See all schools in Sherborne DT9
The Gryphon School
Secondary · Academy · Sherborne
"I wish I knew about this website when I was about to choose School"
Lisa, parent
"Finally, one can access the opinions of other students completely transparently."
Fredrik, student
Get access to exclusive content, available only on SchoolParrot!
1 month
£2.99
First month. Then £4.99 / month
1 year
£19
Best valueFirst year. Then £39 / year.
For Schools and school staff
Do you work as a principal or school staff? Take control of your SchoolParrot profile. Click here
Tiring and draining
It drains u it rlly upsets u people are horrible and it’s such a big school 2000 people actually, and it feels like all 2000 hate me. But it’s good for learning but it’s very stressful learning it’s not relaxed it gets to your head and shuts it off that’s my opinion anyway so no offence. Food is good tho
poor
I was heavily bullied at this school my parents sent emails upon emails and they did nothing at all I was threatened by kids older than me when I was in year 7 and the teachers did nothing at all to help me with my anxiety that I developed from this they do not care about the kids here the education is poor they do not have enough support here for kids who are struggling with mental health I wouldn’t send your kid here
There needs to be change
I won't touch on the schools policy and treatment of children with learning difficulties or any special needs as I don't have knowledge or experience of this and don't wish to speculate.
TLDR poor teachers you need to get lucky to enjoy or learn, food is extortionate, school isn't in the best condition, toilets are not open and you aren't allowed to use them, pastoral care is horrendous and there is no support, bullying is rife and not dealt with. Please read below for more details on specific aspects.
This school always had the most outstanding reputation. When deciding on the secondary school you wanted to go to the recommendation from parents and teachers would be the gryphon. This is because of the Ofsted results as well as the exam results are large amount of feeder schools in the local area. It would generally be high on the list for students. However I cannot recom this school to the vast majority.
If you are athletic this could be a good school the club's and sports teams are alright and there is information on dates for games and training. Although if you are the vast majority of people who either want to study or just get through school because you have to this is not a good choice.
Education
The education provided simply is not good enough, there is no large variety of teachers that can provide a sufficient learning experience. Every year when recieving your timetable it feels like a lottery on whether you get the good teachers. There are very few desired teachers and if you don't get the nicer ones or the actually good teachers it is going to be a slow painful year. It should not be like this, you shouldn't want students begging for other teachers, teachers they have falling ill, getting substitutes or just not receiving a sufficient attempt of education. I am more than aware especially around years 7,8 and 9 not everyone wants to be there and most students are bored and just mess around but when you have a seemingly detrimental faculty it makes this even worse.
Support
The support is horrible it is not good there might as well not even be an attempt as what they provide as educational support and mental health support is detrimental a redistribution of resources is better than whatever help they think they are providing. Most teachers don't feel motivated or compelled to help students who struggle with or don't understand material. There obviously are exceptions but they are few and far between. Assistantance with exams such as; extra time, use of IT, scribes and readers are available but they are not publicly know at all. You need to be recommended by a teacher for these aids which I was only offered once in 5 years at this school in which I was in year 10 doing my mock exams and struggling due to the lack of support. I was only told about the possibility of this support after a significant struggle and after having 1 to 1 sessions with the teacher who ended up recommending this just to get me to catch back up to the rest of the students.
The pastoral care is non existent it is pathetic, young people under lots of pressure as well as massive changes in their lives are bound to have some wobbles that's natural. But that's where reassurance from the staff and curriculum should reassure the students and to take the load of stress and get them through any issues in school, at home and within themselves. They are supposed to be role models but as previously mentioned the staff don't care. In this case it's quite likely for just a normal phase of worry or low moods to develop into more serious issues. This is obviously not a widespread issue with every student experiencing this some won't even notice or care. But when you look for help there is none if you ask a member of staff what to do they give you generally unhelpful advice like "pay attention in class then you won't have this problem" "sleep more" "study at least 3/4 hours every day" they seem obvious and potentially helpful but if you are struggling with concentration or the class is disruptive absorbing content is hard plus any personal events that may be weighing people down become this becomes hard. They also mention to sleep early and for 8 -10 hours but they also highly encourage clubs, extra curricular activities constant study then expect you to wake up early and be as alert as possible throughout the whole day. This is too much of an expectation which only leads to an 'i told you so' when you don't do this and struggle.
