Saint Paul's Catholic High School

I was very cruelly bullied as a staff member at Saint Paul's. My anxiety and depression was so serious that I needed medical treatment - I could no longer do the job in which I had been trained. The bullying came from the top down and implemented by middle managers. Unreasonable workloads, contract issues and humiliating me in front of colleagues. Please, put your health first and accept employment elsewhere.

Was bullied relentlessly and got accused of being the person doing the bullying.
A couple of the teachers act sketchy and act in an unprofessional way towards students.
The school gives no choice to opt out of mass or strict Catholic ceremonies, even if you are of different faith. You are forced to participate in Catholic services and are put in detention/isolation if you refuse to participate

Let’s get a few things out of the way. I’m an autistic, depressed, anxiety ridden person. At the beginning of year nine I was diagnosed and the school received an EHCP to help me learn better and recieve extra help. I was not given that. Instead, I was pulled into the hub and sent to the small room at the back where the kettle was, along with a computer, a few books and a desk. Nobody came in to see me and just left me to teach myself using outside resources like bbc bite size. Proper care was never given to special needs students and I can actively advocate that the teachers did not care. After a while I was finally given a laminated card that allowed me to leave the classroom and go to the hub for around ten to twenty minutes to try and do some work there and recollect my thoughts. First time I used it I was immediately sent away without any compromise. Nothing. It was a joke. Towards my year ten exams I became overstimulated and ended up overdosing on my antidepressants, proceeded to walk to school in an hour, which usually took fifteen minutes, and once I got there the necessary policies and precautions weren’t followed. Instead of calling an ambulance they called my frantic mother who almost crashed the car to and from the hospital where she worked. A teacher pulled me into a room while I waited for her to collect me and instead of looking for any signs of disassociation, she instead asked why I did it. At the time it was simple impulse and stress that made me do it. But because of how much pressure I was under, I spilled out all of my grievances. How the school did nothing for me, how they simply left me to rot in a room for a whole year before trying to sort out my education plan that they were being paid thousands by the government to do, but postponed. I said the teachers were rude and uncaring, and they simply weren’t fit to teach any student with special needs, and it was only making matters worse for kids like me. The teacher I said all this to brushed it off as ‘tough love’. It didn’t quite click what she said at first, but after a few hours at the hospital I told my mother and she was beyond angry. Same day she went back to the school after about an hour and demanded to see the headteacher, who wasn’t even told about what happened, not even the assistant head. They had no clue what happened and nothing was getting done about it at all. After some colourful language was thrown at the teacher who told me the school was only showing me tough love, my mum made a meeting date for the next day so she could think, and left. The next day she had an entire binder full of papers, policies that the school should’ve followed and ignored, standards set by ofsted and the government that were the baseline of all schools across the country. She laid every single card down on the table and the school had nothing. We should’ve sued now that I think back on it, or at least let ofsted know. Even after what happened, I took a few days off to try and make myself feel better by going to civic with my mum, and an art teacher stopped me and asked what I was doing outside of school. I said I was sick but she clearly didn’t believe me, and told the school about it. Not ten minutes later we were called and asked why I wasn’t in school, and my mum told me to leave the car and go in the house as we just got back, but from what she told me and from what I could hear as I walked to the doorstep, it probably wasn’t the most polite of conversations.

Overall I think this school is a joke. A lousy compilation of lies set by uncaring teachers and ignorant staff. If you see this and plan to enroll your child there, or plan to choose this place yourself, it’s not worth the torment. Homeschool, online school, or extra travel costs to go somewhere else are worth every penny. The school is dangerous and frankly should not be boasting about their high standards, other than strict uniform codes. You or your child deserve more, I can confidently say that this school will be one of the worst chapters of my life, and I will never take that statement back.

You see, I went there and on 3+ accounts I got bullied severely. On 2 occasions, the bullying led to me being followed home after school and another occasion the persons father turned up at my doorstep and threatened me. The school found out and did nothing to prevent anything further from happening. Instead, they told me off and even claimed I was swearing at a girl o a day that I wasn't on the school grounds but I was on a trip without said girl.


They care little for the wellbeing of the students and i barely got an education due to never having a full time teacher, it was always substitute teachers teaching the same thing.

Overall,not a good experience and nothing is enforced except uniform that can often go overlooked. Dont get a nose or lip piercing during school term or they will put you in isolation if you don't take it out eventhough it needs to stay in whilst it heals.

As a former pupil of this high school I can give you the honest truth about the school. After moving from school to school growing up I can safely say Saint Pauls was where I was the highest in achieving for myself and getting the right grades i needed. From year 8 to year 10 I wasn’t very well behaved my punctuality and behaviour wasn’t the best whilst some teachers did give up on me there is only a select few who never did, those teachers shaped me for who I am today and I’ll be forever in debt. I can’t lie some teachers did give up on students to easily especially if they didn’t like a student to me that was very unfair and uncalled for this meant many students felt worthless because everyone around them was given up on them. As far as diversity this school is very inclusive it has many members of the LGBTQ+ community it has had past trans-gender students it’s also has people with disabilities, minority people and people of all cultures and ethnicities. Many students see the school as their safe place and they are right to do so. I highly recommend sending your child here there are many teachers who are willing to risk a lot to just ensure your child is safe and looked after.