Reviews

1.6
Based on 29 reviews and 259 answers
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Parent
Mar 20, 2024

Terrible

Awful school. Rife with bullying. Not outside areas for play or sports. Not enough time for children to eat lunch. You get children terrorised by older children. Even had threats to life, send your children anywhere else. Removed my child from the school and home educated until a place was available elsewhere. My child is traumatised from his time here
Student
Oct 19, 2023

Racism, and Bullying

The school is full of white people and racist people and thy dont seem to care about black people, am in yr10 and have been alleged of being a stalker, a devil worshipper and a sexual assault, and also the school is mentally tortuing people the, school toilets are bad, the teachers are racist, the students are bullying people and racist the corridor are small and the stairs are narrow, the toilets have no seats on and the school is bad generally
Student
Oct 9, 2023

This school should be shut down.

Hi, I used to be a student at Jane Austen college and I'd like to say I know that there are many of you reading this and on this site that have had a bad experience at this "school" I put it on quotations because I don't think school is a good way to describe this place, hell is a good one! anyways id like everyone who has had a bad experience at this place to send me an e mail so we can talk about your situation! It can be parents, students and ex students!
Email: ashtonn302@gmail.com
Thank you :D
Student
Oct 9, 2023

This school needs to be held accountable.

Hi, I was a former student at this horrible school and I’m writing this to call every student or parent who has had a bad experience at this school and I would like to talk further about your situation and bad experience at this school.
I have trauma at this school that I will never be able to forget so please contact me through e mails: ashtonn302@gmail.com send me an e mail. Thank you!
Student
Sep 2, 2023

Bad school and unfair

terrible school a kid literally died there on the stairs and also kids barely get any help and a lot of people get bullied,also sort out the pencil case rule 💀 clear pencil cases are you actually serious?? oh and also only plain black bags like get a grip of yourself people don’t want plain backpacks half of the time,they don’t even want clear pencil cases also make the uniform comfy like kids don’t want to be in ugly uncomfortable uniform do they? no. oh and also your school is crap do not send your kids here they won’t get help they will struggle in all their lessons if they don’t get half of it and you can’t even wear a necklace like it’s not distracting get a grip of yourself. oh and apparently this school is on the rape list aka students have got raped there
Student
Jun 22, 2023

never send your child here

the school is an attrouise environment with load's of two faced people here you can get servely bullied here from how u talk to how you walk. for me i got bullied for everything from my natural afro hair all they way to people calling me disabled and racist things that a student should never hear at 12-13 years old. when i was in year 7 i had to get an operation on my leg major one that the school never seemed to care, one i had my surgery we were waiting for the school to let me return in fact they didn't for several months i was stuck at home with a low quality way of learning no communication in the school about my where abouts. that my own mother got calls from the school saying i wasnt etending even though they know i am at home with a titanium cage on my leg 10 open wounds as well. at some point it got so bad that my mom had to involve the council.


one main trigger for this was my mom called the council for an act of transport for me but the council said they hadnt been afformed of my surgery what so ever from the school.
once the council heard of everything that had happened they were furrious the school of course try to cover their tracks

when i was able to continue to go to school i was given a tutour that is still fortunatly my tutor today they would make us stay in the library with no way of fresh air as well as it being humid and hot int here once it got so bad they put me in a room with no windows it was a living nightmare.

i even complained to one of the "safe guarding" teachers about me being bullied and harrassed i was crying all through the meeting she didnt show any remorse fo the such.
as for now im dealing with massive topics at complications with anxiety and depressing none of the safegaurding helped me my brothers school had to call child services due to stuff at home i was astonished at the little help they offered me (the school) now i get weekly visits my school does not show any remmorse for students like me at all they just care about there reputation.

if your stuck on questions like this the teachers do not take there time to expain they rush through it while most of us are confused and failing our end of year assesment

i am ashamed to say i was appart of thsi school for 2 years but away from that the people at student services and the receptionist are nice as well as 3 teachers this is of couse my opinion

soon after i filed to move schools to a boarding school wyndoham im glady to say i got accepted and ill be boarding this september and leaving this hell of a school respectfully please do not send your child here as a fellow student im doing you a massive favour
Parent
Jun 19, 2023

