Westholme School

The most horrendous experience with this school. Cares nothing about a child’s mental health. Many excellent teachers but the management is truly awful, complete bullies. ‘

It really helps people with learning disabilities. It has a really good teacher which will help you with the work instead of falling behind!

I totally agree with all the other negative reviews here! I left Westholme in 2011, part-way through year eight. It got so bad by the end that my parents took me out of the school two weeks early as I simply couldn't go in. I've never fully come to terms with my time spent there (age 5 - 13), but reading about these other people's experiences and now doing Teacher Training myself, I realise the extent to which the school let me down, both academically and pastorally. I've always known that my low self esteem (which still effects me today; I'm 24 and currently on a course of CBT) had its routes in my Westholme years, but I'd always blamed myself for it. Now I realise that it probably had much more to do with the school than I'd previously thought, especially seeing the experiences of other reviewers on this website.

Instead of inspiring pupils to learn, this school favoured the naturally cleaver children and pretty much ignored the needs of those who struggled. For example, I have never been great at maths, I am a divergent thinker and excel more in creative subjects, but the maths teachers failed to recognise this and continually set me work which was too hard for me. I still remember the hours of trauma spent trying to complete the weekly maths homework set from a text book and my mum basically having to do it for me. I now realise that I should have been set tasks more appropriate to my ability level as these tasks were teaching me very little but causing an awful lot of stress for both myself and my parents. This eventually resulted in my parents having to get an external maths tutor (on top of the school fees!!). Furthermore, when the methods which my external tutor taught me proved much more effective than those I was learning in school, the teacher at Westholme wouldn't let me continue to use those methods in her class - instead she forced me to continue her way.
I remember not understanding why I had to go to school, what it was all for. I thought maths was the only subject that mattered, and spent most of my time battling with it rather than being praised for the subjects I was good at and enjoyed. As a trainee teacher, I now know that children learn best when they understand the importance of learning and are inspired to want to learn more. This was NOT how I felt at Westholme. My parents eventually moved me to Stonyhurst where, within the first term or two, my whole mindset and understanding of learning totally transformed - it's like I woke up. I remember my History teacher at Stonyhurst telling me for the first time that I was good at History and valued my opinions on the subject! It was such an amazing feeling and I took a real interest in the subject from then on - now I'm going to be a History teacher! That interest was never sparked at Westholme, because I wasn't valued.

Despite all this, it was the pastoral care which was the main reason I left Westholme. I noticed in another review that someone said they left Westholme having made no friends - I was exactly the same. I was at the school for 10 years and was well-loved outside of school; since leaving I have many wonderful, supportive and life-long friendships, so it's certainly not a reflection of my character. My mum says she used to be really confused about why I was struggling with friends so much at Westholme because I was so well liked outside of school. I think it was the school's inability to nip issues in the bud - they simply didn't care how pupils treated each other, particularly if the bully was clever because the school only cared about its reputation; those who did well in exams were loved and adored because they made the school look good grades wise. There were a lot of nasty characters at Westholme, some of which I can tell you are still nasty to this day (which is strange because people usually grow out of these things). Some girls were lovely, don't get me wrong, but I'm sure that's more a reflection of their family life than the school.

Another thing to mention; for years and years I did a Summer-school at Westholme called Theatre Week. I was always really good at drama, having got a distinction in LAMDA in year 7, and I always added something to the roles I got in school plays. However, my roles were always very minimal. My mum asked every year if I could have a role with more than just a couple of lines and every year they promised "next year" - but it never happened. Favouritism once again???

I know it's a while since I went here, but judging by the other reviews and some of the inspection reports, it doesn't seem to have changed much. I really hope something drastically changes here as it breaks my heart that parents think they're doing right by their children by sending them to this private school, but it could be doing more harm than good.

Student here for 15 years, recently left. I knew the school was bad when I was a student but didn’t realise how bad until I left and started university. This school is full of nasty middle class snobs who’s parents are all up their own arses. Most teachers are awful and A level results are shocking. £18,000 sixth form for what?
The favouritism for white students who do sports is so obvious and embarrassing. The school allowed me to be bullied by older students for years and didn't bat an eyelid. I don’t know one student who had good mental health in Westholme, and I know too many that were bullied and relentlessly teased.
The PE department was shockingly racist, with members of staff telling asian students they ‘all look the same’ and had to run during ramadan because the school is ‘not a religious school’ however we were forced to sing religious (christian) songs and pray every day in assembly. the irony.
The head teacher running from 2013 - 2020 ruined the whole school dynamic and ever since she took over, everything went down hill. Ask the staff ;) because not one member was fond of her.
Particular staff members such as a ******* ******* with a sadistic personality who enjoyed physically terrifying female students, a******** ******* teacher who loved the female students and particular teachers a little too much, along with a bunch of nasty head of years, and**** ** ******* departments were a detrimental part of my declining mental health in that school.
Also, the school has a serious drug problem. The amount of people that would walk into sixth form high, was rather entertaining and many students were expelled for drug use.
Along with 5 students suffering from sever mental illness caused by the toxic school environment have been in Psychiatric wards really says a lot.
Since leaving this school, my mental health has significantly improved and it is clear that this vile school will not be private much longer.

Terrible school. They do nothing to combat loneliness/isolation, bullying and other social issues. I was bullied for a total of 4 years and when reporting this matter and explaining it to the head of year they simply told me to ‘ignore it’ which was extremely difficult when you were in the same classes as most of your bullied; they were not proactive in their approach, did not give any useful advice and did not take the matter seriously therefore the bullying continued. When asking for help on a section of class work most of the teachers were very lazy and took this as an insult they then developed a personal grudge against you. Also, I wanted to drop a subject because I was failing it and was making me so miserable and they refused for some time. I dreaded waking up in the morning and going in to the shit hole facing all the useless teachers (who are not trained in treating mental health at all), My mental health wouldn’t be as bad as it is now if they actually helped. Every day was stressful, I don’t miss school one bit and after being at this school for a total of 14 years I haven’t made one friend out of it which really says a lot ☺️✨