Charters School

We have been nothing but impressed with Charters. They put the kids first. They challenge and push the kids making sure that they work to their full potential in a supported environment. Their no phone policy means their are no phones and they are fair and consistent. Management is organised and is there to help and support the kids. They have a wide range of subjects and the deliver the full course and support with coursework and their revision is organised and supported. I would highly recommend Charters.

Outstanding school with high standards providing holistic education in the community.

I wish I could be positive about the school I spent 5 years in, but I want to be brutally honest. The education within subjects is varied, where some teachers genuinely were paternal and did care for you, and taught their subjects in a way you'd understand, but it varied heavily and some teachers didn't know how to control classes. Many of the " paternal" teachers tend to leave, which in my case was high. What it left us were people who didn't study the same curriculum as us, and often didn't know how to teach. I am all for solving genuine, real problems that the schools faced, but in all honesty they've tackled it in completely the wrong way, if even tackled at all. Attendance matters of course, but what I've notice is how they've basically highlighted it as the root cause - it very much is not. Its sidelined other, arguably much more serious issues, like rampant bullying. The school has been focused over attendance, and instilling fear for the 90% of children that happen to be late to class by 1-2 minutes, but doesn't punish the 10% that are genuine concerns seriously. When I say bullying is barely tackled, I mean it. The most a child could get for it was a Headteacher's. People only got expelled after their 90th or so offence, and by that point the damage has already been dealt, meanwhilst many children within that 90% are sent to " consequences " for accumulating 10 minutes of lateness in two weeks. Of course, being punctual is important, but thats 1 minute of one lesson a day, which could be for simple reasons like the traffic due to the one way systems, though I see the logic behind it. They've got their priorities all wrong. Racism,homophobia and misogyny is RAMPANT in this school, transcending all year groups, just getting progressively worse the older you get. Assemblies treat students like they're kids - they're not. its 12-18, and of course for the majority of your time spent here, you technically are a " child " you certainly are not fresh out of nursery either, which is how you're treated in instances. There's usually a lack of understanding between student-teacher conversations. Safety wise, there's certainly been no outside school threats, but the drills do not prepare you at all. If anything, you don't feel safe within the actual school bounds - during the break times, there simply isn't enough staff to safeguard 1700 students, and considering the fighting problem, it ramps up quickly. The food is mediocre- not bad, but certainly not something you'd look forward to, especially the given prices. I overall would not recommend this school, it needs MAJOR improvements.

I would not recommend Charters School. Misogyny, racism, and homophobia are widespread and unchecked. Bullying is not taken seriously — despite meetings with heads of year and school governors, no meaningful action was taken. There is little regard for students’ mental health or how they’re affected by these issues. Our child witnessed a violent attack in class. The teacher couldn’t manage the situation and had to call security to stop the assault. This wasn’t an isolated incident. Verbal abuse — racist and homophobic — is a daily occurrence. Teaching standards are questionable and the staff turnover is unbelievable. We’ve since removed our child and placed them in another school — the difference is remarkable. They finally feel safe, supported, and respected. Charters fails to provide even the basics of a safe learning environment.

This school is very supportive of children who are observing the Holy Month of Ramadan. They allow children to either sit PE lessons or very very mild exercise. The PE teacher is Mr. Marris and he is brilliant not only with the children but also with the parents. I also want to mention Miss Lane the attendance officer who actually uses her common sense before sending letters to parents for poor attendance. This review is left by Nadeem Kiyani.

Some teachers are amazing and help you a lot, but some, (mainly some of the HOY and tutors) are down right lazy and don’t care about your situation, during my time at the school I have been bullied and contacted school many times and nothing ever happened, except from them saying I would be put into ELSA (support sessions) and they just forgot to give me the sessions I asked for even though they said I would have them, many teachers don’t have passion for teaching and are only there to be payed and don’t enjoy their job, school isn’t clean and the state of the toilets are rank, there are food, bottles, wrapping etc in the toilets and more disgusting stuff, food prices are terrible too £2.50 for chips £1.75 for a slice of pizza and then £1.20 for a capri-sun (the only drink they have now) they’ve changed all the systems so you cannot see detention making you miss them, can’t see why you’ve been given negative or positive points on Arbor and only changed to save more money, sport is good here, good facilities like 3G, Astro, gym, and more, and they have emergency meetings when ofsted comes to the school to make sure everyone behaves and if they don’t they increase the punishment to make the school get a good ofsted rating, many teachers don’t let male students leave to go to the bathroom but let female students leave which seems a bit sexist, and the school says they focus on fixing behaviour but what they really do is just give you an afterschool and that’s it, most teachers don’t even come to talk to you during the detention (which they should do due to it being on the sheet) and you sit there for an hour wasting more time, in my opinion if your mates aren’t going here, don’t go it’s not a very good school especially if you have had problems with bullying etc…