Mental health is an issue wherever you go in life but in the gryphon it festers and grow. This is largely to the lack of help but also the horrific bullying policy and methods of enforcing these and punishing students is abysmal. There basically isn't a bullying policy not one that is seen or heard about it just comes down to either tell the teacher, stick with it, ignore then or go to the ' Blue Room ' this only makes things worse for the affected student. Bullies are not punished in a meaningful or useful manner they don't under their actions and just repeat it because there is no downside for them, it's funny and they feel good about themselves and they don't get punished really. This is downright negligence to the mental health and welfare of students.
The blue room is the school's way of offering a quiet place to unwind and escape from bullies, this room also acts as the hub for learning support for students with disabilities. First of all the name is awful it just sounds depressing and doesn't encourage people to visit. There is no support in the blue room despite that being it's purpose. There is nothing to do and you are just left with your own thoughts.
Food
The food is of good enough quality but the price is not acceptable. Everything is way too overpriced, I under stand the school needs a form of profit to help maintain the school and buying supplies but you can easily spend £10 on lunch with just a couple items. A small bread roll is 20p whereas a sandwich is ~£2.50 sounds fine but when you are put through the daily trial of going to school and going through the aforementioned events you get hungry and find the need to buy multiple things a snack for break and a large quantity of food for lunch. This completely outprices those students who don't have £10 a day to spend of food. It is a stupid system and there is no other options for food while at school you just have to suck it up if you didn't bring lunch.
The maintenance of equipment, school supplies and the building is not great. Many walls have dents and scrapes along them, lots of tables are uneven and scratched, covered in chewing gum underneath. Chairs are filthy with who knows what covering the seat. Gym equipment is well maintained and there is a good variety of this. But bins are often full or overflowing litter is on the floor. Water fountains rarely ever work even if they are switched on at all. Toilets are never unlocked, this is a major problem the toilets get locked before the end of school if they were even unlocked that day to begin with. Staff have said they lock the toilets to keep them in good condition, so if you can fine one toilet that is free lucky you. But if you are in a lesson you usually won't be allowed to go at all. Though you can gain sympathy by being a girl and you will always be allowed to search for an open one during lunch( due to periods ) you shouldn't be locking toilets just to keep them clean and to keep students out of them and causing trouble and you need to let people actually use them.
There needs to be significant management changes in every way as well as staff changes and training. What seemed to be considered a great school to go to can not even be recommended. The school almost brain washes the students with the message of it being a good place to be and learn they completely down play other learning establishments and actively participate in making other options seem pathetic and like educational and professional suicide. They do not mention the options student have after GCSE and do not explain how these systems work well. Apprenticeships aren't mentioned and local colleges are displayed as poor alternatives for education with only idiots going to them. This is despite glowing reviews from ofsted and students of these colleges. You are not encouraged to seek any other path than GCSEs, A-level, University. There is no demonstration of options you can take and the freedom you have to decide what you want to do, it feels like pressure to do the ideal path.
On the positive side the history department is incredibly strong and always has been the teachers there of amazing quality there is a large variety with great senses of humour and ways of helping you learn about more complex and specific aspects of history. The English depart is generally alright as well but that is about it for strong points.
TLDR poor teachers you need to get lucky to enjoy or learn, food is extortionate, school isn't in the best condition, toilets are not open and you aren't allowed to use them, pastoral care is horrendous and there is no support, bullying is rife and not dealt with. Please read below for more details on specific aspects.
This school always had the most outstanding reputation. When deciding on the secondary school you wanted to go to the recommendation from parents and teachers would be the gryphon. This is because of the Ofsted results as well as the exam results are large amount of feeder schools in the local area. It would generally be high on the list for students. However I cannot recom this school to the vast majority.
If you are athletic this could be a good school the club's and sports teams are alright and there is information on dates for games and training. Although if you are the vast majority of people who either want to study or just get through school because you have to this is not a good choice.
