Alderwood School

Best school ever I have never enjoyed school so much and I met the greatest people who are my friends till now. I was there from year 7 to year 9 and I had the best experience ever I only moved because I had to if I could go back I would right away and my other friends that left are also saying this! The teachers are very nice once you get to know them properly specially Mrs Edward and Mr riley, and mr davis

A good school and ideal location. Good facilities and great use of space. Children found the education to be enjoyable, made plenty of friends. Good mix of subjects and curriculum has been followed. Has kept standards great over the last few years. Most of the teachers are great, not the school’s fault necessarily but they do need to be careful. A certain teacher (S) clue - has been spotted a number of times has given away sensitive information to external parties and used recreational items on site and in close proximity - need to be careful with this especially during OFSTED inspections.

It's a good school but when it comes to bullying they just tell the bullies to stop but the bullies keep on bullying them

It’s a great school but some times teachers do not handle situations well

This school is amazing! All of my children have done so well since coming here. The transition events they put on for the new year 7s are so welcoming as well. I am so glad we chose Alderwood.

Im a student at the senior school and I don't think you should send anyone here unless you want them to be bullied I've been to all 3 of alderwood schools and I've been bullied in every one. The staff are really good and you learn a lot here but they csnt deal with bullying at all.

I hated my experience at Alderwood senior school. I was there when it was Connaught and was in year 9 when it changed to Alderwood. The staff are incredibly ignorant to the poverty and problems of the area. The school has a high rate of free school meals which isn’t a bad thing but the way the school chooses to talk and deal with it’s less fortunate students is ridiculous. They aren’t given proper support, a counsellor, a social worker etc. The teachers aren’t trained on mental health or learning disabilities. And some are so horrible when talking to the students. I felt so alone and not good enough when I was there and a lot of people felt the same. The teaching is awful and none of the teachers can get control of their classrooms. When they are called out on their lack of teaching they get very defensive and blame the students. For example the whole of the year was failing science but the teachers didn’t take it upon theirselves to teach better or understand peoples learning styles instead they all shouted at us and said that we weren’t working or trying hard enough. Why would you want to work hard when nothing you do is good enough? I have recently been going to another school as my college is in a senior school and having only been the since November 2020 I can see just how awful Alderwood is. They can’t just hide it under a new name. I don’t think anyone should go there. It has completely ruined my mental health and my self worth. Because of it I also will not be subjecting my future children to going to school. To feel rejected, not good enough, not hard-working, dumb or not get the right support. I asked for a counsellor over and over and over, I didn’t get one. In the end I had to go outside of school to get one as I had a massive meltdown and swore at the teachers. They also neglect to realise that pupils who are in higher sets also have trouble at home and trouble with their mental health. Just because someone is doing ok or better in school doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be paid attention to. Furthermore, bad pupils were praised for doing the smallest thing leaving the rest of us feeling stupid for even trying. Praise needs to go to everyone that has done something good not just to people who stopped doing the bad thing they were doing.