Reviews

2.3
Based on 26 reviews and 227 answers
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Student
Oct 11, 2024

shit.shit.shit

half the teachers are pedos, the safeguarding is an absolute joke. THE FIRE ALARM IS BROKEN it goes several times in a day, is it reliable if there's an actual fire?? the teachers don't care about the students and the majority are awful at teaching.
all the students are rude and bitches. the lessons teach you nothing then expect you to know so much when the test come up which are really frequent and stressful. There are too many tests. There are about one test per subject per term plus they don't give you any revision time for it maximum about one week.
Parent
Jul 4, 2024

Well done Holt School!

My daughter enjoys school at the Holt and would happily recommend it to others. To me that is most important. As a parent, the teachers are very responsive to feedback, and they have excellent values and standards.
Student
Sep 28, 2023

idk

This is a good school

this sch made me a good person ig
Student
Sep 5, 2023

DONT GO HERE

what is this school my days. tell me why my form tutor was chatting with her football girls everyday while i was getting apples chucked at me on the bus??? why was it appropriate for a teacher to talk about WAP and viagra in a maths lesson? or what abt the teacher that talks abt mango chutney his pension and brexit all the time in geography? no bcs a whole grown man was holding my mates hand after lesson and telling her that she was his favourite. ive had ten million trillion form tutors (3) and im on the my fourth in year 10. a girl quite literally is insane and sent a girl to the hospital, pierced her own ears in lesson and vapes during lesson through her jumper has only just been suspended and is returning to school #dobetterbabes. some people literally have sex in a bathroom like? pastoral care is non existent and no one helps neurodivergent students. shoutout to my form tutor of two years i would like you, but i dont, you literally defended a white girl who wanted to say the n word babes. not to mention people literally self harming and you going off to chat with your favourites. if you are considering going here please dont - xoxo 3 holt girls
Former Student
Jul 6, 2023

I’m begging you please don’t come here

What is this place

There are so many issues with this shit school. First of all don’t let the holts outstanding ofsted rating fool you because who knows how they got outstanding, everyone was pretty confused. The school has an insane amount of examinations, they are so unnecessary and they only get worse as you get older. If the exams aren’t stressing another student out to the point of panic and having no life other than revision then you know they are past the point of caring. Draining amount of work and little fun with insanely strict uniform rules and tedious, stupid rules to do with hair and skirt lengths being more enforced than their so-called anti bullying policy and behaviour codes which do shit all as we have students getting drunk, fighting other students and vaping a lot. This school has some weird teachers who are just straight up snarky, mean, put you down, bigoted and spiteful, although there are a handful of nice ones. Some teachers are vile and will ruin your experience in certain subjects like Mr Green for maths Jesus Christ that was hell on earth. The school smells like straight up shit sometimes you have to literally take cover somewhere near because oh my god the smell is actually laughable. Assemblies on the most pointless random woke shit and teachers to enforce their political beliefs onto students and laugh about it after. Hypocrisy at its finest here; teachers who wear a layer of fake tan and makeup while telling you to take off your mascara, teachers who wear their hair down every day and yet tell you to put yours up. Safeguarding? Mental health issues being taken seriously? You have to be kidding. Student support staff will yell your business out to any child who happens to be passing by during a ‘private’ phone call. You don’t get much help if the school know your struggling, they will call it a teenage lull and tell you to focus on class. Bullying and testing goes unnoticed and girls are straight up bitches. Teachers pick and choose when to enforce their rules and make exceptions for certain students while yelling at another perfect student for a rolled skirt. Hardly any gcse options, force you to do religion and a foreign language for gcse which is useless. Old fashioned and stuck in the past, need to update their bigoted mindset and they can start with the pedo teachers. Good luck if your coming here.
Student
Jun 16, 2023

Ba school don’t join here

Overall bad school don’t recommend did not enjoy the environment nor teachers ok education but long school day and rude students
Former Student
May 20, 2023

Terrible

As and ex student I did not enjoy the holt school at all that’s including students , teachers and much more!
Student
May 10, 2023

shit school

shit. im a year eight, left this school with depression. this will ruin your childs teen years. teachers do not give a fuck about students, at all. came to the people at support about it and they said ‘it’s apart of being a teenager!’.
i’m twelve.
this school should have another ofsted, its so shit. i wonder if it’ll get another ‘outstanding.’
teachers put pressure on students
ignored reports of bullying
don’t care that many people, even year sevens (11-12 year olds) are vaping and smoking in the bathrooms.
if you send your child here, well done for ruining your kids teen years.
Former Student
Apr 28, 2023

