Cowbridge Comprehensive School

Bullying promblen and I want to wear shorts in the summer

No discipline, poor teaching, poor communication between teachers and the food has its ups and downs.

My son and daughter both went here. The school leadership via the head is non existent. The school which is based in one of the more affluent areas of Wales merely rides on the coat tails of parents paying for tutors and a high attainment ethic. Courses are not finished prior to exams in some cases. Lack of inspirational teaching - they still make you copy from the screens in to your book in many subjects. The PE department is disinterested and has no idea of inclusion or knowing and exposing talent. My child represented Wales and was a top athlete but they never encouraged despite me informing them every parent evening. Generally a friendly place in our experience with not much bullying but may be wrong. Bad reputation for cannabis which is well founded. They have no breaks between double lessons. Lunch is 45 mins with one 10/15 min break only. Not enough time to eat lunch. My daughter had all A stars in GCSEs but not one teacher said well done. ?‍♂️ If you have lots of money for tutors and can your kids have a good work ethic. they will do well. Despite the school.

The high ESTYN scores and exam results would lead you to believe that Cowbridge is an excellent school, but as someone who recently finished my education there I can tell you that this is categorically not the case. The schools problems lie in the dissonance between its faux private school attitude/pupil base and it's sub par quality of teaching. Cowbridge is one of the very few middle/upper class areas in Wales and is therefore home to the wealthiest percentage of the population. Many of the pupils are high achievers as consequence of privileged upbringings and excessive private tutoring. A significant number actually move to and from private schools throughout the varying stages of their education. The high test results are simply a result of this, the teaching is actually quite poor and is clear to see when you compare its effect on the minority of pupils from the more working areas outside of Cowbridge. From my experience all most all end up in in lower ability sets with no real support from the school and the numbers ending up in 6th form is close to zero. The bottom line is, if you don't have outside support you will not to do well in Cowbridge, unless of course you're some kind of prodigy, in which case they will parade you around to the local media and take unearned credit for your natural talent and hard work (this actually did happen to an extremely gifted friend of mine, who would often express his great annoyance behind the backs of the faculty). During my time at Cowbridge, I was routinely put in the position of teachers not finishing the course before the exam deadline and in a number of cases the blame was unbelievably put on pupils for this colossal failure of organisation. The handling of maternity leave and supply teaching was appalling leaving pupils without proper teachers in critical periods of their education. It was normal to make do with multiple changes in brand new and supply teachers within each class throughout the year. The English department carried out its duties so poorly as to actually result in the majority of a set 1 class actually failing a GCSE term, I believe a teacher was fired. There is very little active support regarding careers and higher education isn't something that is talked about or put an aim towards until the very period you are supposed to be applying. There is no attempt at individual help and unless you are excessively loud and persistent you will be overlooked. I personally had the experience of a teacher getting through most of the year before learning for my name. There is clear favouritism displayed by some teachers. There is an air of pretentiousness and neglectful arrogance from the some of the staff, seemingly getting an ego boost from working in this kind of 'posh' environment despite it being a comprehensive school where the needs of non privileged pupils still need to be met. The resources available for certain subjects are poor in terms of revision materials/powerpoints etc. There is overcrowding in many classes, with students crammed around the corners of tables.

Had lots of issues with this school. As a kid with a specific learning difficulty (ADHD) there was next to no support or understanding. The ineptitude of the school in looking after their student's wellbeing/mental health was also frankly appalling. I, alongside many others have had a traumatic experience here. Was very relieved to find other reviews with a similar sentiment to mine after feeling dismayed at the schools pristine reports again and again. Please Go deeper than looking at ESTYN reports. Ask people who have sent their kids to the school etc. Do your research and don’t send your kids to Cowbridge comp!

If you care about your kids don’t send them here- if your child is bullied, harassment or even sexual assaulted the teachers here will do nothing to help your child and instead focuses on making the problem go away. Disgusting behaviour from the people who are supposed to protect children. Not mention the amount of racism and homophobia that students of colour or LGBTQ community face is astounding- of your kids are apart of any of these two groups don’t put them in this school. Not to mention the lack of care for students with ADHD or other early problems is appalling. Overall there is a dangerous level of neglect of children’s well-being in this high school and your better off sending them literally anywhere else.

Incredibly poor pastoral care. There is barely any work put into supporting diverse children or children who struggle mentally. Teachers see children get bullied and don’t care as it is just a business to them. Educational wise it’s pretty average but they definitely need to do better for their students mental health

Some teachers are excellent. Great facilities. But poor general pastoral care and no personal social education taught. Very few trips with the school, seems as though they only care about academics.

It’s an Average school .