people in the wrong, only an anti bullying report form that I can confirm they don’t look at because prior to the whole blowup recently we have reported the situation twice on there and had no response what so ever. We have had to go to extreme measures and get the police involved since school isn’t doing anything that will stop this.

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, they think sending the victim to the place they have called “REZ” is going to help them, this place supposedly keeps children engaged in work and away from bullies, however, why don’t you punish the bullies and not separate the victim from their friends? They have a horrible policy, I hope Ofsted sees this.

If you want your life to be ruined come to Kettlethorpe, you’ll live your best nightmare

As a year 11 I have to say Everyone always calls Kettlethorpe shit and says it’s a horrible school and really strict but I’ve been to beckets outwood grange and catherderal and Kettlethorpe is the best school I’ve been to so far all the others a way more strict than ketty for example in outwood I would get detentions for wearing white socks and standing up whilst eating but at Ketty I won’t even get a comment for putting a bin on top of a roof and telling a teacher to fuck off so before you chat shit about ketty get facts to back it.

The school do not support you as they say they do and never understand that mental illness can’t be helped so yes we may not be able to maintain through out the day but punishment is not the way

I didn’t want to die, now i want that to kill myself every day

Class of 2021 here. I graduated school last month and I'm extremely happy I did. All the reviews are right. The teachers are biased, the school cancels out bullying, racism and homophobia completely. I have never experienced anything like this since I'm white but I'm a female so I have experienced the outrageous, uncomfortable and unexpected things about my skirt. ** ****** being the WORST. He would constantly look at everyone's skirt, and do stuff that ended in legal actions this year (I will not share it here since I don't think that would be acceptable and mature).

The favouritism is horrible. Someone had an entire assembly when they left school, they got treated like loyalty, like a queen and I personally don't think that's fair. When my friend left school did they get an assembly and a massive bouquet of flowers? No. They shouldn't favourite people, as they say it's all about equality. That wasn't very equal of kettlethorpe high school, was it?

Lastly, they don't deal with bullying like they should. I personally have bullied people in the past (2016-2017) and I regret it, obviously. I wont get into much detail but this particular person was getting on my nerves, I didn't like them so I started bullying them. They told the school and all they did was force me into being friends with this person. I was shocked, they legit forced me into pretending I liked someone for all these years otherwise I would get punished.

If you think I'm in the wrong, you would have to know them and what they were like to understand where I'm coming from.

oh and not to mention the lack of mental health support. I was in a bad mental state in 2019 and it accidentally got told to my school (I'm not sure who from, my mother or someone I talked to), diamonds took me in and had ONE talk with me. Later on I got send into a therapy group for 5 sessions, it did absolutely nothing and I didn't feel any better. After that, the school thought my mental health was better, even though it wasn't. Even if I went to them I'll be told to basically shut up and go to lesson.

Overall, do not go here. It has been the Most tiring and horrendous 5 years of my life.

To whomever it may concern,

I am a pupil a kettlethore highschool, personally i think that the school lacks in respect towards different ethnicity groups, you can tell who is more targeted and it certainly isn’t white students, the main problem is skirts and the teachers seem to be more bothered about skirts than they are about racism and homophobic attitude, another problem is the use of cameras in TOILETS, this is supposed to be a place where you use the toilet and feel comfortable while doing so but no there are working cameras in there, another thing they lack is understanding most of the teachers don’t realise how much pressure the students are under and when they sometimes need a break because they are stressed or overwhelmed the teachers seem to think this is an ‘excuse’ so that they don’t have to do the work, overall the school lacks the qualities that all schools should have and i believe that they could make the school better


They care so much about smaller things than the bigger problems, they don’t focus on racism and i think that is something they should really look into, i am a white student so i dont understand nor feel the pain that the black or different ethnicity students go though, all i know is that the school tolerate it

The skirts; i do completely understand the skirt rule and it wouldn’t bother many people as much if it wasn’t a male teacher who prioritised it, a male tea her is the one that seems to notice our skirt lengths, a male teacher, why should he be picking up these things? Unless our skirts are rolled up showing our privates he shouldn’t be looking, he should just get on with his day without prioritising and sexualising something that girls choose to do


Earrings, it’s dumb and stupid, if i wear 2 earrings in each ear how does that affect my learning? Does it stop me from doing my work? They focus on this so much that they wouldn’t even notice your mental health has changed

The school need to focus on bigger problems

The things that cause reviews like this

The racism

The homophobic actions

The bullying


THE BIGGER PROBLEMS

FOCUS ON THE BIGGER THINGS, MAKE OUR SCHOOL A BETTER PLACE FOR EVERYONE NOT JUST THE WHITE STUDENTS

Yours sincerely,

don’t help with anything, children go through things don’t get the help they need, force into answering questions, don’t help with racism, cant wear piercings because they “distract ur learning” and same with you cant wear ur own clothing it’s unfair.