Education
The education provided simply is not good enough, there is no large variety of teachers that can provide a sufficient learning experience. Every year when recieving your timetable it feels like a lottery on whether you get the good teachers. There are very few desired teachers and if you don't get the nicer ones or the actually good teachers it is going to be a slow painful year. It should not be like this, you shouldn't want students begging for other teachers, teachers they have falling ill, getting substitutes or just not receiving a sufficient attempt of education. I am more than aware especially around years 7,8 and 9 not everyone wants to be there and most students are bored and just mess around but when you have a seemingly detrimental faculty it makes this even worse.
Support
The support is horrible it is not good there might as well not even be an attempt as what they provide as educational support and mental health support is detrimental a redistribution of resources is better than whatever help they think they are providing. Most teachers don't feel motivated or compelled to help students who struggle with or don't understand material. There obviously are exceptions but they are few and far between. Assistantance with exams such as; extra time, use of IT, scribes and readers are available but they are not publicly know at all. You need to be recommended by a teacher for these aids which I was only offered once in 5 years at this school in which I was in year 10 doing my mock exams and struggling due to the lack of support. I was only told about the possibility of this support after a significant struggle and after having 1 to 1 sessions with the teacher who ended up recommending this just to get me to catch back up to the rest of the students.
The pastoral care is non existent it is pathetic, young people under lots of pressure as well as massive changes in their lives are bound to have some wobbles that's natural. But that's where reassurance from the staff and curriculum should reassure the students and to take the load of stress and get them through any issues in school, at home and within themselves. They are supposed to be role models but as previously mentioned the staff don't care. In this case it's quite likely for just a normal phase of worry or low moods to develop into more serious issues. This is obviously not a widespread issue with every student experiencing this some won't even notice or care. But when you look for help there is none if you ask a member of staff what to do they give you generally unhelpful advice like "pay attention in class then you won't have this problem" "sleep more" "study at least 3/4 hours every day" they seem obvious and potentially helpful but if you are struggling with concentration or the class is disruptive absorbing content is hard plus any personal events that may be weighing people down become this becomes hard. They also mention to sleep early and for 8 -10 hours but they also highly encourage clubs, extra curricular activities constant study then expect you to wake up early and be as alert as possible throughout the whole day. This is too much of an expectation which only leads to an 'i told you so' when you don't do this and struggle.
Mental health is an issue wherever you go in life but in the gryphon it festers and grow. This is largely to the lack of help but also the horrific bullying policy and methods of enforcing these and punishing students is abysmal. There basically isn't a bullying policy not one that is seen or heard about it just comes down to either tell the teacher, stick with it, ignore then or go to the ' Blue Room ' this only makes things worse for the affected student. Bullies are not punished in a meaningful or useful manner they don't under their actions and just repeat it because there is no downside for them, it's funny and they feel good about themselves and they don't get punished really. This is downright negligence to the mental health and welfare of students.
The blue room is the school's way of offering a quiet place to unwind and escape from bullies, this room also acts as the hub for learning support for students with disabilities. First of all the name is awful it just sounds depressing and doesn't encourage people to visit. There is no support in the blue room despite that being it's purpose. There is nothing to do and you are just left with your own thoughts.
Food
The food is of good enough quality but the price is not acceptable. Everything is way too overpriced, I under stand the school needs a form of profit to help maintain the school and buying supplies but you can easily spend £10 on lunch with just a couple items. A small bread roll is 20p whereas a sandwich is ~£2.50 sounds fine but when you are put through the daily trial of going to school and going through the aforementioned events you get hungry and find the need to buy multiple things a snack for break and a large quantity of food for lunch. This completely outprices those students who don't have £10 a day to spend of food. It is a stupid system and there is no other options for food while at school you just have to suck it up if you didn't bring lunch.
The maintenance of equipment, school supplies and the building is not great. Many walls have dents and scrapes along them, lots of tables are uneven and scratched, covered in chewing gum underneath. Chairs are filthy with who knows what covering the seat. Gym equipment is well maintained and there is a good variety of this. But bins are often full or overflowing litter is on the floor. Water fountains rarely ever work even if they are switched on at all. Toilets are never unlocked, this is a major problem the toilets get locked before the end of school if they were even unlocked that day to begin with. Staff have said they lock the toilets to keep them in good condition, so if you can fine one toilet that is free lucky you. But if you are in a lesson you usually won't be allowed to go at all. Though you can gain sympathy by being a girl and you will always be allowed to search for an open one during lunch( due to periods ) you shouldn't be locking toilets just to keep them clean and to keep students out of them and causing trouble and you need to let people actually use them.