Close Down Now

Close down immediately. Not fit for use, unless you want your child to be in a prison like environment. Bullying is rife, my Son, who lost his Dad in March 2023, went back after taking a couple of days off to grieve, only to have his coat stolen and the phone kept. The thief, to our horror, used it to send racist and hate filled messages, with the aim of making it look like it was my Son. Supply teachers have been a constant problem, well before the pandemic, as is the staff's standard excuse. Also, many good teachers simply leave, possibly because they themselves can see how dysfunctional the environment is. Ofsted don't have a clue. Please, heed this warning before sending your child.
Former Student
May 10, 2023

just bad

toilets always awful, urine and feces everywhere, soap dispenser was filled with urine and witnessed a poor year 7 use it and have urine foam come out
Student
Apr 18, 2023

Personal experiences

From experience I can tell you that Jane Austen is a horrible school they don’t care about ur mental health and if ur struggling they only care when ur ruining there reputation by acting out
I have been accused of theft bc the way I look and multiple other things teachers take advantage of there job to be little there students and ruin there records for when they finish school
Multiple racisms acts have happened towards me and nothing has happened besides one of the children writing an apology letter that my mum had to ask for they explained he was very apologetic to the teacher so let him off but it didn’t care that he had called be racial slurs students who struggle and need help and sent down to the basement or sent to other schools instead of dealing with the problem head on
I’m about to be kicked out and they are ruining my future because I walked away from a teacher? Or I was late to my lesson for 10 minutes or because I was rude when I got accused of pushing a teacher when I told her miss turner the principal not to touch me and she told me not to approach her to make her look better Jane Austen is a rubbish school
Parent
Mar 21, 2023

Careless

Very poor comunication between parents an school. No compassion showed for a child who was hurt just before schooltime. We had to go to A&E to check if there is something serious or not. School simply doesn’t care.
Student
Mar 6, 2023

