We had to remove our child from this school due to a sharp change in culture after a new headteacher. The school is part of a trust which works with previously struggling schools. Kingdown is now one of the governments zero tolerance schools, Victorian style punitive schools. It has a high staff turnover and poor mental health outcomes for students. Children have become institutionalised and poorly prepared for adult life. Unfortunately this has led to very troubling incidents of actual and near harm. It is not a safe school for SEN students in particular.
I go to school there and it feels like your vunreable and scared all day even when you aren't hated its weird because some teachers are great and the others are horrible no inbetween every time i go to school i shake in fear because im scared that i will run into the wrong person and the no phone policy!! They dont even mention it on there website because they know its a bad idea! They dont even allow headphones which helps me calm down :(
If you decide to send your child here you are making a huge mistake. The school itself is unkempt , dangerous and filthy. The punishments are either completely unnecessary or inadequate with students who are blatantly bullying and harassing others getting off with a simple slap on the wrist. The teachers are cruel and unprofessional and the subjects we learn have no real value and/or use. To add insult to injury, they have left me and the majority of my class up on the roof of the humanities block (the tallest building in school) in inflatable dinosaur costumes with nothing but our phones and dino nuggies. We are currently still stuck so please send help
This is the worst school in the world. Send help send help. I'm stuck on the top of the hums block and my dinosaur suit with my friend who's also the dinosaur suit. Please help. Please help 🙏🙏🙏 somebody hell my phone is on 1%, I'm about to go
This school is awful. The teachers are unfair and cruel. The punishments are unnecessary or otherwise useless and the subjects we learn have no real impact on us. To add insult to injury, I have been put on the top of the hums block and have been stuck in a dinosaur costume up gear for three days please send help.
as a year 8 student cant stand this school doesnt help with bullying teachers dont help none of them are nice suspended 1 once for no reason cyper bullying school DONT COME HERE YOUVE BEEN WARNED
absolutely horrible. NEVER and i mean NEVER think about sendinf your child here. they do not help with yur mental health at all and expect you to just ignore bullying. go to clarendon not kingdown!
Terrible school that does nothing about bullying and make us stand outside in the rain to wait for the bus when it is there and make ud get into trouble if we get on when tgry don't even pay for it and i pay £18 every week to get on the bus i want to change school's and i will next term 🙃
This is the worst school in the UK. They search our bags multiple times a day at random despite the fact that no one has any inappropriate items. They classes are awful and the teachers are bad at their jobs. One supply teacher they hired who will not be named made the students stand instead of sit. On top of it all, they make us wear inflatable dinosaur costumes and stand in line where they squirt us with water guns full of acid from the science department, then they make us climb onto the roof of the tallest building in school and leave us there. As a matter of fact I am still stuck up here can someone pls help me.
I go here and it’s hell.
They do random bag searches and the teachers are awful
I have learnt nuffink and am stuck on the top of the hum’s block in a dino costume
HELP
Absolutely the worst school I've ever been too. I was severely bullied at this school, and the teachers during that time did nothing. Infact the teachers were bullies themselves. Horrible ,horrible experience .
I was in the higher sets and got good grades and in spite of this i never once felt the school cared for me even as a green number on a spreadheet. I was bullied and had rumours spread about due to a boarderline insane, obsessed and sociopathic fellow student that the school did nothing about despite myself and others testifying to the school to his behaviour. I was attacked repeatedly, bullied, followed home and had my door attempted to be kicked in. I never felt safe there or going there or going home or past there for a single day. I developed anxietu sickness, depression and suicidal thoughts whilst i was there and i haven't been able to shake them to this day. Every time i stood up for myself i was told off or put in isolation. I got punched in the face and put in isolation. Every time i reported something or asked for help i was acknowleged and then ignored. I was barely out as an lgbtqia+ individual and yet i felt so unsafe near so many homophobic students and staff. I had to go to therapy afterwards and every nightmare i have takes place at kingdownm if you have a shred of mercy or decency you wont send your children here. Not for anything
Kingdown prides itself in being a safe place for all students but it is completely the opposite: I can't think of a place I feel more scared of going to.
I am a transgender student who was publicly yelled at for standing up for myself and correcting a teacher using the wrong pronouns. In a meeting about this incident, I was called "a cross dresser" by the teacher who was meant to be informed about the transgender community; then constantly interrupted (and my points ignored) until I brought up that outting me is against the law. At the end of this meeting, I was told to "draw a line under it" and "be mature" by my Head of House.
A day later, I was outted in an email sent to half of my year group. This wasn't an accident either, after this happened I was told by staff that they had "sat and talked about it" for a while trying to decide - obviously they made the wrong decision and managed to break the law again.
I have many friends who have been bullied (for being LBGT and just generally) and nothing has been done about it, the only time they even attempt to deal with it (meaning a one meeting where they "apologise", make excuses and tell you to get over it) is when you tell them that they are acting illegally.
This technique for dealing with bullying obviously sets a good example for their students: I know someone who was followed home while students shouted abuse and threatened them - this was also reported and wasn't dealt with.
If you are LGBT please don't come to this school, no one is standing up for your rights here.
As an LGBT student, kids would make fun of me a lot. I'd tell the school, although teachers would attempt sympathy, nothing would ever be done about it. For example, I attended a trip for my GCSE where I was loudly deadnamed and laughed at by other Kingdown students also on the trip. The teachers overheard, one who spoke to me after the trip asking if I was okay. Yet they did not do anything while it was happening, nor afterwards when I explained what happened.
Not only is KS3 and KS4 bad enough, but once you get into 6th form they will expect you to be acting as adults despite treating you as children. In lower years, it isn't as obvious, but in 6th form, it is very clear how disorganised the school is. There have been times where our subject teachers don't even know when our internal mocks are, or when we don't know what exam hall we're in, or our exam timetables have been wrong. Pick another school.
me and my friend (mostly my friend) have gotten bullied. i have gotten bullied for my sexuality and gender she's getting bullied by a classmate who makes her life a living HELL. thought it would be better to be honest. the teachers did nothing about it. im disappointed
Couldn't bare to stay for sixth-form. Firstly the school itself is so rundown the buildings resemble a prison with metal bars on some windows. Not a pleasant environment. Moreover this school has appalling ways of tackling racism. When I came forward with racial bullying nothing was done about it, which in this age is frankly unacceptable.
Couldn't bare to stay for sixth-form. Rough school to start with the buildings are all in dire states. Many cases of racist and sexist bullying not an inclusive school. Moreover when I came forward with multiple cases of racial bullying nothing was done about it, which is simply unacceptable.
The teaching is okay and certainly produces good grades but at the cost of the mental health of every student. Staff will frequently ignor bullying especially of the racial, homophobic or sexist variety. Even after personally going to then multiple times about a persistent bully with a lot of evidence they still did nothing. A friend also got told to stop beeing gay if they didn't want to be bullied. Multiple trans friends were repeatedly bullied without the school taking action. Good grades are not worth going to hell for.
Excellent school with lovely teachers. Sorted out bullying very quickly for me and I am very grateful. Inspired everyday by other students receiving awards and by teachers.
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