See all schools in Reading
Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School
Secondary · Maintained · Reading
"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
Disappointing!
this school is absolutely awful
absolute dumpster hole, do NOT send anyone here, miss mathews (skeletor) needs to watch her decomposing mouth and needs to get fired immediately her "good work of the school" is apparently all her wrinkly narcissistic bum wants. and dr simon uttley needs to get up on 5 push ups before his blood pressure rises from too many donuts and instead of him hiring actual good teachers with qualifications (only few in the entire school building) he just grabs them from the nearest corner shop, maybe if "dr simon uttley" how ironic "dr" yet cant even understand what a diet is. the limit on students at this school is 800, yet theres 1050 which intern leads to excessive crouding in corridors leading to injuries. this school may aswell be ran off glue sticks and paper (there wouldnt be any glue sticks since dr gluttony cant afford them after his purchase on excessive donut supply). for fact i havent even understood a single lesson on a few subjects due to awful teaching.
utter bumwipe school dont threaten to send you’re children here
Sending your children here is nothing more than a THREAT. i was going to consider attending this school for further education but my days aernt that bad yet… If you genuinely enjoy this school it’s clear to me you have some sort of humiliation k1nk thats driven by phillipa shaws degrading rituals, if being unjustly shouted at by an entity who looks like art thou wears 20 brass coils around her neck everyday wasnt humiliating enough, this poltergeist who looks AND ACTS like she was born from the remaining ribs of her founder miss matthews WILL make this institution nothing more than a first hand experience of a concentration camp. Miss cthulhu matthews over here needs to watch it. that disgusting temper is going to send her blood pressure skyrocketing through the decomposing roof of the crusty art block, and that would be the end of her if you couldn’t tell by the buttons stitched in her eyes. YOURE DAYS ARE NUMBERED. BOTH OF YOU. and Dr gluttony needs to count his days before he considers counting any calories. Sitting in his office chair like the half human embodiment of gru with a red button that orders quater pounders instead of glue sticks, where the teachers take money out their own pockets to fund. He feels he has such high status and authority with his 2 sports cars in the carpark that he sucks his tummy in to fit into, to not fund school equipment. In conclusion this institution is a hot mess, ran by incompetent crackbabies who prioritise gaining validation from the near to r3t@rded troubled ratchet nitbag students, than providing help to those who need it.
This school is straight out of a horror movie
This school quite literally licks the arse cracks of the kids who lack complete common sense, whilst babying them as they disturb the well-being’s of other students. When you go and explain your problems to the useless brain dead team they call pastoral, all they do is turn a blind eye and go back to gossiping about everyone who’s ever stepped foot in the school. And DON’T get me started on the head teacher. All that man knows how to is eat, stamp books and hibernate in his office doing nothing about things like obvious bulling going on with other students. In addition to this, the mental health leader is probably the biggest joke I’ve ever come across.. or should I say the skinniest as she’s quite literally built like a peperami stick. Honestly thought that witch was Satan in disguise with the way she treats students. Absolutely appalling staff. Idk if they found these teachers outside Tesco but they all need to look for different carrier paths as students cannot handle the absolute tomfoolery which is presented in this hell hole. For the sake of your child’s mental health DO NOT send them here as they’ll probably end their lives before even reaching half term.
There’s no hate like Christian love.
An absolute joke of disciplinary system. Teachers babying those that are a menace to the whole school. Isolation? More like nursery. The assistant head teacher, who ironically is also meant to be a mental health lead, is probably the biggest bully amongst all the useless staff. School rules? They don’t exist when she’s there. She’s the overlord who makes the rules for her convenience when it suits her. Now, she doesn’t only inflict her hell on the pupils, other members of staff absolutely despise this lord of the underworld. The only person she will bow down to is the headmaster, another useless man. He’s more of a ghost than a head teacher, as he’s never present to have conversations with anybody about any problems a child might be going through. Another thing is the current head of English, who ALSO ironically does multiple charity donations on her Facebook, yet is the most disgusting and hypocritical person you will ever come across. She has a worrying tendency to favour the worst boys in her class, and treat the girls like a Handmaid. So much for reading books, that it seems she got all her inspiration from the handmaid’s tale. Another interesting persona is the power-hungry, egocentric beast in the PE department… Last time I checked, the noun ‘bullying’ existed in the dictionary. Well, this institution doesn’t think so. Oh, and this is far from being a faith school. The only Christian thing they have is the school name.
LIVING HELL
THIS SCHOOL IS THE EMBODIMENT OF HELL. ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC AND WILL TRAUMATISE YOUR CHILD - DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN HERE ITS EVIL.