Right. Where do I begin?

Covid is an important topic so let’s begin with that. I don’t exactly know how many people are catching it but overall people wearing masks seems to be good enough, but there is always room for improvement. Apparently you are supposed to get a concern in your planner for not wearing it but some teachers won’t do that, we are in the middle of a global pandemic might I remind us all, some students take their masks off to say something to their friends and the rule about not wearing a mask is not enforced in that department. Also not having the mask on your nose just defeats the point because, surprise surprise, covid particles can go in your nose just like your mouth.


The toilets. The one place in school dreaded by many. You never know what you’ll come across. A kid smoking a vape? 2 kids peeing on the walls? Some chill guys looking at their phones? The toilet is like a kinder surprise, you never know what you’ll find inside but unlike a kinder surprise it won’t be sweet, it will be either disgusting, disgraceful or just plain horrible or all of those combined. Recently the toilets got renovated which looks fairly clean and nice but it’s only a matter of weeks until it is back to the dumpster fire it was. Pee on the walls, toilet paper stuck to walls, clogged toilets and sinks, people who seem not to know how to flush a toilet or pee in the urinal, the awful smell of urine and sometimes deodorant and not to mention that the toilets have a SECURITY CAMERA! Surely that isn’t allowed, right?

Restrictions on clothing, showing yourself. School doesn’t let you wear a hoodie... a simple item of clothing that is light, comfortable and just nice to wear is not allowed for whatever reason. Coats used to only be allowed in blue, grey and black, now its slightly different with that you can have any colour with at most a microscopic logo, anything bigger classes as not abiding to uniform policy. Another thing to point out is that apparently a girl’s skirt length matters more than their learning time and the skirts don’t even fit a girl’s actual body, apparently girls being pulled out of class for not being knee length and I can only imagine the awkwardness of a teacher checking every girl’s skirt. Also boys can’t have piercings, as if times haven’t changed.

I wish there was more emphasis on mental health and wellbeing. Only kids behaving badly frequently will get tested for depression, ignoring the kids that behave properly but clearly are not feeling well inside at all, I wish we all took one at some point. Another thing is that we should be taught more about gender equality, homophobia and such. The reason there is is so much in my opinion is because it is briefly covered and those people don’t know a thing about LGBT+. And there was a “gender equality” thing once but it was a cover up title for a KAO (kill all men) styled presentation and they were like “So boys stop being so greedy and taking opportunities from girls” which just makes no sense.

Also they should hire teachers that know bare minimum about technology and not a guy who knows how to open Microsoft Edge and look up kettles under £10.

I am coming to the end of my final year here and after spending from start to finish with nothing but negative opinions of this place I have decided to voice my opinion. I would like to make light of the fact in my second to last year COVID was rampant and caused a lot of disruption so it may not be fair for me to comment on that front. Let’s have a look at teachers over my time here I have had both good and bad teachers as well as teachers who missed a lot of time. The quality of teachers here can drastically vary from extraordinary to ones who are less deserving of such praise. The next area I would like to address is the students themselves. Though most are reasonable to deal with there are a select few that are the complete antithesis to this. I believe that the school should take a more hands on approach to try and resolve issues such as bullying as this has been a major issue in my eyes. An example of this is when a student in the same year group as me left after a mere few months in the first year due to said bullying and how nothing was being done about it. Another issue that arise because of student behaviour is the damage to school property. I believe that the funds used for these repairs should be used to replace old/fault equipment for the science department. As a positive I will mention in this maelstrom of negative experiences is that as far as I am aware the school is a safe environment for the fact I have never seen anyone without permission entering the school apart from once back in my first year where a dog ran into the school building and onto one of the corridors. An aspect I believe that the school could improve upon is the access to shelter outside during harsh weather. This has been a though of mine for the past few years though nothing has ever been done about it which in turn has lead to the damage of school supplies such as books that I had in my bag. Though this is may be a jumbled mess and I have not disclosed all of my issues with this school I would like to thank anyone who has read this far into this especially if it is anyone who has any power to change any of these issues no matter how small. And I thank you for reading. -A student about to finish

literally awful, racism is silenced so much. rather eat a parrot than send my kids to kettlethorpe. the favouritism- I CANTTT LIKE LITERALLY THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO GET TREATED LIKE BABIES BC THEY ARE NAUGHTY. and oh the year sevens- oh hell naw this school needs to pattern up i mean ig the fights are funny🥲🥲

I’ve been at this school for a few years now and I can say it is one of, if not the worst places I’ve ever been to.

To start things off, let’s talk about the positives.

Most of the teachers are great and supportive of pupils in lessons, The English department is definitely the best at this.

