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Thomas Telford School
Secondary · Independent · Telford
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They do not care about bullying in their school.
This school claims it has a zero policy on bullying but I was bullied and harassed throughout my time as a student from years seven to my second year of sixth form. They only consider physical violence as bullying and ignore the psychological affects. They only care about being the best and if your child isn’t the best then they will be left on the sidelines.
They're no different
Do not be fooled by their constant talk of their "repitation" and "prestidge". Thomas telford only has those things by burying their heads in the sand. Discipline does not happen in the way they say. Half of my year bring vapes to school and use them in the bathroom at break time this is a common theme throughout the years. I told my years head girl and she informed my head of year this teacher told the informant that she would speak with me so I could give her more information. We never had that conversations and no action was taken against the girls partaking in the act. In the bathrooms I heard year 10s talking about how they got drunk. Someone in my year bought gin to school and drank it periodically throughout the day. No one knew. She did thus because she couldn't handle the pressure the school places on us constantly telling us how it's our job to maintain the reputation which is based only on lies and misinformation. The students perform well but this is only because they carefully select the students they allow into the school. Half the teachers simply throw sheets at you and you have to get on this makes that subject difficult to learn and forces students who want to perform well to spend their "revision" time learning the topics themselves. The buildings are good and there are some good teacher but the students hate it and its really no different from any of the other schools they are just more secretive. They say they have strong discipline this is not true. They do not want to expel students because it will confirm that they are not different. Your child will hate it here.
GCSEs and A-Levels
Only good for a certain type of person
TTS was honestly where I spent some of the worst years of my life. The culture to me is the worst thing about it. They try to act like they're running this egalitarian, modern school which takes in people from all abilities and backgrounds when realistically, the school is extremely elitist. No help or sympathy given to parents who struggle to afford equipment for school, extortionate prices for uniform, trips, etc. Also, they place a huge priority on athletes to the point where its actually laughable about how they treat other students. The footballers who attend TTS are treated like gods, were always the biggest trouble makers but never were held accountable for bad behaviour, bullying, etc, all because it makes the school and staff look good that they have footballers attending the school.
TTS always made their USP about having good academic standards, but this seems to have slipped in the past few years in favour for sports. Even academically talented students aren't really celebrated much anymore, so good luck to any students who are average academically and aren't athletic/musically talented either, because you will literally be ignored for your entire time at this school. Bullying complaints are ignored as well, especially if the bully in question is an athlete or is just someone who is well-known or liked by teachers.
If you are a student or a parent of a student who isn't super sporty, isn't extremely academically inclined, or is working-class, LGBTQ or just anyone who might need a bit of extra support, avoid this school at all costs because you or your child will likely struggle and not receive the help they need.
TTS always made their USP about having good academic standards, but this seems to have slipped in the past few years in favour for sports. Even academically talented students aren't really celebrated much anymore, so good luck to any students who are average academically and aren't athletic/musically talented either, because you will literally be ignored for your entire time at this school. Bullying complaints are ignored as well, especially if the bully in question is an athlete or is just someone who is well-known or liked by teachers.
If you are a student or a parent of a student who isn't super sporty, isn't extremely academically inclined, or is working-class, LGBTQ or just anyone who might need a bit of extra support, avoid this school at all costs because you or your child will likely struggle and not receive the help they need.
Thinks way too highly of itself
The environment at Thomas Telford really isn't what it's made out to be.
The behaviour is not particularly good and offenders are kept in the classroom because there's no real punishment system like isolation or detention.This means there's plenty of disruption. It seems to me that the teachers are reluctant to admit to the powers above that the behaviour really isn't much better than anywhere else.
The coveted athletes, especially footballers, of the school are shown particular sympathy, and are typically some of the most shamelessly disruptive students.
There are some fantastic teachers but most are average and some are very poor, barely being able to keep control of a class.
The support systems aren't great. I reached out for help in some fairly desperate situations but had emails ignored by teachers and senior leadership. There's not really anyone I would have felt comfortable going to talk to, there's not really a student services team like there is in most schools, that kind of thing is not prioritised.
I was bullied at the school like other reviewers on here and false allegations were made against me by these people that were clearly out of character but I was treated with nothing but hostility.
I was so disappointed with my time there. They weren't even interested in allowing us to relax a bit and have fun at the very end of our time there, and even the very last day was business as usual with work.
Go there and you'll be treated less as a human being and more as a grade achieving, musical performance producing, sports winning robot
The behaviour is not particularly good and offenders are kept in the classroom because there's no real punishment system like isolation or detention.This means there's plenty of disruption. It seems to me that the teachers are reluctant to admit to the powers above that the behaviour really isn't much better than anywhere else.
The coveted athletes, especially footballers, of the school are shown particular sympathy, and are typically some of the most shamelessly disruptive students.
There are some fantastic teachers but most are average and some are very poor, barely being able to keep control of a class.
