Calder High School, The Calder Learning Trust

i went to calder high from 2022 to 2023 and i believe it was one of the worst years of my life. going to school every day felt like hell, i came home almost every day in tears, messaging my mum at break and lunch trying to get her to pick me up so i could get away from it all. if i could leave a zero star review i would.

first of all, the staff members are both verbally abusive and aggressive towards students. they never showed respect towards students, yet continued to preach that “respect goes both ways”. it felt at times they would try and find reasons to tell me off, i was never rewarded or praised for good behaviour but as soon as i did something wrong it was an outrage to them. teachers would often raise their voices at me, at times outright shouting regardless of them knowing about my on going assessment for adhd. staff were often aggressive and hostile towards me, treating me like i was nothing. i was often accused of things i didnt do and when i tried explaining this to members of staff i was punished even more.

continuing on from this, male staff would often walk into the female changing rooms without warning and made no effort to leave quickly. the isolation staff made me extremely uncomfortable when i was in there, asking girls to sit on his desk and often winking at them. i found this very concerning, especially seeing as he was the only staff member in there and there being no cameras in the room. in a science lesson, i was once told by a male member of staff that i couldnt go to the toilet, even after i stated to a female teacher that i was on my period and needed to go to the toilet. she allowed me to go but as i was walking out of the door i was stopped by him. his body language was aggressive and he was submissive towards me, telling me that i should “hold it in” and that i was disturbing his lesson (it wasnt his lesson, he was watching over another member of staff).

bullying was never stopped at calder high, and whenever i tried to report cases of bullying i was told i was “being dramatic” and “theres nothing wrong”. slurs were often used in corridors with teachers hearing but doing nothing to stop it. lessons were constantly disrupted, with half the time teachers not even turning up to teach. lessons were not enjoyable and we were lucky if we learnt anything at all. i now am behind at my new school because of this.

the building is atrocious, barely fit to be used. mould is growing on the walls of outside blocks, one teacher even catching pneumonia from this. the roof leaks every time it rains, water pours down the wall of one of the drama classrooms, buckets are placed in classrooms to catch the leaking. this is extremely distracting to lesson. in one part of the school, the roof is being held up by what looks like a thin sheet of plastic. the corridors and classrooms smell of mould and damp and its overall a terrible environment.

i was often chased by teachers around the school for the most absurd reasons, one time even being chased by one of the spanish teachers because i went to the toilet. i was called stupid and told i was a “troublemaker”, with one teacher even making comments about my family and saying how i was “just like them”. i find this disgusting.

in another incident involving the current head of year 8, i was physically dragged off the floor and along the corridors to isolation by a male teacher after saying i didnt want to talk to the head of year 8. i didnt want to talk to him as he often made me uncomfortable and shouted at me for no particular reason. this was inappropriate for him to do and caused me a lot of stress and anxiety.

the head of year 8 also called me in to be searched, i had no idea why as i was not carrying anything on me that needed to be taken away. i was not endangering anyone. when i asked about this, i was told nothing but to “give me your blazer” while he took my bag and proceeded going through all my things, even touching my sanitary products. in the end, i was told i was being searched for a hall pass. a hall pass is not something a student should be searched for, and i have reported this.

to this day, even after leaving calder high school over 7 months ago, i still have flashbacks to everything i experienced there. my experience there was traumatic, causing my mental health to be at an all time low. i developed an eating disorder, i was having severe anxiety attacks and i have now been put on medication for anxiety and i believe this experience has contributed to it. i have also been diagnosed with adhd, which when i was at calder the senco staff refused to help with, saying they wouldnt help until i got a diagnosis. i struggled for over a year there. if you are considering sending your children there, i would consider otherwise.

