Harris Academy Bermondsey

I am highly disappointed on how the school handles bullies. I don’t think it’s okay for the teachers to gaslight a child and not do nothing about bullies. A child (child A) that is currently at Harris Bermondsey complained to the teachers about being bullied by other children at Harris Bermondsey. An incident occurred where other children threw a water bottle at her head (Child A) and the school response to child A was that the bullies “was just joking with her (child A)”. In what world is throwing a water bottle at someone’s head a joke? That is assault. The kids who have thrown the water bottle at Child A head have not been expelled or suspended - that sets a precedent to the kids that their behaviour is acceptable and they can continue to do that without any repercussions and consequences.

I’m highly disappointed on how Harris Academy Bermondsey handles bullies. There’s no amount of rebranding this school can do to convince me that this school is a good school. They have a history of protecting bullies, whereas the child being bullied suffers the consequences of being bullied and their mental health is impacted in a negative way.

Shame on Harris Bermondsey Academy on how they have handled the situation, I’m appalled.

My daughter went to this school and she never really liked the school. She found most teachers and students very nice but She told me other students had did very inappropriate behaviour like kids in year 7 (her year) had been vaping and selling vapes. A girl was also bullying her and my daughter and I told her head of year and he told the girl not to do it anymore but she still continually did it. Also, hair and other disgusting things was in my daughters and other student’s food. After a few months of the school and begging , my wife and I let our daughter move to another secondary school.

I wont lie and say it's a bad school because its not. Comparing to others, I believe it is a school that can use improvement though the way it is now is alright. On the one hand, the support system is strong, there are people you can go to if something is going on in your personal life such as if your struggling with your mental health because if family issues. However on the other hand, in terms of the rules and procedures it has it can confuse me. There are rules that do not make any sense to me at all as they cannot have an impact on our learning. Also, in terms of school food the quality never maintains a good standard. I've noticed that there have been increases in price from my time at the beginning and I do understand that the school must take these measures in order to help its quality but it can be excessive. The food as a whole can be very unappealing to many students which can cause them to just be left starving. Overall, the school do have some supporting teachers who do provide an understanding that what goes on each students lives is different but the school also needs to take matters into their own hands because the food can be a monster of it's own at times.