The support systems aren't great. I reached out for help in some fairly desperate situations but had emails ignored by teachers and senior leadership. There's not really anyone I would have felt comfortable going to talk to, there's not really a student services team like there is in most schools, that kind of thing is not prioritised.
I was bullied at the school like other reviewers on here and false allegations were made against me by these people that were clearly out of character but I was treated with nothing but hostility.
I was so disappointed with my time there. They weren't even interested in allowing us to relax a bit and have fun at the very end of our time there, and even the very last day was business as usual with work.
Go there and you'll be treated less as a human being and more as a grade achieving, musical performance producing, sports winning robot
Wouldn't recommend
This school is perfect if you are interested in sports and enjoy taking part in them as they blatantly favour any athletes who would get away with stealing from the school supplies shop and cafeteria under the pretence that boys will be boys, they claim to have a zero tolerance for bullying but when somebody goes to report a bully they will barely get a slap on the wrist and not to mention that mental health support is non existent as they will promote mental health during the years mental health week but if a student were to actually reach out they would be stuck and isolated, although the classes and sports facilities are good the overall environment is deeply flawed so please consider this before going here.
Please do not go.
If you’re looking to enjoy your teenage years, please please please do not attend this school. They entirely disregard your mental health and any issues that you have seems to inconvenience the teachers. As someone who struggles with a lot, being called a “sh*t stirrer” by the head of year and being constantly disregarded due to their lack of knowledge regarding mental health, it really isn’t nice to be in such environment. The education department is great, however it’s significantly common for staff to blatantly favour athletes or high achievers and push everyone else aside. Staff also promote that they are always here to support their students if they’re struggling however, on a day to day basis your emails asking for help or extra support, get ignored.
A “main priority” at the school that you are introduced to is their “no bullying policy” however unfortunately, they do not abide by this and allow bullying to go ahead. I have been a victim of bullying for many years now and have made an abundance of staff aware of such therefore they brush it off over and over again or simply tell you to “stay away” -it’s not that simple, you do not have to be in close proximity of someone else to receive violent threats and have copious rumours spread about you. In my opinion, the worst part about all this is that they allow students to be violent to other students consistently but will punish the victim the moment they retaliate because they didn’t “suck it up”. An honourable mention, their safe guarding team are clearly not trained to handle such behaviour and when they do make advances and punish someone for their behaviour, it will not be handled well. Suspensions and contracts against students will be handed out and it’s absolutely bizarre. They also make no effort in the slightest to discover the root of issues that their students are having.
If you are apart of the lgbtq+ community, I can also guarantee that you will be feeling isolated at the school due to the extreme homophobic behaviour that students of every year possess. There’s no lgbtq+ representation around the school and students aren’t taught blatant respect regarding this, nor are they punished for throwing around harmful slurs and inflicting harm on someone who may be apart of the bubble.
The same goes for racism, and I personally do not think that this should be tolerated at all.
A “main priority” at the school that you are introduced to is their “no bullying policy” however unfortunately, they do not abide by this and allow bullying to go ahead. I have been a victim of bullying for many years now and have made an abundance of staff aware of such therefore they brush it off over and over again or simply tell you to “stay away” -it’s not that simple, you do not have to be in close proximity of someone else to receive violent threats and have copious rumours spread about you. In my opinion, the worst part about all this is that they allow students to be violent to other students consistently but will punish the victim the moment they retaliate because they didn’t “suck it up”. An honourable mention, their safe guarding team are clearly not trained to handle such behaviour and when they do make advances and punish someone for their behaviour, it will not be handled well. Suspensions and contracts against students will be handed out and it’s absolutely bizarre. They also make no effort in the slightest to discover the root of issues that their students are having.
If you are apart of the lgbtq+ community, I can also guarantee that you will be feeling isolated at the school due to the extreme homophobic behaviour that students of every year possess. There’s no lgbtq+ representation around the school and students aren’t taught blatant respect regarding this, nor are they punished for throwing around harmful slurs and inflicting harm on someone who may be apart of the bubble.
The same goes for racism, and I personally do not think that this should be tolerated at all.
6th Form
Good school and great teachers also a wide variety of 6th form courses
Bullying
The education aspect is fair but there is such a lack of mental health and bullying support here. If you aren’t a perfect athlete, in all the school productions and actively getting the best grades then you are likely to fall into the cracks. Students treat each other with so much disrespect and have a very low tolerance for diversity whilst the staff do nothing about it. Don’t be fooled by the front they put up when they list all of their “amazing” resources with heavy exaggeration because it’s simply that- a front. In reality the people they hire to be responsible for these situations do not care about the students beyond their odd few chosen favourites.
thomas telford school
school claims to have a “no bullying policy” yet i, a student who still attends, have been bullied for the entirety that i’ve been there, hit and assaulted by boys in our year, struggle with severe depression yet the staff don’t do anything when an issue is raised. please don’t go. anyone else who attends will say the exact same to you.
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