This school is a horrible school, teachers don’t help with bullying at all. Many students had to leave to be homeschooled due to many traumas. Teachers don’t help with mental and physical needs (anxiety, dyslexia ect). Very dirty school nothing is ever cleaned and is just very dirty overall especially in the toilets. Students aren’t listened to and respected. Food is overpriced and gross (£4 for a small, raw sausage roll). No after school activities. No safety, people have ran out many times including people not in stlaurence have walked into the school. Grades are so low due to poor education. Please do not send your kids here.
During my time at st Laurence I received no help whatsoever whilst getting bullied. Many students left this school as they had an awful experience as staff wouldn’t help. Headteacher is very rude and shouldn’t be qualified as he gets down in students faces and screams at them whilst they cry. Also the food is very overpriced and raw. Personally I would never recommend this school to anyone. They also wouldn’t help less gifted people who struggle with mental health and only prioritised the ‘smart’ people who make the school ‘look good’
Bullying runs rampant in this hellhole. Instead of doing something about said bullying after the suicide of a year 9, they instead focus more on mental health briefings, which aren't inherently bad, what's bad is that they don't take any action against bullying whatsoever.
School food is horrible and is only consistent in being stale. Most teachers are nice as long as your class doesn't act up.
Headteacher is more of a dictator than anything.
As for activities, there isn't much to do other than the field being open rarely during the summer, so the most eventful thing to happen is the fire alarm being pulled. Don't go here.
i had an awful time as a student at st laurence. the excellent academic reputation of the school puts the teachers on pedestals and they will stop at nothing to uptake it, at the cost of many students' mental health. the behavioural system is nothing short of barbaric and is heavily infantilising towards older students. there is no sense of pride in the school and reinforcing a strict dress code has not aided this, opposing the outdated belief by senior staff members that it does. grouped punishments are a favourite amongst staff members, blanket bans frequently put into place due to small groups of students bending rules. the interior of the school is crumbling in areas, and the money that should be going towards fixing this is going into converting the school into a devoutly religious institution. accessing mental health support will take you to a building which quite literally does appear to be falling apart, and this is the sole space for wellbeing on the school site. everyone i've known who attended st laurence jokes about being traumatised from their time there, however this does appear to border on a truth.
if you are a teacher reading this, i'd like you to do one thing. take your foot off the gas for a day. every single one of your students is exhausted. trust me, i've been in a 30-strong classroom. nobody is happy there.
Ur all twats xx the food is mank and over priced I'm actually so fed up w having to go to here it's full of nonces and bullies 😍 fr driving me mad do better x
Lots of homophobia and abuse towards students less physically gifted. But also a good system of teachers to talk about you mental health or things at home to
look the school has a mental health power point pretty much every tutorial i think the main issue is them actually helping people with mental health when there is a issue with it the put the study support which is in the corner of the campus
This school doesn’t handle bullying at all. They don’t deal with raciest comments or homophobic comments whatsoever. It’s a horrible school awful with manage movements. Teachers will yell at students and not even try to listen to their reasons for actions. They cause stress on the students not understanding their mental health. Overall a horrible school and not at all a good recommendation
This will be easiest to work through the sections:
- (Grades) The school is one of the best for grades in Wiltshire, but that seems to be the only thing they prioritise sometimes.
- (Environments) The environments are average. Indoors is clean but often a little old and damaged. Outdoors there is fields and seating but nothing more really.
- (Safety) As for this, it’s quite open. The gates aren’t locked as the site is shared with the Wiltshire music centre where people do walk through often. The public can pass through the school areas freely.
- (Teachers) Some are nice, some aren’t but that’s to be expected with all schools I guess… The teachers could 100% be more understanding however. So many students here deal with mental health issues and teachers don’t often take that into consideration. The TA’s seem to be even less understanding when it comes to arrivals etc.
- (Activities) There’s plenty of clubs to join, so that’s good.
- (Handling Bullying) I myself have seen bullying and have had to step in. I haven’t experienced it myself or seen it other than that so it must be dealt with.
- (Equal Rights) In terms of race, ethnicity etc, the school is great. It’s not diverse at all; considering it’s in Bradford-on-Avon that is understandable, but the few minorities that are here are given the same treatment as anyone else. PE is a little sexist with the sports you do but that’s to be expected I suppose.
- (Food) The food is the same as any other schools get. Some of it is nice, however it is SO overpriced for what you get.
- (Code of conduct) Sorry but this is absolutely terrible. Girls are being stopped left and right for their skirts by both female and male teachers. The rules are extremely strict with makeup, jewellery so be prepared to only be allowed the smallest of studs. You have to follow strict rules on hair styles. Your ankles are absolutely not allowed to be on show and you must not wear any coloured coat that isn’t navy or black. Oh, and it must NOT have ANY logos on it.
- (Personal Development) The school pushes you for work ethic and most students do make an improvement in their grades. As mentioned before, that is prioritised over mental health, so that is often forgotten about and neglected. So many students here struggle with their mental health; something needs to be done about that.
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Overall, it’s a good school for grades and academic ability but not so much your personal well being. Compared to John of Gaunt and Clarendon for example, it is a great school.
It's an alright school but they should be doing more about mental health and to connect with the students instead of jumping to conclusions and assuming they've done smth wrong then leveling them
about to leave and very happy about it, ever since joining this secondary school suffered with depression and been anxious due to stupid rules and ruthless teachers. The school says they care about mental health when they clearly don’t, they only care about uniform and grades - why does having earrings in effect your learning?! Received no support from the school after then being informed of being on antidepressants and suffering with depression , only given extra time for an hour a eeek to do homework, no councilling, nobody to check up on me and teachers forgotten after a week. So happy i’m leaving.
Had a terrible experience there from year 9-11 where my mental health was grinded away at by not only teachers but also relentless bullying that wasn’t handled, the way they deal with mental health is disgusting and I’ve had to receive counciling for years now in the aftermath.
I was assaulted in a lesson as well and the school took no further action and I was continued to be bullied
I don’t not recommend this school in the slightest and have heard many things from other students which are outrageous!
This school needs to be reported to ofstead.
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