The goods and mostly bads at JAC! An honest review

I am going to share the good and bad benefits/disadvantages of going to this school. I understand that some people believe that the bad reviews are over exaggerated and people having a bad day but reading through them most are true. I am just going to be purely honest about JAC. I also understand that these things are also very common in other schools but some things can relate to JAC specifically.
OFSTED AND EXAM RESULTS:
I am aware that the school does have a good reputation for high exam results. And a high rating by Ofsted. When the school is expecting inspectors, they change all the rules, go very strict, and you are expected to be the perfect student.
The high exam results are due to the fact that the school give us hours of homework to do every week which is very stressful and not good for mental health.
EDUCATION/ SUBJECTS/LESSONS:
The stuff that students are taught is actually interesting, I have nothing to complain about the stuff that is taught. I love looking forward to interesting lessons. The stuff that is covered is good and students learn much from it.
THE TOILETS:
The toilets are the majority of the time a mess, with urine and other liquids on the floor, excrement smeared on the wall and/or toilet seat (if not someone has used chocolate to make it appear like that, but you can usually smell it), period blood smeared up the cubicle walls or tampons/pads hidden behind the toilet in the corner or on top of the bin and there is rubbish and wrappers all over the floor. There are also huge amounts of graffiti in the toilets including threats, triggering suicidal poems, and personal information about people.
Secondly I have seen students look over cubicles at other students whilst using the toilet. There was an incident when a toilet door was ripped off it's hinges with some friends messing around, whilst someone was inside the cubicle. This has made me uncomfortable to go to the toilet during the school day, so therefore I just have to 'hold it in' for 6 hours.
Thirdly, during lesson time you are NOT allowed to go to the toilet unless you have a pass which are very hard to get. You will rarely find a teacher that lets you go to the toilet. But I have seen students in lessons VERY desperate, and the teachers just say, 'No sorry, it's the school rules and you should have gone at break' which is fair to a certain extent but when the student is that desperate, you should let them go.
Lastly, when you do go at break/lunch the toilets are filled with people on their phones and skipping class. So you go to a different floor, but a teacher catches you and tells you to just wait to go down stairs. But when you go into a busy toilet, it just makes you uncomfortable due to people looking over the cubicles, people on phones, and bullies.
Now lets go onto BULLYING AND BEHAVIOR:
Every year I have attended this school I have been targeted by bullies. Whether this is individually or with a group of friends. I have been pushed up stairs, had my hair played with, had stuff put in my hair and food thrown at me and my friends (which is very dangerous due to nut allergies). Some teachers can clearly see that this is happening but they are simply to afraid to do anything about it unless reported, due to the size of the students in comparison to them. There IS however a safeguarding and behaviour team to report bullying to but then again, there is the risk and worry of the bulling calling you a 'snitch' and getting bullied further by their friends. But don't suffer in silence. I told my parents but not the school, I ignored bullied they did eventually just get bored.
BEHAVIOR/ ENVIROMENT:
At break and lunch students are very loud, excitable and hyper, which is natural for teenagers. But students do play fight, which some teachers are too afraid to stop, which can cause students just walking by to get hurt. And the loud environment can be very disturbing for some students to be in, there is a library and the very top floor to go to for more peace, but the library is either closed and you are kicked out for any conversation louder than a whisper. And the very top floor is hard to get access to as on the way up teachers will just say no and tell you to just go back down stairs.
OUTSIDE SPACE:
There is an outside space which is good however there is always lunch, rubbish and chewed chewing gum on the floor and the risk of getting pooped on by a seagull (which is not a very pleasant experience.) It is also a very small area.
INDOOR SPACE:
Corridors are tiny (due to the fact that that the school used to be a shoe factory) which can cause them to get packed, and lateness to lesson. There are massive holes in some walls because students have bashed and kicked them. There is graffiti around school (especially in the toilets), and rubbish everywhere in the eating spaces for example, there is brown sticky stuff up the radiators that has not been cleaned in at least a year and glue all over some classroom windows.
FOOD:
The food at the school is nothing much to complain about, it's good, healthy. However the lunch line is just simply too long (unless you are very lucky and let out 5 minutes early) and everyone just pushes in. If you do get lunch you barely have time to go to do anything else, for example go to the toilet.
STAFF/TEACHERS:
Teachers/ staff are very polite. But in relation to lessons and rules, there are only a few teachers that you will get on with and can have a good conversation with and also understand you (like if you need the toilet, or need to exit the classroom for a specific reason, or haven't done homework) but some teachers are just strict and won't listen.
RULES:
Ever since there has been a new head teacher, rules have gotten stricter and more of a hassle to deal with. This can be good as it prepares students for the reality of some workforces, however some rules are just a huge inconvenience (like if you bring a hoodie with you to school and it is worn during the school day it is confiscated and you receive a detention, even if you explain yourself there is no getting out of that rule.)
There are other rules that I believe are very unfair but I am not going to put them is as again, they prepare students for the rules in the workforce.
THE GENERAL AREA:
Unfortunately, the school is in a disadvantaged area, right near the city. If you want your child to walk to and from school please do be careful due to pubs near by, and it does get very dark in winter and detentions can lead you to stay until it's very dark.
If you are considering sending your child to JAC please have a very good think. A lot of things at JAC can be found at other schools but my and other students personal experiences here have not been amazing.
Have a nice day.
Former Student
Jan 20, 2023

Do not send your children here, please.

I was part of the first year of students at this school and it was maybe the worst 4 years of my life.

Their mental health facilities were, and from what I've heard still are, basically nonexistent. The faculty made endless empty promises of various things they'd supposedly put in place to support students struggling with mental health problems, none of which came to fruition.

Their support in regards to bullying was much of the same, basically nothing was done about it and the staff seemed to crack down harder on someone answering a call from their mother rather than any form of harassment.

The support the students struggling with their schoolwork was horrible, all of the decent teachers were funneled into the higher classes and we got absolutely no support for when we needed clarification or didn't understand something. We had no hope of catching up even a little with the students who were doing well, at the first sign of lacking we were dropped into the foundation classes. There was no accommodation for learning impairments, those with a condition like ADHD or ASD or Dyslexia were put in the same classes as problematic students who would actively disrupt teachers and distract others. What few decent and nice teachers we had usually left within weeks.

