Cheltenham Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre

I went to bournside for year 7 to year 10, throughout my time there has been nothing but rocky at best. I’ll start at year 7, to be fair to them it was actually alright the current head was not present and their view to technology was good, however this was the only thing that was alright. In year 8 halfway through the year, Covid happened and online school was lead somewhat well but still not great. This is when I was diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder), this completely changed my experience at this school. I went back to school in the year ‘bubbles’ and it was carnage, 300 students in one block was horrible. Everyone was practically sandwiched together not matter where you went and it was even worse when we had to change classrooms. There was pushing, shoving, kicking, screaming etc and what made it even worse was the fact we had only a couple of minutes to get to the class. Yes it was only a 30 seconds away but when everyone is trying to get to their classroom it would take at least 10 minutes, meanwhile they implemented a rule that helped the teachers and only them, the lessons would be 50 minutes since the teachers ‘needed’ time to get to their classroom. So when I finally get to class I would be late quite a lot of the time even though I couldn’t help that. Even then the teachers wouldn’t cut us slack either because if you needed to toilet then they would use the excuse that ‘you had plenty of time to get here’. This was a serious problem for me since I had loads of anxiety around using the toilets. This wasn’t due to the school but the students but the school didn’t exactly help either. Lunch was a nightmare too, they packed 300 of us into a small quad, they set up a tent of sorts outside and set ups tables and a lunch line out. At first it was alright, by this time I was slightly getting used to the squeezing but when you shove hundreds of teenagers into a tent either in the dead of winter or the peak of summer then it’s not nice. In the winter I don’t think I have ever been that cold, we were allowed coats but even then it was still freezing. I could barely eat due my shaking hands and teeth. The teachers of course didn’t care, they never do. In the summer it was sweltering, I also have a problem with the heat, I was on the verge of tears constantly. I would sweat profusely and being a teenager at that time it was embarrassing and I felt so much shame. In the classroom wasn’t any better since you had to ask to take your 10 pound blazer of and if the teacher said no then I feel like I would have a heat stroke, I could barely eat due to it. Did the teachers care? No of course not. ‘Our’ toilets would also be packed by half of the 300 students and I couldn’t go like that so I had to go home consistently and this would cause my anxiety to spike. When the quarantine was over and we went back to ‘normal’ it was somewhat better, but not really. My attendance took a hit because my anxiety was just getting worse and worse, the school only noticed that I needed help when my attendance was low. (The school had a big emphasis on attendance if you had 100% then you would get ice cream and an afternoon off while everyone else had to do work and watch them have fun. This totally didn’t feel like a punch to my self worth, it did). At this stage my anxiety was at the peak and my stomach was getting worse and worse, I developed a lactose intolerance and a gluten intolerance. I felt sick all the time, I didn’t really sleep and I lost a dangerous amount of weight. I couldn’t go out and I didn’t really speak. This is when I was introduced to lees (the safeguard lead) she was nice for the most part. However she had not idea what asd actually was and expected that if I just go to school and talk to her then I would be cured (doesn’t work like that). She did help me with the toilet situation a bit, she gave me a card that when I needed to go to the toilet I could go to the nurse and go to that toilet but it didn’t really work, in hindsight I needed access to the disabled toilet. When it didn’t work she just gave up with that part. The card also let me go for a ‘timeout’ this also didn’t work. Their SEN room was alright it was always busy so not quiet and the teachers in their were quite confrontational. I think that Kelly was nice. Basically the room was for students they couldn’t really help but they had to have something in place. I chose my GCSE’S and I was advised to to a functional skills class, eg learning about tax and debit/credit cards and what to do when feeling sad. In year 10 was when I barely went in, my health was declining every day the school was no help and just before I went into year 11 I was finally introduced to special education by the council (after years of fighting them). This environment was perfect for me and my needs but bournside didn’t sign of on it due to them saying they could meet my needs, which they couldn’t. The only reason why they said that was because I was diagnosed and had a ECHP, meaning they got huge amount of funding from the government. They only wanted me there because of money, and me nearly dying wasn't their problem. Now I’m going to talk about the specific teachers who