Broomhill Bank School

My time at Broomhill Bank caused deep, lasting harm that stayed with me long after I left. As a direct result of what I endured there, I developed an eating disorder and struggled with severe mental illness for years — damage that should never have been inflicted in a place supposedly created to protect and support vulnerable young people.

Make no mistake: this school never cared about the children in its care. Their only true priority was guarding their own public reputation. I watched them fail so many of my friends and myself; at times it felt like they didn’t just ignore our struggles — it seemed as though they actually took satisfaction in making things harder for us, because we simply didn’t matter to them. I feel nothing but shame and embarrassment to have ever been associated with this place — I would never openly admit I attended there. The behaviour I witnessed from staff and leadership was nothing short of horrendous. I am successful today in spite of everything this school represented, not because of it. If there is one lesson they taught me, it’s that I had no choice but to fight for myself, because no one there ever would.

I want to name Rebecca Cottage, who served as Deputy Head Teacher during my time. She was volatile and unhinged, with severe, uncontrolled anger issues that seemed to simmer constantly beneath the surface. Far from having any natural warmth or understanding for young people, she genuinely appeared to dislike — even hate — the children she was meant to guide and protect. This is deeply disturbing on every level; someone with that temperament and attitude should never have been placed in a position of authority over vulnerable children. It is completely beyond belief that she now works as Head Teacher at Marjorie McClure School. It raises serious questions about how these roles are filled and what is allowed to be swept under the rug to protect reputations.

And let’s talk about the £2.4 million being invested into this school. To anyone looking on, it may seem like a positive step — but anyone who knows the truth understands exactly what this money is really for. It is not being spent to right past wrongs, or to provide better care, or to make amends for the trauma inflicted on generations of students. It is being spent to polish an image, to put a shiny new facade over a broken system, and to convince the outside world that everything has changed. Money can renovate buildings, buy new equipment, and produce glowing reports — but it cannot erase the psychological scars left on so many former students. It cannot rewrite the culture of neglect and indifference. It cannot give back the childhoods that were damaged. This place does not deserve a single penny of public investment when it failed so fundamentally in its basic duty of care. Pouring millions into it feels like rewarding bad behaviour, and it makes me feel sick that resources are being directed here instead of towards services that actually prioritise the well-being of young people.

To Broomhill Bank:
We both know the full truth I could lay bare — but I’ll simply wish you farewell. Maybe one day you’ll finally see the light. They say in life you reap what you sow… but some things only God can forgive.

I hope you find yourselves praying. I hope hearts change. I hope you find peace — even if it means falling to your knees to ask for it.

They don’t handle bullying very well, yet they say their bullying policy is very strict.

The food is substandard, and it needs to be more adequate and advantageous.

A few teachers can be quite aggressive and careless, and they can be helpless.

This is a good school, but they could do much better by handling bullying straight away, and not trying to get away from helping.

I have been bullied here, and the teachers have not done anything about it; sometimes they don’t believe me.