People were threatened with being kicked out of the classes for doing badly, nearly all of which were suffering from mental health conditions that the school would rather ignore than provide them with the help they would need. I was removed from multiple classes while they knew about my diagnosed mental conditions while providing me with absolutely no help and this happened to multiple other former student's I've talked to.

They focus on the results of a few students and academics so so much that it detriments the rest of the school, the arts in particular. Art teachers were treated with very little respect and the arts departments always lacked funding. They either had no grasp on any of the problems within their school or purposefully turned a blind eye to focus on their public image. Their few top performing students are what make articles, not the swathes of downtrodden and jaded pupils who they neglect.

TL;DR: No support for struggling students, rampant bullying and completely backwards mental health support. They care more about their image than they do their students.
Parent
Nov 15, 2022

Terrible school and sick of their nonsense

Well so far not very good.
Bullying and the threats from the teachers to take away a child's way of communicating and allocated in which to help them.
I really find it hard to believe, that my child's handwriting is so poor and has not picked up earlier than the 9th year.
When I asked the school to why. ??!
I must point out the
Stupid reminders.
(For asking a simple question or touching another kids pencil case. The list goes on and on of these stupid reminders as does the list of pathetic excuses)
My child and so do other children deserve to be in a school and not in DETENTION CENTRE.!
As for extra help and testing for ADHD ADD or anything else.
I put this in motion back in June/ July with the doctors and the school and am still waiting for the school to Address.
As for bullying ? Well it's either a teacher or a bigger kid.
My kid dreads each day that they go to school and so do I and the rest of the family.
Joke
Student
Nov 13, 2022

This school Breaks people

I am a Student who has done well in this school so far and expecting to get high Grades

However, this school Puts such high pressure on pupils to do well with punishments if they don't and no rewards if they do, that I personally have lost many close friends who have broken under the pressure.

These people were Regular students when they joined the school but have taken up things such as smoking and drugs to deal with the immense pressure the school Puts upon them.

And what does the school do?

Nothing, they turn a blind eye or Blame it on parents even when they know it isn't.

And sometimes if they feel like it, they will punish these people and put them in Isolation for days on end where no learning takes place and are instead forced to spend the entire day alone in the basement.

Although 1/10 students may achieve good Grades here, everyone else will be left behind and shamed.

This school is downright abusive and needs to be shut down.
Student
Nov 3, 2022

Review.

I personally think it is a great school, i feel if the students where better behaved then the school would have an even better reputation. The teachers are amazing and extremely supportive. They are very passionate about there subjects and seem to genuinely love teaching.
Former Student
Jul 11, 2022

Gcse

Awful

Jane Austen College is a bad school at their absolute best. When I was about 12 in year 8 they tested me for Dyscalculia, to conclude I most likely did have Dyscalculia, then they proceeded to offer me no additional support in mathematics. In year 11 they offered free maths tutors to students and not me!
I whole heartedly believe this is due to the fact they simply disliked me and my misbehaviour and decided to ignore my learning
Just make sure you behave or you might not be offered additional help and support for a learning difficulty!
Former Student
May 25, 2022

Some of my Experiences at JAC + Problems about the School

I joined JAC in 2015, meaning that I was part of the second year. I was excited to attend this school, and my parents hoped that this was the right choice.

Instead, I was left with trauma, and negative memories that will stick around for life. I would like to talk about a few experiences of mine, that happened during my time at JAC, along with many issues about this school.

- In the first two weeks of Year 7, I was already being bullied by multiple people. I tried to speak up about it, something that JAC “encourages” us to do. I was met with nothing. None of the teachers helped me out with the situation, so I was left to deal with it, alone. When they finally intervened, I was punished, given the same consequences that the bully received. I was forced into isolation with them.

- I was dragged into a severely toxic friendship that lasted for three years in that school, because whenever I spoke to teachers about it, I was shut down and labelled a “liar”. I was told to sort out my friendship issues. I was threatened with punishment (isolation) after the student had made up lies about me. Teachers believed that I was the “bad” person in the story, and refused to even hear me out when I tried to tell them the truth.

- Bullying had always been a consistent issue throughout the years that I spent at this school, and it was never dealt with correctly, if dealt with at all. Victims of bullying were portrayed to be part of their own issue.

