Olchfa School

The school is average but the sixth form is terrible. There are so many ridiculous rules such as sixth formers are not allowed to wear leggings but when year 7 pupils have PE they can. Sixth formers have to attend registration in the morning at 8:35 even if they don't have a lesson until 2pm, which leaves many pupils sitting around for 5 hours straight if they cannot get home/ live too far away. Pupils get marked absent if they do not attend the unimportant registration session which affects their attendance record. (Registration is a 25 minute period where the majority of pupils sit on their phone and talk, so it is a pointless rule that they still enforce). I would also like to add in previous years this registration period was not compulsory for Year 13s, however they have since changed this and now it is compulsory. Sixth former students are only allowed to exit the school via the back gate (if it's before 3pm). The back gate is in Sketty Park, which for people who live near Dunvant or Tycoch for example, adds an extra 20 minute walk onto their journey home. There has been no reasoning to why this rule exists. Pupils from younger years have also exited via the back gate during break and lunch times, and youths who are not even in the school have entered via this back gate and roamed around the school. This is clearly an extreme safety issue, which leaves me wondering why pupils cannot exit the front gate or the side gate which would be so much safer (as they would have to go through the reception office first). It's foolish rules like these that make some sixth formers wonder why they went there in the first place. Considering the majority of the sixth form community are 17 or 18 years of age they are treated like children, although the Olchfa website states they have "independence and freedom". Some A level teachers are unhelpful, and many with little experience. One science GCSE teacher even told me to my face I would fail... I got a B. Olchfa claims they provide great support for pupils struggling, however from my personal experience this is not the case. The counsellors at Olchfa school are unempathetic, patronising, and sometimes even rude. For troubled pupils who have misbehaved there is a 'Behavioural Support Unit' (BSU). Here pupils sit in silence and face the wall for 6 hours on end, many are not given any work to do. I really don't think that is an efficient way to 'support' behaviour and many would agree. Some pupils are in this BSU for weeks, sometimes even months on end, and are not offered any support with mental health or counselling. I was in Y9 when the COVID19 lockdown started, and the support from the school was absolutely horrendous. Students were overwhelmed with school work, and personally I had only 2 "live lessons" maximum a day. Pupils who completed all the mass amounts of work were not praised, and pupils who were unable to complete all the work were not supported at all. The school is also very overcrowded, even with 'one way systems' in place the corridors and stairs after break/ lunch time are so full you can barely even move. I could sit here for many more hours and talk about the many more issues surrounding the Sixth Form, but to cut it short; if you want to feel independent and have freedom, be supported with A level work, or enjoy your time in year 12 and 13, Olchfa Sixth form is not the place for you.

They don't take into account a students personal needs, they don't give you any extra help. Some of the teachers are so awful they can make you dispise your favourite subject. They have decided not to teach history, instead they teach you about why washing machine adverts are sexist.

very good very good very good