The Folkestone School for Girls

pros- food can be alright education is alright fsg bacc is really good supports lgbt cons- a teacher got caught watching porn pretty shit abt support doesnt care abt mh overpriced food too many stairs gosh

My child has been bullied by her teacher and then the staff team closed ranks, covered her back and put my child down and made fun of her between themselves, this encouraged and enabled the bullying that was already going by some of the pupils, but grew into over 30 pupils bullying my child probably due to a number of them knowing that my child wasn't liked by her teachers. School have lied about my child and then have been deliberately obstructive when I requested the evidence. They referred my family to social services in retaliation for my raising and not dropping a complaint about the staff conduct. Bullying was only taken seriously because the police became involved. Keep children away from thus school, it isn't a safe space.

The opportunities and education are great but the MH support let's it down completely. I wish they would take us more seriously, and actually deal with problems rather than making them worse and complaining about having to do a job they're paid to do. Great education, lots of opportunity, but that means less when SLT support is minimal at best.

HEAD TEACH=mole Lester no one here is mentally developed Mid=Food over price thanks to economy scarlet pasta boloñesa= WATER WITH CEMENT every day i wake up and i hope your dead

Went here for 5 years from year 7-11. 2017-22 im only leaving beacuse im the type of person to like moving around and stuff Pros: -ive had lovely teachers in this school that genuinely care about the students and are quite chill as well, but of course be a good student too tho, even if you are academically lacking, they still want to help, just dont give up! (It was quite a scene seeing a girl just not do the class work or even start to try during the lessons and seeing my teacher try so hard to get her motivated to work or atleast look through the meterial which was quite sad. All the best to her idk if she had her own problems or something.) -we have a great headmaster who has changed and implemented a lot of things for the better like the new extracurricular activities available for the students like DofE, CCF and other clubs and stuff. - it academically challenges the students which is good but also depends on the teacher you have, i suggest if the meterial is getting too easy, just let them know because thats better than wasting your time in school doing nothing like i did ha -the lunch has a salad bar if anyone is interested in the cold food line, theres also hot dinner too -netball is a big thing in this school, of course there are other sports teams too but this is a big one if anyone is interested -really nice field perfect for summer and some beanches and a small hidden picnic area too that the staff hand out blankets to sit on during lunch which is so peaceful under the shade -during lunch times you can use the ict computers for school work and stuff which is really handy for last minute stuff and projects, thank you the staff for that -they care about recycling and the environment so they recycle their papers, and get food sourced locally and use recyclable cutlery and pots which is cool -they support LGBTQ+ ppl and have their support group too which the students themselves run, there are many open people here too which is the norm here Cons: -my friends in a different class had a casually rasict geography teacher that impacted the way she taught the class about world poverty and of other counties which is quite concerning as most students seem to be middle class white girls and these lessons may be the only form of knowledge about other countries -some of the younger students like the 2019 intake and above are really weird like, they havent developed emotionally and mentally as well like normal kids should have. Me and the other older students are theoriesed that it was because of covid and their development may be lacking...ALOT. hopefully this will improve as things have begun to get back to normal but the effects of covid on the development of young adolescents is quite striking. -this is going to come off as rude but im not sure on why the school has the set 3's and even 4's which are the lowest set of academically proforming students. The standards of a grammar school should be higher, which it is for the set 1 and 2's but once you get to set 3 and god 4 then i feel as though it would be better for both the students and the school if they just didnt have them. What is the point of coming to a grammar school with peers that you cant really keep up with, there is no shame to be going to a non-grammar school. I had a friend that enrolled with me here but couldnt keep up with the other students as well and became so stressed because of the expectations of a grammar student that they left to another local secondary school and had a better mind set there and could work more efficiently there as well. Ive been surrounded with peers of similar and even better academically smart capabilities which help in me keeping on track with my own progress but this wont be the same for everyone. So keep in mind the type of learning environment that you can handle. I feel as though some of the lower sets feel a sence of shame for being in those sets when compared to the higher sets when those students could be doing better and happier at a different school. -the lunch food is mid and overpriced which has increased as the years passed probably due to inflation etc so bring your own food mate -the way the SDLs handle personal issues of the students such as abuse, mental health and financial support could be handled a lot better, such as maybe not discussing the topics in a busy and public setting, or with just a student and 2 teachers not really listenig to the students side like an interrogation. If you have problems that you would like to discuss then it would be wise to ask if you could bring a trusted friend of talk about stuff in a quieter setting instead -the canteen can get really busy during lunch and especially so during special dinners so keep that in mind especially as it is a small place to que -lots and lots of stairs, i dont mind it because u get used to it but some ppl with injuries or stuff may find it hard to travel between levels and buildings. For example i had a schedual where i had to travel through 7 floors on one day, but this is rare of course, it gets quite fun actually -a few drug related drama here but thats quite normal for schools and isnt as bad as the other local schools so this is a con and a pro???? -lots of seagulls during summer when eating outside so be wary haha I feel like covid really messed things up for the older students who went here si ce we missed out on ccf and other newer things they added but it will be a great place for the new students who get all to use all of these facillities and stuff. Lucky bas***ds.

awful school, still currently there. do not get on at all and just hoping for school days to finish a lot quicker but then may also be due to my approach??

Amazing school would recommend 100% to anyone who is wanting / thinking of going there!

My experience at this school was not the best and probably the most stressful years of my life, student support was rubbish and only cared about two students in the whole year group, she was racist too and somehow got away with it, the way they would deal with incidents was awful and unprofessional. It’s an all girls school so you get the whole mean girls environment and that alone is tiring to be around, as there is a lot of drama and bullying. Went almost two whole years without active PE lessons because we had to do just theory, which wasn’t healthy and actually illegal as active sports lessons each week is a legal requirement in schools, I would not have recommended this school to anyone at the time, I went through a lot of anxiety and poor mental health by the time I had finished my time here that has really effected me. Was also being forced to take foundation in a gcse subject because my teacher said I would never pass higher, luckily I didnt listen and did higher anyway and I passed so... However they had a change of management and the current headteacher has turned the school around, he’s a really lovely guy that cares about the students and their well-being, he has also added lots of new facilities for sports like a new dance studio etc so it’s nice to see they have been making changes and improved their student support from what I’ve been hearing, just a shame he wasn’t headteacher when I was there... This man deserves an award for everything he’s done to improve the school.

It is an all girl's school but it fully supports the LGBT community and therefore the non-female students, over half the school leaves LGBT, including me but there is no bullying and all the teachers are supportive, they have an understanding of mental health and have a lot of teacher who help with it, and there is a lot to do outside of lessons.