- Toilets were disgusting, and don’t seem to have gotten any better, judging by recent reviews. Graffiti and Period Pads all over the walls of the stalls. No doors. No locks. Covered in urine and feces.

- JAC also had a problem with outing LGBTQ+ students, refusing to keep it from parents, forcing students to accept this.

- They responded to a death on the premises, by ripping down memorials made by students, after a week of them being up.

- JAC’s support for students with additional needs, and requirements is atrocious.

- Teachers care only about reputation and grades, if you have a wellbeing issue, I can guarantee that they will throw you to the side, ignore, and guilt you for not doing well in their school.

- No LGBTQ+ sex education.

- Teachers see bullying, and they laugh. I have witnessed a teacher observe a situation (bullying) and just walk away.

- Teacher’s responses to students having panic attacks is awful too. Students are either told to suck it up and get back to class, or laughed at.

- ‘Every term, break and lunch are shortened by 5 minutes as we’re ‘too slow’ trying to get 600 people through a 1 meter door in 2 minutes in silence.‘
[‘ - meaning that I agree with another review’s statement.]

- Students are forced to do PE outside in cold, rainy weather, and are shamed for complaining, while the teachers stand there in 5+ layers of clothing, sipping warm tea from a flask. They also reward the more sporty students, mostly the males. Students that aren’t naturally sporty are shamed, and compared.

- ‘The male teachers are also a problem. It's recurring that they will stand closely behind young girls and look down their open neck tops. The girls are shamed into not speaking up.’

- JAC has a lot of shaming tactics.

- Students are overloaded with homework and if you’ve done it, and it isn’t up to their standards? Detention for you.

- Language teachers enjoy telling students that their children can do better than them, for example: “my eight year old son can do this better than you.”

- There are countless holes in the walls, some big enough to fit a person inside.

- ‘Pupils also get put under immense pressure to achieve top results and are spoken to in a demeaning, degrading way all throughout.’

- Pressure on students to do well is extremely high, as JAC cares about their reputation more than the students themselves.

- Quieter students were forced to speak up in class, humiliated by teachers in attempt to “give them confidence”.

- Quieter students are mostly left to rot, ignored.

- ‘Children on the spectrum get no extra treatment and get punished for things that they can't help such as: the urge to draw attention, problems focusing and preferring to stay silent.’

- Litter is everywhere.

Jane Austen College covers up all its issues and mistreatment with their posh uniform and awards. Please do not send your children to this ‘hell-hole’ of school. If you are still attending this school, I’m sorry.
Former Student
May 25, 2022

This school broke me

This school broke me.

I have so much trauma from attending this school. This school has actively damaged the way I learn in education.

-bullying. I was subject to a hate crime in the school and a teacher stood and watched the whole thing occour. Nobody stepped in while I was assulted. I was hate crimed for ebing trans. This should not occour ever let alone in school, after the incident spent many nights crying. Not only that but teachers bully students as well. My Spanish teacher had actively traumatized me in terms of learning and now I struggle to even speak up in lessons or to ask a question if I don't understand. She scared the hell out of me and would see that and prey on the students she knew wouldn't say anything.

- misogyny. Many of my friends talked about the blatent misogyny in the school, I experienced misogyny before I came out as trans and noticed the differences in how they taught male and female students. The girls were targeted more heavily on uniform than the boys, when it came to skirts the girls were told they couldn't roll them. But the skirts were made in a way where the buttons would break and then you couldn't do it up so you would have to roll it up. Not only that but in terms of dyed hair, the girls were targeted more than the boys. Two of my friends (one male one female) dyed their hair the exact same colour and only the girl got in trouble. The teachers rarely punish male students in terms of dress code but the female students will get dress coded for wearing the wrong socks.

-Work ethics. Almost all of the students stayed at school from 9am until 4:30 pm. Many of the students would have to stay until 5:30pm and sometimes later! Jane Austen lured in students with the promise of no homework for longer hours and in the begining that's what it was, once I got to year 9 that all changed. Students were still given 'homework' for prep but also given mountains of other homework to do. I did a calculation and at the peak of mocks for year 9s we were getting 4 bits of homework a day and every teacher expected us to spend at least an hour on each on as well as have the homework for prep done. This would mean we would have to go to bed around 1am to get all of it done. The school that also says that students need 8 hours sleep and 2.5 hours of revision time on top of all of that.