What a delightful private school that produces such fine judges as the honourable C. Hehir, who sentences peaceful protestors to many years in prison. And to impart such vast knowledge of science that the reality of climate change can be denied. Truly an accomplishment to 'educate' such alumni...!

I cannot express how poor this school is, if your child does fit the mould, has mental health issues or struggles in a school environment then please don’t send your child to Charters. They will be made to feel like a failure and definitely won’t be supported in their education.

My five years spent at this school were hell. The level of bullying experienced was near unbearable and the support non-existent. The rampant homophobia I was forced to put up with has caused damage I’m still working through now, over ten years later. They ignored my every complaint and request for help so thoroughly, I was consequently ignored academically as well. They managed to miss my blatant dyslexia that was picked up on within my first few weeks of attending college. Instead, I was consistantly accused of being lazy and not paying proper attention in an enviroment where I was heckled and mocked for simply existing. Further reading of reviews shows that this issue has not been fixed. The schools complete disregard for their students beyond grades and academic status is repugnant.

Recent Former student I had the worst experience at this school. Racism, homophobia, sexism etc is off the charts within students and they don’t know how to contain it. Their measure is mainly to throw on a motivational assembly featuring some sports success story as though the students are 5, it’s not making any difference. Ridiculous expectations for uniform rules and rules in general- their solution to misbehaviour over the years has just been to increase punishment and rules which honestly resulted in worse behaviour because it made it easier to rebel against such ridiculous regimes. For example: the long sock ban. A favourite of the many sexist and misogynistic staff and teachers at Charters, they would defend this rule with their life. Of course, it is the fault of the (underage and minor) girls for being (and i quote) ‘tarty’ or ‘dressing like a prostitute’ a school which claims to be attentive to all accusations of this form, have not to my knowledge once addressed this entire situation even after being emailed about it (sending back evasive and nothing responses). The school like to market themselves under the ‘outstanding’ ofsted review they got in something like 2002, despite having changed both the headteacher and many staff since then. Since leaving i’ve watched them take fancy photoshoots and paint interiors white with the new headteachers face and motto plastered over it like some sort of weird dictatorship (not far off it honestly). They care about nothing other than reputation. You often find people are afraid to even talk about their experiences, and even if they do they are not addressed because all the school actually care about is how they look and what reputation they can hold up despite their dire and completely disgusting situation inside. I’ve never seen bullying anywhere like i saw it at Charters, there is zero freedom to be an individual for the fear of the attack from peers which is normalised within the student community from day one and not combatted by teachers even when asked to. I’ve found the most they did was place the victim and the perpetrator into a room together to ‘talk out’ their ‘friendship troubles.’ They need to wake up and recognise what they’re doing to the students who are there because most people come out of that place unhappy and unmotivated. Not to mention their dropping grades and attendees of unis like oxford and cambridge. They cling on to old reviews and fail to acknowledge what’s really going on. The only good staff were some of the english department and the caretaker. I’ve never been happier than when i finally left charters.

This school is absolutely dreadful, please do not send your children there. It creates a misogynistic and racist environment where many children have to hide their ethnicities as not to be bullied. The school takes no action against abuse and many teachers share political opinions that are factually incorrect. The school looks to punish and does not foster an environment where students learn how to think and question the world around them. There are a handful of incredible teachers (it says not to mention names so I won’t) but apart from a few, the staff are awful.

don’t do enough about racism, homophobia and sexism they just don’t care really. the actual schooling is good i guess but the support for mental health isn’t that good and they certainly aren’t that well trained for people who are meant to specialise in that area