There needs to be significant management changes in every way as well as staff changes and training. What seemed to be considered a great school to go to can not even be recommended. The school almost brain washes the students with the message of it being a good place to be and learn they completely down play other learning establishments and actively participate in making other options seem pathetic and like educational and professional suicide. They do not mention the options student have after GCSE and do not explain how these systems work well. Apprenticeships aren't mentioned and local colleges are displayed as poor alternatives for education with only idiots going to them. This is despite glowing reviews from ofsted and students of these colleges. You are not encouraged to seek any other path than GCSEs, A-level, University. There is no demonstration of options you can take and the freedom you have to decide what you want to do, it feels like pressure to do the ideal path.
On the positive side the history department is incredibly strong and always has been the teachers there of amazing quality there is a large variety with great senses of humour and ways of helping you learn about more complex and specific aspects of history. The English depart is generally alright as well but that is about it for strong points.
Overall Good school.
Had a good experience sometimes good sometimes bad.
Mistreating students
Shame on you! I have had students come and tell me that your locking bathrooms and trying to control when they can need the toilet. I am absolutely disgusted at this it's unacceptable and abusive to take away a basic human right especially if you want students to respect the school. I can understand monitoring them because of graffiti and such but it is Down right petty to lock them just because you can't be bothered to clean up maybe they should shut the school down if they can't handle the children and want to take away their rights!
On top of all this can I just say there is no logic in what your doing you rely on someone locking and unlocking the bathrooms and not to mention no one knows which ones are open and if they will manage to get to them in time. You are going to have students with dehydration and bladder problems before long the students will be dropping like flies.
On top of this there are students who are supposed to get lunch at school and are now trying to take food in so they don't have to buy it because they'd rather search for a bathroom and hopefully make it in to go than eat food and hydrate themselves. Your supposed to be helping some parents to feed their kids and this isn't happening if they do this so they can get to go to the bathroom instead of queing for food and drink.
Your going to have kids arguing back, vandalizing the school more and having accidents because they aren't reaching the bathroom. Also the kids on buses, in after school clubs or with a long walk home are screwed over because your locking them at 3.00 this is absolutely unacceptable and I expect you'll fix it.
Although it's more likely you'll just brush it off considering I have heard you've tried to justify what your doing by saying " the students aren't respecting what we have here so now we have the right to peer pressure them" and "well teachers don't get to go to the bathroom during lessons" when I'm pretty sure they have and continue to do so these are pittiful excuses and I am disgusted at this behavior.
Students shouldn't be afraid to drink or need the bathroom in your school fix this or close down!
On top of all this can I just say there is no logic in what your doing you rely on someone locking and unlocking the bathrooms and not to mention no one knows which ones are open and if they will manage to get to them in time. You are going to have students with dehydration and bladder problems before long the students will be dropping like flies.
On top of this there are students who are supposed to get lunch at school and are now trying to take food in so they don't have to buy it because they'd rather search for a bathroom and hopefully make it in to go than eat food and hydrate themselves. Your supposed to be helping some parents to feed their kids and this isn't happening if they do this so they can get to go to the bathroom instead of queing for food and drink.
Your going to have kids arguing back, vandalizing the school more and having accidents because they aren't reaching the bathroom. Also the kids on buses, in after school clubs or with a long walk home are screwed over because your locking them at 3.00 this is absolutely unacceptable and I expect you'll fix it.
Although it's more likely you'll just brush it off considering I have heard you've tried to justify what your doing by saying " the students aren't respecting what we have here so now we have the right to peer pressure them" and "well teachers don't get to go to the bathroom during lessons" when I'm pretty sure they have and continue to do so these are pittiful excuses and I am disgusted at this behavior.
Students shouldn't be afraid to drink or need the bathroom in your school fix this or close down!