-representation and diversity. This school claims to be a safe space when it really isn't. The lack of Diversity and Representation in the teachers is shocking. Almost all of the teachers are white and this is prevelent when in assembly due to the teachers watching it with us. There are LGBTQ+ teachers sure but the way the school as a whole treats its LGBTQ+ students is horrendous. Almost all of the teachers had good upbringings meaning there is no way a student could relate to them.

-SEN. I am autistic and found out when I was 16. Nothing was picked up in highschool. I have dyslexia, dyscalculia, hypermobility, and irlen sydrome and none of this was picked up by the school. I have struggled with traditional education for years but because I didn't scream in class or be a 'misbehaved' kid I was perfectly fine. I was told I couldn't be dyslexic because my grades were too high (I was barley passing) and if I had a meltdown I was told that I was overreacting and shoved back into class by the SEN department.

In conclusion, don't send your kids here unless they are a neurotypical, cis het male, who has no form of extra educational help and parents who don't care if their children traumatized.

It's a terrible school that has given me life long trauma
Student
May 24, 2022

Keep kids away from this school

As a student currently attending this appalling excuse for a school, all I can say is that it’s ruined my life. NEVER let the thought of sending your beloved children to this hellhole enter your brain. Let me explain how this discriminating, misogynistic organisation RUINED my life…

First of all, a large majority or the male teachers are absolute pedophiles. Daily, a male teacher will intensely stare at my chest. NOTHING has EVER made me feel more uncomfortable. I reported this several times and NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE! I always feel in a state of crap in this so called “school”.

Recently, I came into school with a ‘CLEAR’ nose stud. My teacher sent me to the BASEMENT of the school into solitary confinement for such a small crime. This happened again when a male teacher swore he could see my bra strap sticking out my shirt. Then again, when another male teacher stated ‘your bottom flesh is hanging out’.

The most disgusting part of the school is the toilets… They are constantly covered in feces, urine and period blood. There is no door into the toilets meaning there is no privacy so when I go in there to cry, I am interrupted by BULLIES laughing at me…

Going on from this bullying is accusation, many immature boys at the school bully me for being an educated young women. They have pushed me over, punched me in fights and called me names such as ‘math wh*re’ and ‘flat bunda sl*t’. This constant sexualisation of my growing body leaves me in tears every night. Once, a message went round on Instagram that I was a ‘sl*t who f*ck*d jazzy’s dad’. I knew who it was who spread the rumour, but I was too scared to say anything.

The teachers here simply do not care about the students. Ever since I was a lass, I’ve struggled with my art. One time, when we were landscapes I did the homework completely wrong. I apologised to my art teacher and was told that ‘her 8 year old did better art than this’ and that I should just ‘give up’. She ended up putting me in solitary confinement.

Moving on, the drug problem is atrocious. It’s hard to admit, but even me, a prestigious academic focused girl, have done drugs. This is because of the peer-pressure in the school… I have never regretted anything more in my LIFE! There are constantly drunk, drug dealing men outside the school threatening the students and school. This is because the school is located in such a bad area that there is no escaping it. I always smell weed in the corridor and have even found traces of class B drugs in the toilets.

Please do NOT send your kids to this awful establishment, they will become drug addicted horrible people. Please listen to this review
Former Student
May 22, 2022

My Experiences of JAC

I'm going to try and keep this as short as I can. I joined JAC in 2015, as the second year group the school 'welcomed'.

During the time I went to this highschool, these are a select few events that happened:

- I was outed to my parent as transgender, after repeatedly telling them not to as I wanted to come out myself. They told me they wouldn't.

- I had been discovered to be self harming in school premises. Instead of contacting my parents or any wellbeing services, they confiscated the blade (possibly the only sensible thing they did), gave me some wipes and plasters, and sent me back to class.

- A certain teacher initially refused to write a reference to the neurodevelopmental services, as I 'was too social to be autistic'.