Forever traumatised

Never felt worse,
This school traumatised me, the way I was treated by staff plus other issues with the atmosphere of people at this school. This is no way a minor should feel at this age. After recently leaving this school my metal well-being has risen extravagantly. My head of year, was a bully, I remember once in year seven I had made one friend as I was very shy and not chatty at the least. She called her out behind my back and told her to avoid me and that I was a bad influence also spreading rumours that I called her names, which I never did. I was completely shocked that a teacher would do this. As well as this she would give me detentions for no reason, call me out in the middle of my lunch and take me to a room, shout at me for some forsaken reason and make me sit in silence for an hour. It’s safe to say she was gaslighting me. One half term I decided to get my ears pierced, coming into school I was shut down and told my mother was disappointed in me and that I should be ashamed. Would this ever happen in the “real world”? NO! There are many other things I can add but this is one that should be aware of. Many teachers are like this. I remember being petrified to ask for help because many of the teachers would tell you off for not listening hard enough, ridiculing your work, this made leaning very hard. Do not get me started in the rules, how they preach inclusivity yet won’t allow a stud earring or anything to do with self expression, this would lead to an hour after school or more. Despite the school silent issue of self- harm and drug abuse coming for year 7s, this school crushed me.
Student
Sep 16, 2022

The holt

The holt is quite a good school.If you want good gcse and A level grades this is the place for u. Although they do not handle racism like it should do, academic wise it is really good. I would say it is an average British school
Parent
Jun 9, 2022

No pastoral care

Absolutely shocked by both the lack of academic options and the incredibly poor level of pastoral care at this school. The school has a very antiquated discipline policy and has very little focus on praise. The class tutors do not handle any issues - all are left to the head of year who is understandably inundated as a result. One of the head teachers shows minimal interest in parental concerns and the other does not challenge her. Even more able pupils in KS3 are only offered one MFL. An inspection of this school seems long overdue.
Other
May 16, 2022

Do your research carefully.

School has been very disappointing in most aspects so far. It is well overdue an inspection from Ofsted. I would be very surprised if it still qualifies as ‘outstanding’.
Parent
May 1, 2022

Excellent - especially with health issues

I’ve just read and review from a student and felt compelled to write. All my daughters attend or have attended and have been genuinely supported even when one has been in crisis. They have all achieved the best possible results from their abilities.
I see first hand from a different school where I work the extent of drugs and vaping issues. Holt have worked hard on this in my view vs other schools. I would point out the reason results there are generally so good is that they do stretch students more than elsewhere and even with a student like one of my daughters with complex mental health issues the school have been superb.
Student
Apr 30, 2022

Wouldn't recommend it

I'm currently still within this school and have spent quite some time here. The school is very good at hiding their bad reputation and I believe they care more about reputation than their students. They seem to try to 'help' students wellbeing but in reality they apply far too much stress and pressure on the students, that is the only reason why people get good grades here - because they're stressing students out. I've seen multiple of my classmates stressing out and crying because of this school and many have adopted the idea of a grade 7 not being good enough and are unnecessarily harsh on themselves. The teachers are varying levels of good to bad, luckily I got the better hand of teachers but I've heard things about teachers from my classmates that should not even be happening. They also don't bother with students vaping, smoking, doing drugs since every student in my year knows not to go into the bathrooms at break as there are multiple students vaping inside, yet the teachers are unaware of this? There's also still this idea within the school that skirts shouldn't be too short otherwise they'll "distract the male teachers" and similar ideas. The food was good before they changed the catering and now it's just average school canteen food with medium-ish portions. They do not handle bullying that well as they seem to overlook it sometimes but I personally haven't been involved so I can only say this from other's experiences. Their rules are also generally kinda stupid and unnecessary. Overall, don't send your daughter here unless you want her to have problems.
Student
Mar 2, 2022

Is this a good choice

I don’t know if it is bad but I’m going to holt in September and these bad reviews about touchy teaches and bullying are scaring me. I’m black so I don’t want to be racially abused.
Parent
Nov 13, 2021

Excellent, positive experiences

Excellent standards, very good teaching, goes above and beyond even with pastoral issues, our daughters results were all enough to get to 3 top universities.
Student
Oct 26, 2021

do not send your child here

this place is terrible. reports of literal abuse went avoided and were badly dealt with. major requests regarding separating a victim and an abuser went pretty much ignored. serious bullying, homophobia, racism, fatphobia, mental illness, victim blaming, drug and alcohol abuse and self harm issues. in year 7 we were told to say out loud all the slurs we knew. it made the majority of the class uncomfortable. LGBTQ+ issues were avoided and LGBTQ+ students were shunned and shamed. POC voices were shut down and ignored. disabled students, both physically and mentally, as well as the mentally ill were shut up and treated unfairly. paedophilic teachers and harsh grades. i’m disgusted looking back at how i was treated at this terrible place they’ve called a ‘school’. i’m so glad i escaped. do not send your child here.
Parent
Aug 16, 2021

Secondary School is what you make of it.

