Lakelands Academy

I am currently a student here, and have been for the past few years, and I am going to make this review as honest as I possibly can. Firstly, the facilities and student support systems have definitely improved since some of these negative reviews were last written. A few years ago, Lakelands Academy introduced their new ‘Wellbeing Centre’, which focuses on helping students who may be struggling in school, have mental health problems, or who just need to leave lessons for a while. There are a couple of reviews on here saying that the Wellbeing Centre is just used as a place to send the misbehaved kids when they get kicked out of lessons. And yes, I completely agree. I have been up to the Wellbeing Centre a few times, and have definitely seen some of these kids sat in some of the rooms for disciplinary reasons. However, I have also been up here with one of my friends, who was struggling with some problems of their own at the time, and just needed some space to themselves. The teachers up there were very cooperative, and understood what my friend wanted. We were sent into the ‘sensory room’, which has these two little poles in the corner with colourful bubbles inside, and also some remote controllable LED lights on the ceiling. It is also extremely quiet in there, and is perfect for a place to go to calm down. They even let me sit with my friend for a while before I had to go back to lesson, and we were barely interrupted apart from one time where one of the teachers up there came in and asked my friend if they wanted anything to drink. This brings me onto my next topic, most of the staff here are really friendly! I say most because you will get the one teacher who can be quite mean to students for no apparent reason, but honestly, which school doesn’t have this issue? Other than that, the majority of them are quite nice. Because this is such a small school, a lot of the teachers know every single student personally, so if you are thinking of sending your child here, you should definitely not worry about them settling in. The teachers will make them feel extremely welcome, just as they did to me in Year 7! As far as I know, there is no racism or homophobia at this school. All teachers are extremely inclusive, are all accepting of different sexual orientations, and if you have a preferred name or pronouns you use, just tell them, and they will remember! Cannot unfortunately say the same for some of the students though. There is also a great pastoral team here at Lakelands, with new ‘Wellbeing Ambassadors’ being introduced just a few months ago, who help any students who need extra support. In contrary, I have had some issues with the teaching quality over the past years. It has certainly improved a bit since I have been here since the staff seem to have become more skilled at controlling the misbehaving students, and usually now resort to sending them out of lessons earlier on in the hour instead of letting them continue to disrupt throughout. But, I definitely do struggle with some of the work being set, because sometimes it is not explained very well, and some teachers even just resort to clicking through a PowerPoint and make us just read it! This is certainly not a way to teach students. You should be helping us memorise things! I feel as though there is also an issue with forcing students to answer questions when their hand isn’t raised. I know a lot of teachers don’t get a lot of engagement from their students, and want to encourage being confident about your answer, but some teachers need to understand; when someone hasn’t got their hand up, they most likely don’t know the answer. Please don’t force them to speak up in front of the class and potentially embarrass them! On the other hand, Lakelands Academy certainly has very good learning resources and have given me recommendations for websites that have helped me hugely throughout the years, and that I would have never known existed otherwise. The classrooms are always kept clean, as well as the toilets (sometimes). There are some issues with some kids drawing on the walls in pens, (and even paint!) but as far as I am aware, they do try their best to prevent it and often paint over these drawings. One point I would like to mention though is that in the girls toilets, the sanitary bins aren’t emptied very often, so they can overflow and it can get quite unpleasant in there! Moving on, Lakelands Academy does an excellent job at handling bullying in and outside of school. As soon as they hear about an incident, they sort it out as soon as possible, and even sometimes call parents in and take time out of their day to sort it out directly. I know this should be the standard in all schools, but it unfortunately isn’t. You don’t even have to tell the teachers about an incident because some of them are very observant, especially form tutors, and can tell when something is happening between two or more students. It will often be reported or brought up as a concern, and then you will most likely be called up to the Wellbeing Centre discreetly, and the situation will be sorted as quickly as possible. I personally think this is what Lakelands Academy excels in; there is very little bullying at this school! I have always felt quite safe here ever since I started. As for the outdoor environment, it is also quite clean. However, it definitely needs some redecoration, particularly the basketball and tennis courts, since the paint has come off and it is looking quite dated. Lakelands Academy also offers a wide range of after school activities and clubs such as football, hockey, basketball, and on certain nights after school they leave the on site gym open for students to work out in if they want to. As for at break and lunchtimes, there is quite literally nothing to do apart from sit around with your friends. For some people, this may be perfect, but for some students who may want to socialise or do something with their time because they can’t do it outside of school, it can be a problem. They could definitely improve on more clubs inside of school. Lastly, the food here is great! Sometimes it can be a little overpriced, currently sitting at about £1.10 just for a slice of pizza (yikes!), but you can apply for free school meals if this may be an issue for you. The range is good and you will certainly find something you like. The canteen staff are always friendly, and if you go in there enough, some of them remember your name and what you usually order, haha! Overall, this is an excellent school, and I have personally never had any problems while I have been here. Staff are friendly and always try their hardest to make you feel welcome. Would definitely recommend if you are thinking of sending your child here. Definitely deserves more than a ‘good’ Ofsted report!

I hate everyone the teachers piss me off

Idk 🤷‍♀️ I like cheese though and food

Absolutely awful. The majority of teachers abuse their power and the majority students are some of the worst people on earth. Do not go to lakelands.

Lakeland's academy is an excellent place of education and assisted me greatly in learning the basics of human interaction. however i did notice a considerable lack of crickets on the lunch menu. in conclusion all human individuals should send their children here :) - Mr Lizard

Left with drug addiction, mental health issues (that they were aware of, and did minimal effort to help with. One chemistry teacher even said i was "high risk" in front of the class.)
Teaching was half assed, average, and lowest common denominator.
Pretty much made me wish away all my teenage years.
Only good 5 star i can give is that they had equal rights. They werent racist or sexist etc.. so theres that at least.

This school is terrible, I had to leave after a year because of my mental health issues and the fact that the teachers made inappropriate jokes and let other students (including older students) emotionally abuse me and cause me to develop anxiety and depression. So yeah my year at this school was horrible.

The school is fairly average