Good school
I didn't get a chance to actually begin the school propally I think it was is a good school but it can improve a little bit with staff and children but in general good these reviews downs there they are not true
Terrible enviroment for learning
Teachers would be constantly quitting, with incompetent replacements taking their place, the school does not accomodate for anyone with issues with anything of real substance or assistance, the headteacher is incompetent and obsessed with his own ego to the point of being an active detriment to the rest of the staff, entire student body and quality of the school. It is a must-avoid; incompetent administration, no consistency and subpar replacements create a terrible enviroment for students, and is an active detriment to their life.
Worst school
I was a former student here and I have never hated an experience as much as I have this school. No support when promised. Bullying not dealt with I even had to have police intervention due to threats of being attacked and school did nothing I was physically attacked within the school grounds and the attacker only got isolation. Another round of bullying a pastoral who no longer works there was trying to get me to apologise to them for bullying me. I ended up in hospital due to mental health detonating and sucidal thoughts due to this negative experience
This is not a Catholic school nor religious school nor respectful
My child is in 7or in and ppl are vondtlay bullied because of stupidest reasons and all the teachers are rude to students and give out detentions for no reason some of the teachers can't even speak English teachers are rude for no reason like they ecpact our children to be nice to them but that are not nice to the children that go there and it is supposedly a Catholic school well that attitude of that students there don't show that if it was hi school uniform day which there isn't you would have thought it was a ghetto gang school people sagging making out teachers have relationships with students younger than them it is not a good school you look at one person and they wanna kill you and the teachers is rascist as a white person say can I go to the toilet they say yes a black person no even know you have a toilet pass. People with special needs don't get help but people with no special needs get special treatment some fake disabilities and get away with it you can't speak to the head teachers and heads of years always make up excuses to get you child in trouble it is not worth sending your child or teenegar there matter a fact don't work there staff are rude and racist to each other nothing help with this school that school don't teach anything they are only good for shouting at your child or teenager or cussing some teachers use swear words at children AGAIN IT IS NOT WORTH IT. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD THERE IF YOU DO YOUR CRUEL ME AS A PARENT I CAN TELL THE TEACHERS AND SUPPOSRY FOR YOUR CHILD IS NOT WORTH IT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED IF YOU HAVE SPECAIL NEEDD YOU DON'T GET HELPED PEOPLE WITH NO SPECIAL NEEDS GET NO HELP
Absolutely not a religious school
Awful school ran by incompetent bullies.
The biggest issue the school have is the deputy head/mental health lead, her job title is laughable (and qualifications questionable) considering she is the reason my daughter's mental health plummeted when she was asked to support her on a bullying situation. This happened over the children's phones and we had plenty of evidence but despite their "cyber bullying policy" we were told it was "out of their jurisdiction" because it happened outside of school hours and she refused to help us any further.
The head teacher is practically non existent, he is never available to talk to and has attended one of many meetings I've had at the school and he didn't say a single word. Not even to introduce himself.
The majority of teachers seem to use isolation as a first resort to any incident rather than a last as is supposed to be the procedure.
Autistic or difficult children are hidden away for OFSTED visits to ensure each monitored lesson "runs smoothly".
And apart from the mandatory R.E lessons and occasional masses there is nothing religious about the school. Nothing about their religion is reflected in their behaviour and approach to vulnerable children or families and definitely nothing reflected in their senior management teams views and actions.
I will say some teachers are amazing and go above and beyond most days and they really should be appreciated by the head for practically carrying the mess that is the rest of the school. The head of 10 is one of these teachers as well as the pastoral team.
The biggest issue the school have is the deputy head/mental health lead, her job title is laughable (and qualifications questionable) considering she is the reason my daughter's mental health plummeted when she was asked to support her on a bullying situation. This happened over the children's phones and we had plenty of evidence but despite their "cyber bullying policy" we were told it was "out of their jurisdiction" because it happened outside of school hours and she refused to help us any further.
The head teacher is practically non existent, he is never available to talk to and has attended one of many meetings I've had at the school and he didn't say a single word. Not even to introduce himself.
The majority of teachers seem to use isolation as a first resort to any incident rather than a last as is supposed to be the procedure.
Autistic or difficult children are hidden away for OFSTED visits to ensure each monitored lesson "runs smoothly".
And apart from the mandatory R.E lessons and occasional masses there is nothing religious about the school. Nothing about their religion is reflected in their behaviour and approach to vulnerable children or families and definitely nothing reflected in their senior management teams views and actions.
I will say some teachers are amazing and go above and beyond most days and they really should be appreciated by the head for practically carrying the mess that is the rest of the school. The head of 10 is one of these teachers as well as the pastoral team.
DO NOT PUT YOUR SEN CHILD IN THIS SCHOOL, IT IS EVIL!!!
This is supposedly inclusive school bullied my autistic son until he felt suicidal. They made no secret of their dislike of him and his autism from before he started and after they did everything possible to go against his EHCP so they could suspend and eventually permanently exclude him. I was told anonymously by staff members that he was deliberately dysregulated and bullied by senior SEN and other staff. These include the former SENDCO with the dodgy eyebrows, the current SENDCO who thinks all autistic children HAVE to be EXACTLY like her own child and the Deputy Head/Mental health lead who is a massive bitch and bully and shouldn't be working with children at all (she also has a face like Ghost Face's evil twin!)