it’s shit😂, the school only cares about your tests/exams/homework and nothing else, you can ask for help and tell staff why you upset but they don’t do anything. The children with special needs are treated poorly and most staff are quitting because of how badly there treated aswell it’s disgusting, your not allowed your coat on when it’s absolutely freezing and the inside heating doesn’t work, when it’s boiling your not allowed your blazer off, school cares way to much about makeup and jewelly. Your not allowed coloured socks which is stupid😂

i believe that this school may be one of the worst i’ve seen. teachers are rude and confrontational at the slightest mistake, yet still preach the term ‘respect goes both way’ while disrespecting us daily. we are forced to wear blazers even on hot days – unless on the very odd occasion THEY will decide if it’s hot enough for us to take them off. even inside a classroom we are required to ask before taking them off. there are no visits to the bathroom during lesson time, but if we try to go at break and lunch, the bathrooms are completely full.

the building itself is falling apart. there is damp everywhere, ceiling that could drop down on pupils at any moment. there’s a particular problem with this one of the art room, where a large part of the building is being held up by what looking like a plastic wrap.

in terms of discipline, they are incredibly over the top. i think the worst thing is their isolation room. this room in the school is every students absolute worst nightmare. it is like a classroom from the early 1900s, with metal chairs and booths at the back. there are multiple concerning carvings into those tables that students have carved in after being stuck in there and being quite literally driven insane. i’ve been in there a few times myself, one of the reasons i was in there (i can’t say what as it will give away my identity to the school) being completely and utterly absurd. the school will stick you into there for anything, missing out on vital lesson time. your teachers don’t bring you any work, and for a while (i don’t believe this is in place now) we were given gcse maths papers to complete as work from 8:15am until 4:00.

When it comes to bullying at calder high, nothing is done to fix it. derogatory terms are shouted at people in the corridors with teachers hearing but doing nothing. i was told by a couple friends about some younger pupils in one of the yards that have footballs kicked at them by boys playing (who seem to be targeting them) and still nothing is done about this, when pupils that have been hit have sometimes had to go home from their injuries. this issue may of been fixed now, i haven’t heard anything since, but i felt it was important to mention.

in summary, calder high seems to be a horrible lace for a lot of its students, who are afraid to come into school because of bullying, saftetet concerns and anxiety. i hope you take the time to read this review and take it into note.

Bad school
Made me want to die
Don,t care about children
. Makes children over heat beast bog let them take of ther blazer s
. Make freezing not put a coat
. De hydrates them in lesson which you can't drink in like scinesc they Don,t let you go outside to drink
. If fell really ill the Don,t care
. Shout at children for not understanding
Put lot of pressure on them
To much homework like 10 a week for a year 7
Made lunch really late children are staving
. Make some children depressed
.. teachers aloud to eat in lesson not the children .
Shout so loudly
For people to act in drama or speak in lessons
Blame the children for things like the naughty they all yes blame it on them even if it was not them

Seems like they only care about the
uniform .

Lessons so boring and I did not understand it at all

Some teacher would not even let put ???
On the work when you Don,t know and then the shout you and don't even help you and say it unelectable to put a question mark and said everyone has a brain so use it .

And them when I saw that teacher again they rolled there eyes at me

Someone did not understand And the teachers said Lerner your self in a shouting voice

Children with learning disabilities are some time miss treated . 😕 but some time get help they need.


Apart from that there is most nice teacher 👌 and some children won't say this too and like this school .

Some bit were good tho
And there is no hate for this school but I think they need to make so teacher respect the children and make the children respect them

Absolutely shocking. I was having serious problems with an ex boyfriend, and it ended up where he shoved me back against a wall in the corridor. I went to go to talk to someone (head of year 9 at the time), and I was told I was being dramatic, and it was nothing. The same boy has gotten away with sexually assaulting 4 girls (including myself). The school has done next to nothing about this.

I really enjoyed my time here especially towards the end. There are always those teachers that are so so helpful and friendly and it rarely feels like a formal teacher-student relationship and talk to you like a human being. Especially with Humanities/English/Textile subjects. You will get a few racist comments throughout your years as someone from an ethnic minority but the teachers handle it well. I met some good people here too. Now that I’m on the next stage of learning, I really feel like I took it all for granted. :))