At every step of the highs and lows of the teenage years the school has been there to support my daughter. Secondary school is what you make of it. Some will say a place is rubbish, others will thrive. Ultimately that’s down to each individual and the choices they make. I have been really impressed by the enthusiasm of teachers for their subject - when ever she has wanted advice or help teachers have been incredibly generous of their time. Excellent facilities (for a state school) and continual investment in these each year. So many opportunities to get involved in different activities including sport. Never had any problem as a parent finding out information about time tables, exams etc. The school does have standards and these are reflected in eventual exam results etc - a good school for application to medical school. Strong reputation in maths, science and geography and art. My daughter has thrived there and been encouraged to find her own interests and is now predicted 4 A/A* at A level in stem (maths/ science subjects). I would never have seen that as possible when she started at age 11. If you have a child who is respectful of others and has an interest in something (academic or otherwise) then it is a great place and regularly in the top “xxx” lists of State Schools.
Former Student
Aug 9, 2021

Just no

I was at this school for all 5 years, and it truly was the worst decision I’ve ever made choosing this school over others in my area, the school has been blatantly racist on multiple occasions, has an awful drug problem, many bad teachers who simply don’t care about the students, and a huge bulling problem, all of which they ignore. I know fully well more than half my year group left this school with some form of anxiety or depression, and when I used my English speaking exam to speak up on the matter, I was given a distinction because my points were so relevant, overall don’t send your children here no matter how appealing the schools average grades are, you’ll ruin your child’s teen years.
Former Student
Jun 22, 2021

Ridiculous school

I went to the Holt from 11-16. At which point I left for Bracknell college for my A’levels. Showing my age I know.

English teacher ( we’d had 3 different ones from year 9-11) said “ you will not get a top grade at English A’ Level.” I got an A in English A’level at Bracknell College.

Bullying by some teachers and pupils was common. One teacher called me to the front of my English class proceeded to poked my stomach saying I had a ‘ belly.’ At that time they streamed PE ( ridiculous) and I was in top set, healthy normal BMI.

It’s not all bad though. I did manage to laugh with my therapist about how a certain male ****** ******* had us change into PE kit, the summer one, the one with the so called shorts and record us doing exercises. The classics like sticking out out tongue. He also had a massive body odour problem which I recall he was know by. Vile man.

I can think of four teachers there that were actually dedicated to teaching and student welfare. All of which were extremely influential in my ability to get through the school.

I would not send my daughter to this school. It did however teach me some important life skills.

1- if a man touches your bum - don’t make a fuss ! Simply use the heel on your shoes to crush his toes. This was in haberdashery.

2- bitches are easy to deal with now

3- for gods sake if you insist on sending your child to this school get on the PTA. Your child will be set aside and told that general “
Ladies be quiet” was not aimed at her. She will be treated like a person.

Final thought. I feel like I survived that school.
Other
May 9, 2021

Excellent school

Excellent school, great time there
Former Student
Apr 1, 2021

Shit school

The school is completely shit. I went there for the whole of my secondary school life (5 years) and it was the worst experience of my life. Got depression and when I tried to talk to the school about it they just blew it off and told me it was part of being a teenager. Also lots of drug issues which I also ended up getting involved in. Would not recommend. They are shit. And most of the teachers are twats too.
Former Student
Feb 15, 2021

Trash.

this school aims to challenge, inspire the girls and let them achieve their goals. the only thing I got from this school was severe depression and toxic friends, which they claimed was just hormonal and that everyone experiences tough times. this school is trashy, has a drug and bullying problem and enforces rules that are stricter than the rules enforced by my air cadet squadron. do not recommend sending your kids here.
Student
Dec 18, 2020

Not worth it.

Currently a student, have been there since year 7 and am now in my final year. They don’t care about their students, have a drug problem they aren’t willing to admit they have or deal with, have a major issue with staff and student turnover due to the expectations placed on both staff and students. It’s a public school that thinks it’s a grammar school that runs like a military school. It is not an accessible site in any way. The only things this school have given me are an anxiety disorder, a stress disorder and panic attacks.
Former Student
Dec 8, 2020

God no

Did not enjoy my time here
Parent
Aug 22, 2020

This School

They gave my daughter unfair results this past results day.

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