The playground/outdoor area is decent, even with all the littering.

There’s a few other things that a good about KHS, but let’s move on to the negatives.

Firstly, the hallways are absolute pandemonium when people are trying to go to lessons, which is made worse with the teacher’s absolute refusal to try and organise the carnage, and I don’t blame them, who would want to try and stop a crowd of about 100 kids in a cramped hallway.

Secondly, The response to certain things are absolutely ludicrous, I was bullied at the start of my time at the school for about 3 months and when I finally talked to one of the teachers about it, they only gave them a warning, however when one of my friends made a light-hearted joke at a teachers expense, the teacher took his planner (which he hasn’t got back 5 months on) and threatened legal action against him, and I’m not even going to bring up the attitude towards uniform.

Another negative is the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school refused to make masks mandatory for months which led to classes being comprised of 7 or less students at times and students missing out on learning.

The final negative that I’m going to put in this review are the toilets, I’m pretty sure the toilets in Baghdad look better than these, there is literally pee on the walls.

In conclusion, I’d recommend going to anywhere but here, the positives are easily drowned out by the negatives and it will be the worst 5 years of your life, that’s all.

Your child would have a safer and more positive experience fighting for oil in Iraq.
Kettlethorpe itself is a warzone - there are multiple gory fights going on at any given moment and one time some students set off fireworks in the bins.
Unsurprisingly, former staff members have admitted to being scared to walk down the corridors, and they’re the ones who are supposed to be in control.
I heard a staff member walking down a corridor using inappropriate and vile language to describe the student body (I get the impression that a lot of staff there hate their jobs, and since Kettlethorpe was in the paper for it’s high rate of teacher absences, I think I might be on to something).
Bullying is rife and some of the senior leadership has demonstrated a lack of interest in solving issues as they arise (and can actually be quite rude and take advantage of the student-teacher power dynamic to speak to students in ways that would be considered demeaning and inappropriate if those same words were spoken to a colleague).
Mental health and bullying issues largely go unaddressed or are addressed poorly and inconclusively to throw them out of the way - we can now deduce that at the root of their hatred for their job lies an even greater hatred for children. I don’t blame them because I hate a lot of the children too. Some girls violently threatened to pee on me in the maths toilets (they used worse language) and to this day I am not sure why.
Instead of focusing on said issues, the school prioritised female dress code, making female students feel embarrassed and uncomfortable at times (male teachers were constantly looking at girl’s skirts to check their length in a way that was beyond what would have been necessary and bordered on obsessive, so these new policies drew more attention to the bodies of female children, making some uncomfortable to wear their uniform to school) and going far beyond what would be considered reasonable. What really said it all to me was when the female students in my year were pulled out of a maths lesson and missed valuable learning time to be lectured about skirt length. It was once stressed that male teachers felt uncomfortable due to the length of the children’s skirts and leggings were almost banned for this reason (bit of a red flag as the leggings comment was mentioned to a PE class of year 7s, so I was 11 or 12 at the time). Note that there have been instances of teachers being accused of predatory behaviour towards children at the school, and this has resulted in said staff leaving their positions at Kettlethorpe. Maybe whoever came up with the new policy was just trying to save us from the legion of aspiring sex offenders the staff body houses in it’s ranks. ** ******** would make the odd sexist comment here and there but by comparison they were trivial.
That said, there are many brilliant, supportive teachers who really want to create a positive classroom experience and make sure their students succeed, and staff members who really care about the wellbeing of the students and try to provide the best pastoral care they can. Unfortunately, this is almost completely overshadowed by the school’s many incompetencies. If Kettlethorpe allocated as much time to addressing issues with bullying and mental health as it allocates to policing the lengths of children’s skirts, waking up on a school day wouldn’t have been so miserable.

this school ha quite a big population, which means your child has the chance to meet new friends, and get along with new teachers, however, i have some cons.
some of the teachers in kettlethorpe are actually lovely, but there are a fair few that are incredibly rude. there is a lack of mental health support and support in general in the school. i personally think that this school isn’t coping well with covid-19 cases, with around 6 cases last week (wc 16/11/20) the uniform is rather strict and limits self expression almost completely. the skirts also have to go down to your knees, and unfortunately the skirts don’t fit any type of feminine figure properly. this means a skirt could be too tight around your hips but too lose in the waist, or vice versa. you aren’t allowed piercings at all if you’re a male, and your hair has to be a natural colour. if you don’t comply with rules like these there are unfair consequences.

NOTE TO PARENTS::
KETTLETHORPE HIGH HAS CHANGED SINCE YOU WERE CHILDREN!!! it is nowhere near as fun or as positive as it was! a lot of parents make the mistake of thinking that a school will be good because they went to it. ITS NOT!