Purbrook Park School

Had two children go to this school and both had very different experiences. My talented and academically gifted child teachers seemed to have all the time in the world for because they were excelling , my other child who struggles with learning and taking information in was seem as a problem! Hardly any support put in place , was told in year 9 they were in the set for a particular subject but couldn’t be moved due to far too many children being in that class they required , they remained in the incorrect class until they left ! They have had the worst experience struggling with the work and nothing put in place for when they had exams , when I asked if they could go into a smaller room to carry out the exams I was told the school didn’t identify my child for having this need and couldn’t change anything because all had been submitted to the examing board . My child experienced panic attacks and anxiety throughout school and especially when taking exams . They failed my child to support them with this . And grades today from their GCSEs reflect the lack of support !!
Teachers have favourites and they make no apology for blatantly showing this when it comes to performing. Dance teachers are the worst for this .
Lots of better schools out there people avoid if your child is an average or below average learner . They are made to feel insignificant and a problem!

purbrook park school is the shittest school in the area, they tolerate bullying, don’t do nothing about it, they go on about how they are such a good school but in reality there not, i’m sure if they took a little survey of how many people hate that school and how many mental health is getting worse a lot of people will be ticking that box, pastoral are a load of crap and just don’t send your kid here. it’s total bullshit.

Genuinely do not recommend this school. 5 years of my life that I wish were spent virtually anywhere other than here. This place has an absolutely toxic environment full of all sorts of racist, xenophobic, queerphobic, ableist (the list goes on) behaviour and after 5 years of reporting it in all the many forms it has taken against me and others, there has been minimal action taken. It is simply unacceptable that such bullying and attacks against people would be so normalised and has led to people feeling like they are genuinely powerless against it as teachers give false promises of helping but give nothing more than a slap on the wrist for repeat offenders.

Additionally, it seems that when it comes to enforcing rules and disciplining students, teachers are more concerned with what students are wearing, be it accessories, skirt length, etc, rather than actual issues that the school is facing - it is just simply so useless to penalise students for really minor changes to how they look while people that regularly harass other students get away with basically nothing most of the time, it has never made sense to me and to many students why there would need to be such a convoluted rulebook over nail colour or whatever. I feel like this school prefers hard sanctions for nothing rather than actually making meaningful steps towards cultivating a welcoming and engaged community.

In terms of teachers I would say that there are definitely some that are absolutely memorable and legends that will possibly be the only thing that you miss about this place, particularly those in the History, Science & English departments (I can't name names but you know who you are), but as to the teachers responsible for pastoral services, I can't help but feel cold and distant from them...
The food is really good quality, I feel some of the vegetarian options have room for improvement but thats all I can really criticise in this regard,

Without delving into specifics as to respect peoples' anonymity, there have also been incidents of direct criminality and threat to the safety of both me and my fellow students within this school, which have left lifelong scars. Genuinely the complacency this school has with deviant behaviour like this is something that you do not want for your child, and I strongly strongly suggest that you pick another school.

In terms of Academics, I feel like there is potential, and there are very good teachers that are very caring and engaged with the education of their students, and are willing to go above and beyond for them, but it would be so much better if there was actually support for these teachers to maximise their impact on their students; the adherence to rigid rules in this school that is expected of teachers and students alike get in the way of a constructive academic environment, and the aforementioned points about doing nothing about oppression can seriously get in the way of a child's academic and personal achievement, and lead to them feeling stagnant and worth nothing more than a mark on a paper.

Conclusion:
- Some really good teachers, but they deserve way better
- Challenging academic environment, but could be more secure and welcoming
- Good quality food options, would be really good if vegetarian options expanded
- Oppression galore, very complacent system when it comes to intolerance
- False sense of security, hollow promises
- Strict system with harsh penalties for very little things like dress code
- Criminality not uncommon, frequent violence against other students
So, RUN !!!!!!!

P.S: I would really like a system where for every grade I got in the exams I get a set sum of money for my therapy <333 thank uuuuu !!!!