Rugby High School

This school is made to seem like the perfect place to outsiders but actually it’s all an act. For starters, the school cannot deal well with its students problems. For example, students in year 7 are told that they cannot talk about the issues to each other or else they will get behaviour points, but at the same time, the school gives assemblies and ‘boomerang’ Sessions about how talking to each other about problems can fix them. In year 9, pressure is massively increased, especially in core subjects (In science You start GCSE content in the final term) and also in choosing your options for GCSE. This year, students had to deal with a 12 lesson day (not including form) Which a lot of students found overwhelming. This day included a talk about
A-Levels, which some students hadn’t thought about and made the day even more stressful. The pastoral team are hard to speak to, as what you say never seems to be kept private, and there is big windows into all 4 of the pastoral team’s office. The school Have tried to make things better with the ‘Peer Listeners’ who hear your problems and give you advice. These are sixth formers, which for lower school students, can be even more intimidating so has not really helped the issue. As well as this, anyone is allowed to come in at any point, so if you want to speak out, there is no way of doing this privately. The canteen practically sells 4 options a day- potato, a meat food, a veggie version of the same meat foot or a sandwich (which are sold out by the end of break). I would not recommend this school especially if you want your mental health to be respected instead of your grades.

Great, always supportive of everyone.
Cares about what people think and teachers are all wonderful towards students!

I am a former pupil who had a very bad time at this school. I was bullied for being Asian . I went here when it was mainly Caucasian. None of the teachers asked me how I was but questioned me for being quiet. I was told by a teacher that I cannot be a doctor because I only wanted to do it because I was Indian and gave me a bad reference for uni.

The school demanded high grades and I was ok with that. I did not get offers and rang uni myself and asked for interview by explaining the racist reference I had been given by a teacher. They gave me a place and thankfully despite this school I succeeded. I went to the head who did nothing as he was a popular teacher. The ethos of education over mental health and bullying has not changed.

Be careful. You do not need to go to a “top 100 “ school to do well

Coming here will really benefit your educa- I mean, your grades. Regardless of what you actually know or don't know, they make sure you regurgitate the right things. Okay, that's not entirely true. Some teachers are great and make sure you really are learning the subject. Some do not. Either way, you WILL get good grades if they can help it, for the sake of their reputation.

Another review talks about people being made to drop GCSEs to keep up rep, they're right. Same goes for A-Levels in some cases; I was one of them. Being in this environment messes with the way you measure success. For my GCSEs I got mostly 8s, two 7s, and two 6s. In my head that wasn't good enough. Mostly A*s with a couple As and Bs isn't good enough? Not to mention how much free time you're expected to sink into studying just to pass the mark.

Coming here will really diminish your anxie- I mean, your mental health.
I wasn't exactly great in that department before showing up at RHS, and being there both did and didn't help:
It DID help because of the typically calm classrooms, (mostly) kind teachers, and the existence of a pastoral team.
It DIDN'T help because of the social politics, pressure to do better than well, and the existence of a pastoral team. Yes, I wrote that twice. To be honest, I don't know where I stand with pastoral. On one hand, they genuinely offered helpful resources on more than one occasion. On the other hand, they are where you get sent every time you show cracks, and it feels like they don't want you there. They're very busy, they need to follow policy, and you're unstable. It's not a great combo.

As for the social aspect, fit in or get out. I was never popular, I occupied the space in the far corner with a couple other people. These big, popular groups that took up the rest of the room, hated each other, and hated you, were just a fact of life. The school as a whole claims to be tolerant, and so do these groups, but...

Anyway, I miss my friends, not the school.

absolutely dreadful. such high expectations based on one exam done in year 6 and hard to keep up when everyone else seems to be. also soo boring and so many rules for no reason.

This school is the worst school I have ever been to. My mental health is suffering due to the immense pressure that RHS puts on their students for exams and general performance. If you value your life, please don't go to this school. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

Generally a great school, most teachers are really competent but a few are slightly lacking. I love that they teach Latin and classics as it's a rare subject.
Textiles classes I really hate because the school doesn't offer any classes that could be useful in the outside world such as dt, woodwork, or anything similar and even in sewing you're not taught how to make clothes or follow a pattern, instead you're forced to design pin cushions and make pictures of teapots.
Food is generally okay but they always serve a meat and veg version of the same thing, such as meat lasagne and vegetable lasagne or chilli con carne and vegetable chilli, which means that if you don't like what's on offer you're forced to buy a potato or sandwich.
I've never been referred to pastoral but if I had a problem I wouldn't talk to them. There's a window in the door so everyone walking past would know you had issues and the staff seem as though they would take things as being far more serious than they actually are; a friend of mine was referred in year seven because she had minor anxiety and they acted as if she had severe depression and suicidal thoughts.
The school seems to be coping with covid as well as they can but there are too many seating plans. We all have biology, chemistry, physics and PRS in the same class but I have three different seating plans; they're not as efficient as they could be and they're difficult to remember since they vary from classroom to classroom as well.
Exam stress is slightly more than other schools but I guess that's to be expected.
Like I said, general teaching and classroom atmosphere great so it's mostly a really good school.

The pastoral team don't care about the kids and treat them like tasks to complete. Trans people aren't given the space they need and are constantly watched for mental issues by teachers. People who don't want and won't be helped by intervention through pastoral are forced to anyway.
Grades you get are good, mental state you get is horrendous because the stress they place on you is huge.
The food is gross and overpriced, if you're vegetarian then good luck finding a meal that actually contains protein.

Got a good rep because it lets in students who arent gonna get low grades

Seen people being made to drop gcses so it doesnt impact rep

Most of the teachers are brilliant but some are awful and theres no inbetween

class gap, good luck ever mixing properly with some people. Really dominated by people who dont want to speak to you if you talk a certain way / dont want to go to uni but go on to chat abt feminism and equality

A LOT of forced, inaccurate, politics. Taught about the wage gap without it ever being broken down or explained, always get female speakers making you feel guilty if ur not going into science.

Good luck if u wanna go into engineering lol. They want you to sew.

Shame because academically its great, pastoral team are also good.

Expect u to have a plan for life by age 15 and look down on u if you wanna go into employment and not uni/ just do smth else.

Good support from teachers if you need help on a certain subject and loads of facilities to help you work/ research/ catch up.

Imran was a ledge and they fired him because he couldnt actually fix a PC but the new IT team arent any better.

Basically great for learning if youre able to ignore the people and the elitist environment you get stuck in sometimes.

Jabs day is funny and the caf was great until jamie oliver made everything taste like expired cardboard.

Most annoying is this constant reiteration of the fact youre an 'rhs student' and that its a 'cool and hip school' thats super special and unique just bc they held a couple assemblies on dumb topics and some teachers did tiktoks once.

V stressful w cool teachers