Shirebrook Academy

After 5 years of being a student at Shirebrook Academy, I feel it is time to write a review that truly summarises my experience of being a student at the school. It's difficult to just portray the school in one way, as the quality of education completely varies from one lesson to the next, as well as the treatment of issues by staff and the Leadership Team.

No school is perfect, but Shirebrook takes this to a new low. In regards to lessons, as previously mentioned, the quality of the education you receive completely varies from lesson to lesson. For example, my Biology lessons over the GCSE course have been entirely interrupted, having two different teachers, neither of which could effectively teach the content. This is evident through how our class only learned the Required Practicals for Paper 2 *on the day of the exam*, and were taught them by our Physics teacher, as our Biology teacher had not previously bothered to do so. Furthermore, our lessons in this subject were inconsistent, with most lessons clearly having no concise plan whilst the "teacher" read from the slides of a PowerPoint he found from 2014, which contained content from the old GCSE Biology course from before the switch in 2016. These sessions only formed effective lessons when supervised by both the Principal and the Head of Science, evidencing that the teacher only cared for educating us when he knew he actually had to.

Elsewhere in the school, the majority of teaching staff are either supply staff or have joined in the last 2 years, creating a completely inconsistent education for all students. Out of 56 teachers in the school, only 32 have been employed by the school for 5 years or more, showcasing the terrible retention rate the school possesses. As students, we've seen teachers cry over the stresses placed on them by the Leadership Team after poor Ofsted inspections. We've seen brilliant, helpful teachers leave, unable to cope with the school for any longer. We've seen countless new rules, regulations and routines forced onto both staff and students, just for the rules to completely change a few weeks later. It's pointless bureaucracy, that is only used as a weak and pointless attempt to improve school standards.

Personally, I am a student with additional needs in exams, and so requested after my SATs, at the start of Y7, to have either rest breaks or a laptop for future exams. This request was ignored. As the curriculum is rarely assessed by the school at KS3 level, this did not really affect my school experience and so I chose to ignore the fact and just carry on as normal. Then, when GCSE mocks began at the start of Y10, it became clear that previous exam arrangements would be necessary. So, my form tutor put in the request again. Ignored again. Finally, at the beginning of Y11, our requests were heard and I received exam arrangements. Until I didn't. The first exam where I was finally given a laptop, nobody had taught me how to go about using a laptop in exam conditions. So I asked, and was quite literally bullied by the Chief Invigilator and my Pastoral Support Manager into not using a laptop.

"What, have you never used a laptop before!?!?" "You don't normally use a laptop in exams, are you sure you need it?"
- Just some of the comments made to me during a mock exam by the adults invigilating

This theme is not uncommon, either. Very little is done for SEN students. For example, one student who is normally in a different room for their exams to avoid stress and anxiety was forced into the normal exam hall, with no reasoning or explanation. Another student had their dyslexic-friendly exam paper (in an actual GCSE exam) thrown in the bin, as the invigilators assumed the yellow paper it was printed on was a printing error, meaning that the student had to complete their exam on a dirty paper that had been in the bin. Another example would show a laptop being fixed by IT support staff on a student's exam desk in a GCSE English exam for over 20 minutes. If you need extra support in exams, Shirebrook is not the place to receive this.

However, there are some good parts to the school, and they can't be ignored. Lunchtimes are staggered, separating KS3 and KS4 students, meaning that it's less crowded and a more friendly, relaxing environment to be a part of. Additionally, the large majority of teaching staff want only the best for students, and will work hard to achieve this, such as offering their classroom as an extra study space, or making time to speak to students who are struggling. Teachers make the school as good as it can be, and this review is in no way aimed at those who do.

The school needs more support for teachers, more support for SEN students, a greater focus on lessening the gap in quality of lessons and more awareness of their own mistakes, rather than trying to mask them.

One day, it could be a good school, but in its current state, I would never recommend Shirebrook Academy to anyone.

Staff support could’ve been a lot better. As an ex-student, the rules have gotten extremely stricter and have gone too far. There was only 2 teachers throughout my whole 5 years at the academy in which supported me. The rest of them knew about my mental health, but could not care less.

One of the teachers here admitted that of all the schools they'd been to, this was the most bigoted. They're are lots of very cruel people here but some are really nice too. Most of the teachers are really nice and easy to talk to, and the education is ok

Good school but like beware of the teachers they're proper weird init