School needs to do better
Absolutely terrible care for the children and their mental health only care for the statistics and not the actual child themselves. When a child tells school about an issue at home or in themselves the school tell the parents without asking the child or even if the child has asked them not to.
many students have complained to me as a trusted adult that the school have made home situation worse than it already was and then been surprised at their attitude.
staff are appalling with helping the children with their mental health offering up the idea to have a cup of tea or a hot bath as the solution to wanting or trying to kill themselves. On another note food prices are too high for being allowed three pounds a day you cant get a suitable amount of food and singling some children out for buying an amount of food when others are buying more or they may need that as they are especially hungry could be handled far better than it was as they felt insecure as it is and the person they trust pulling them far away from thier friends and being told that it was a red flag was very much not the way to do it.
another issue with this school and the staff is all the bullying and hate that goes on without discipline to the students doing it. I have had many children say that they are unhappy that students are making fun of them for things like their sexuality thier weight and appearance. It would be very good if the students were disciplined for these behaviors instead of being allowed to cause other children to react so badly and become more insecure about themselves.
please take better care for these students before you become the reason they are ill mentally and physically!
many students have complained to me as a trusted adult that the school have made home situation worse than it already was and then been surprised at their attitude.
staff are appalling with helping the children with their mental health offering up the idea to have a cup of tea or a hot bath as the solution to wanting or trying to kill themselves. On another note food prices are too high for being allowed three pounds a day you cant get a suitable amount of food and singling some children out for buying an amount of food when others are buying more or they may need that as they are especially hungry could be handled far better than it was as they felt insecure as it is and the person they trust pulling them far away from thier friends and being told that it was a red flag was very much not the way to do it.
another issue with this school and the staff is all the bullying and hate that goes on without discipline to the students doing it. I have had many children say that they are unhappy that students are making fun of them for things like their sexuality thier weight and appearance. It would be very good if the students were disciplined for these behaviors instead of being allowed to cause other children to react so badly and become more insecure about themselves.
please take better care for these students before you become the reason they are ill mentally and physically!
Ableist school
Even though this was the local secondary school from where I lived, I could never go here unlike the rest of the people from my primary school because I needed Learning Support which according to my parents, this school couldn’t give me if I went here and when my parents asked how I would manage getting round the school as an autistic person needing support, the school said I wouldn’t have any.
And hearing about the Learning Support at this school, THE BLUE ROOM!?! That’s the best name you can come up for a place where students need extra support!?!
This is why people with learning needs have limited choice on where they attend school because of places like these which can’t give the right support without a good reason.
And hearing about the Learning Support at this school, THE BLUE ROOM!?! That’s the best name you can come up for a place where students need extra support!?!
This is why people with learning needs have limited choice on where they attend school because of places like these which can’t give the right support without a good reason.
About the school
The school doesn’t help you! I was there for 4 years and yes there is some nice teachers but if you go to them with any issues they would just push you away instead of listening
Rant!!
As a student in times like these, you would think that a secondary school would have more sense of knowing that some people have hidden needs and they need to be noted so staff know that they are exempt. Bullying policy is outrageous. Yes they have one but do they use it? NO! This school needs to sort themselves damn well out.
Not good
Education really isn’t that great but can be alright, depends on your teacher. School is full of covid, and the buses are falling apart (breaking down, crashing etc).
it’s okay i suppose
Bullying policy is crap. Teachers don’t really care about you. Whole covid system is rubbish no one actually bothers to make people wear masks and sanitise. I suppose the education is okay there but really depends on who your teacher is
Amazing school definitely recommend to others.
The pastoral care and support system they have is amazing. They have groups or singular counseling sessions whichever you're comfortable with.
Honestly can't recommend gryphon enough.
Honestly can't recommend gryphon enough.
Not great
Wouldn’t recommend, head teacher is awful
Not good
They blatantly don’t want autistic folk there so I was never welcome 😒
Rubbish don’t go here
school doesnt deal with students
this is my review
not very good sorry but they need to fix most things
About SchoolParrot
- SchoolParrot is a review site for schools. We are a company that believes in more transparency within schools. Our platform is open to all users.
Read about SchoolParrot and our company - Reviews are published in real-time without moderation and we want to encourage our users to provide constructive feedback and keep a serious tone. The responsibility lies with the user.
Read our review guidelines