Oakham School

You saw the title and it’s true, no matter what the so called “professional reviews may tell you, Oakham is a breeding ground for sexism, racism and homophobia on a daily basis. I was at until year 10, in that time, I came out as gay to my peers, which, as I expected caused some teasing and provoking but nothing major, until kids started directly trying to harass me, calling me slurs in the halls in front of entire years above me, I was beaten by a group of boys for no other reason than coming out, I later began to self harm, a direct side affect of this situation, i of course went to members of staff, instead of trying to help, I was blamed for there actions, it was even suggested to my housemaster that “perhaps you should have kept it to myself” also consider the fact that many pupils who did terrible things and made major infringements were kept on because of there prowess at sport, and for some reason I was to blame for there actions, suffice to say nothing ever came to them in any form of punishment. We should also move onto the racism in the school, in my house in particular, there were numerous incidents in my house when black students where Called the “N slur” by white students, sometimes in front of teachers safe to say these teachers turned a blind eye to a word with horrible connotations and meaning, as well as this there was also blatant sexism, I had been shown by other boys in my house an Instagram account which rated girls in the school, in fairness to the school these accounts were shut down, but where left up long enough to leave lasting mental damage to the girls involved, boys would send there girlfriends explicit images to each other (something I only heard about so may or may not be true) there were also many sexual harassment complaints made by female students to the school board which were only sometimes followed up, yet most were dismissed. Then onto the teaching, even if the posters and adverts make you think the school gives the best experience to every pupil, it does not, only the ones with rich parents or ones that are good at sport, truly the only good, fair and honest teachers were those involved with the drama department who, not only could teach an incredible lesson, but helped me when times got tough, others never provided the specialised education the school supposedly gives ( that in itself is a myth) I later moved away and began at another school, my attitude to learning and mental health increased greatly the moment I left Oakham. So, parents if your considering sending your child to Oakham, save yourself a LOT of money and send them to a school which will not only teach them but better there lives.