were horrible or just downright mean. Now let’s start with (I can’t say anybody by name) Jefferies, he is extremely rude and pompous. He thinks he knows more then you and will be completely condescending. He is totally anti-technology which was actually the good part of the school until he banned them. He tries to hide it but he is a conservative and a Tory supporter. He is not nice. Waters is also like him, he thinks his authority is absolute and no one can question him or he can never be wrong and that means he can be nasty to you to without any consequences. He would never pick on boys that had dyed or different styled hair. Just girls. Throughout my student life he would constantly tell me to change my hair colour, style whatever. He would point directly at me and say it’s not allowed and that I needed to change it, making everyone around me look at me and snicker. He did nothing about this and even laughed along with them, I felt mortified. Nobody else had a problem with the colour of my hair or how it’s styled and it seems that he cares more about someone’s hair rather than like I don’t know, bullying, discrimination etc. I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t remember the name of the receptionist but she has distilled a complete distrust in receptionists and teachers. I was feeling really sick one day and went to the nurse, she then beckoned a receptionist to call my parents, I had to tell her again why I needed to go home she said “really?” In a sarcastic tone. I said yes wanting to just leave. I watched her phone up my dad, she put the phone back down and said he didn’t pick up/didn’t answer. So instead she sent me to a sen room different to what I normally go to, this one was for people who were doing in school detention/exclusion. I was made to sit their and wait for other teachers to help. They never did. I looked around the classroom and saw chocolate Easter eggs. The teacher in the classroom looked at me and then at her clipboard, she asked me for my name and my class number and I said them. She then made me pick up multiple Easter eggs and carry them back to my tutor class even though I was feeling sick, dizzy and on the verge of tears. She didn’t care, I was just a servant to her. I then made it to my tutor, I then had to give out Easter eggs to my classmates, I never got one, the eggs were for people who did good that term. The students who didn’t get one looked at each other with a knowing look, I wanted to say at that time that I was used to not getting anything for my work but I wasn’t, I never was and I never will be. When I went home that day I asked my dad why he didn’t pick up since he was home all day, turns out he never actually got a call, they had his phone number correct since the receptionists have called more then once but that receptionist pretended to call my dad, I sat there looking at her pretending to call my dad, that crushed me and I had a panic attack. I would also like to say that, I was never naughty, I don’t think I’ve ever had a detention and I was also in the top set for quite a lot of things before I got sick. I got loads of house points for my house so I wasn’t a bad kid, I internalised those feelings and for years after even now I think that no matter what I do that I’ll never be good enough. I will never forgive what Bournside did to me, there were other horrible things but this review would turn into a book so I couldn’t add anything more but what happened to me will never be forgotten. I’m still damaged from it and I don’t think I’ll ever recover. This school did not only break me but they broke me beyond repair. And for those teachers who were nasty then I hope the rest of your life is the one you deserve. Gibbons you were fantastic, your standard of teaching should be the mandatory, I will never forget how nice you were and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your life. And for anyone reading this, I hope you have a better time then me, I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

absolutely hate everyone in this school. ruined my mental health and i got bullied every day by someone called tom. the teachers do not care about racism and political issues. most worstly i could hear students banging in the toilets

most racist school in Britain Bounrnside in Cheltenham has to be said I when there to talk to the head teacher about my see how he’s doing and he promised to call and update me about my sons education etc and he basically told me to leave without bringing any son to talk to me has the mother is alienated my son for years. No phone call from the school nothing it like don’t respect black culture.

School is an absolute joke this year they didnt give us non school uniform for children in need day in fact they completely ignored it not even asking for donation plus they and really strict and could give your child a dedention for talking once the uniform is evepensive and brakes easily iv had enough of this school

School is full of bullying which teachers will do nothing about, some teachers and lots students are both homophobic and transphobic and pick on those students, there are no morals or anything there it isn’t a great school at all

not very good with mental health issues or bullying at all.