In order to keep the funding they received for my son they then trashed him to every SEN school in Berkshire and only provided minimal alternative provision. My son has been out of education for nearly 2 years and will never catch up. He also suffered a mental breakdown as a result of his treatment at this school. Do not send your SEN children here, it will ruin their lives.
Also, there's a possibility that they employed someone who had openly had a relationship with a 14 year old.
In order to keep the funding they received for my son they then trashed him to every SEN school in Berkshire and only provided minimal alternative provision. My son has been out of education for nearly 2 years and will never catch up. He also suffered a mental breakdown as a result of his treatment at this school. Do not send your SEN children here, it will ruin their lives.
Also, there's a possibility that they employed someone who had openly had a relationship with a 14 year old.
Former PGCE Student here, avoid this school at all costs.
My experience at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School was nothing short of a nightmare. As a new PGCE student, I came in with high hopes and expectations, only to be met with hostility, lack of support, and outright disrespect.
After contracting Covid-19, instead of receiving compassion and understanding, I was made to feel bad. The support I received during this challenging time was minimal at best. As someone new to teaching, I naturally had many questions, but instead of being met with guidance, I was made to feel like an idiot for even asking. This was particularly disheartening as I was in the initial stages of my teaching career and needed support more than ever.
Sue Matthews, the assistant headteacher, was particularly detrimental to my experience. She constantly spoke down to me, belittled me, and patronized me. Her condescending tone and attitude made me feel like a child rather than a professional. The nerve she had to suggest that I had a 'learning difficulty' because I didn’t grasp something complex the first time was utterly insulting. How can someone who supposedly specializes in Mental Health and Wellbeing cause such a significant decline in my own mental health and wellbeing through her actions and comments?
Adding to this toxic environment was Celine Stubbs, who mirrored her mother’s behavior but was even more aggressive. The fact that she boasts about receiving a first on her observations is laughable, considering her mother, Sue Matthews, was the one conducting the observations. This blatant conflict of interest created an environment where it felt like mother and daughter were ganging up on me.
Throughout my time at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School, I did not witness Sue Matthews or Celine Stubbs speaking to any white members of staff in the same manner they spoke to me. This raises a serious concern: were they treating me this way because of my brown skin? The constant undermining, belittling, and lack of support felt like racially motivated behavior.
Overall, my experience at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School was incredibly negative and impactful in the worst way possible. The lack of support, coupled with the condescending and racially insensitive behavior from key staff members, made my time there unbearable. I would not recommend this school to anyone, especially those who value respect, support, and a healthy working environment.
After contracting Covid-19, instead of receiving compassion and understanding, I was made to feel bad. The support I received during this challenging time was minimal at best. As someone new to teaching, I naturally had many questions, but instead of being met with guidance, I was made to feel like an idiot for even asking. This was particularly disheartening as I was in the initial stages of my teaching career and needed support more than ever.
Sue Matthews, the assistant headteacher, was particularly detrimental to my experience. She constantly spoke down to me, belittled me, and patronized me. Her condescending tone and attitude made me feel like a child rather than a professional. The nerve she had to suggest that I had a 'learning difficulty' because I didn’t grasp something complex the first time was utterly insulting. How can someone who supposedly specializes in Mental Health and Wellbeing cause such a significant decline in my own mental health and wellbeing through her actions and comments?
Adding to this toxic environment was Celine Stubbs, who mirrored her mother’s behavior but was even more aggressive. The fact that she boasts about receiving a first on her observations is laughable, considering her mother, Sue Matthews, was the one conducting the observations. This blatant conflict of interest created an environment where it felt like mother and daughter were ganging up on me.
Throughout my time at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School, I did not witness Sue Matthews or Celine Stubbs speaking to any white members of staff in the same manner they spoke to me. This raises a serious concern: were they treating me this way because of my brown skin? The constant undermining, belittling, and lack of support felt like racially motivated behavior.
Overall, my experience at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School was incredibly negative and impactful in the worst way possible. The lack of support, coupled with the condescending and racially insensitive behavior from key staff members, made my time there unbearable. I would not recommend this school to anyone, especially those who value respect, support, and a healthy working environment.
I don’t recommend
They are really bad at dealing with bullying
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
Whilst some aspects of the school are positive - for example the catholic ethos (including the chapel and whole school masses), other aspects are disappointing.
As an educator, attempting to teach classes where significant proportions of children do not want to learn, whilst the systems do little to promote positive behaviour is frustrating. Behaviour is a huge issue, and senior leadership seem powerless to move this in the right direction.
The lack of afterschool clubs or opportunities for students is equally disappointing, there is so much that could be done to engage the community and make the school a more positive place for its young people.