- I was repeatedly told that as I had no formal diagnosis other than GAD (generalised anxiety disorder) that I could not use the additional learning support, even though before my autism diagnosis, I was known to the school and to doctors as having complex learning and emotional needs.

- One of the languages teachers started to repeatedly berate me and separate me from my friends as I was having panic attacks. I was told that 'other people have actual health issues'. Although other things affected me, this teacher was a huge reason of why it became impossible for me to even enter the school building without suffering severe panic attacks.

- Black students (myself included) were repeatedly searched for illicit substances if there reports of them being on school premises. White students were almost never searched.

- After a student died tragically on school premises, the school responded by ripping down memorials put up by students less than a week after the death occurred.

- Teachers that cared about students were bullied by other members of staff. This then bred a team of staff that were apathetic at best, and ruthlessly cruel at worst.

I dropped out of this school and struggled to face the idea of education again. It has left me with lasting trauma.

Do not send your children here, especially not your SEN children.
Other
Mar 9, 2022

I beg you do not attend this school.

A foul foul school. Please do not send your children there.
Bullying. Death. Drugs. Deprived area. Additional Needs. Building. 0/10
Bullying is horrific, most students have to adapt a mentality of become the bully or be bullied, A lot of aggressive characters due to this. I have never met a student that attended there that wasn't bullied in some sort of way.
A 12 year old boy died a couple years ago from falling 3 floors and zero changes have been made to make this safer, despite the pleas of his family.
Huge staff shortage, often causing lessons to be unattended or taken by unqualified, emergency supply teachers FULL TIME. ( who have no knowledge of the subject)
Although very generous with punishments : staying late after school.
Dont recommend the sixth form as they have a ''year 7'' mentality as all the teachers teach younger years and do not treat them as young adults.
VERY IMPORTANT - if your child suffers from mental health disorders, ADHD, Autism, or even mild anxiety. This is the worst environment for them, I know of someone who's child lasted one week before developing a fear of leaving the house, from their experience of this school alone. Pastorial support is almost non existent, with one adult on the top floor working two days a week. Getting to lessons takes 5-10 mins due to the thousands of children In the corridors.
Huge drug problem, often innocent kids getting dragged into taking them or selling them. ( while In school!)
Toilets are often missing doors, seats and suicidal poems graffitied on the walls. They are unisex and don't have walls and are oddly placed in the middle of the corridor on every floor......
Playground is about 15 metres by 10 metres of pure concrete surrounded by a 6 foot metal cage fence. Very depressing and is in the poorest area of Norwich. ( A one minute walk away from Anglia Square!)
I truly beg you to save your child from the harsh realities of this school, any other school will be better. I strongly suggest the small the better as the city dynamic of '' small fish, big pond'' is lesser. Even consider the small towns schools like Aylsham or Attleborough will be better. Thank you!
Student
Aug 28, 2021

I do not recommend this school.

Awful. Do not go to this school. The toilets are a mess and the school is really hard to navigate to lessons due to poor one-way systems and staircases being chosen to be up or down only for no reason. Bullying is a big issue too, it is never taken seriously and continues after reporting.
Student
Aug 13, 2021

Rubbish

We had a teacher who a girl had to report for being creepy and using physical violence. She got interviewed and stuff but they still let him around kids.
The same teacher gave a speech on "how to become a millionaire". This teacher was white, cishet, able bodied, neurotypical and male. All it did was show his privilege and make almost my entire year group extremely angry or upset because it just reminded them of how hard it is to get a job, and how people just ignore their struggles. I myself personally spoke to many of these students and they all shared my anger.
Luckily he left this term.
Also the uniform policy is ridiculous, it's really stupid and unnecessary and targets unnecessary things. Like ear piercings, skirt length and hair colour. It's very sexist.
There is NO LGBTQ+ sex education. And their handling of bullying is horrendous.
The ableism and sexism is rampant, and the way that neurodivergent students are treated is horrific. Teachers watch bullying happen and laugh.
I had a teacher watch me have a panic attack and laugh in my face.
I was also forced to exit the room I was told I could stay in while having a severe flashback because the teacher thought I was missing too much of a lesson.
The pe conditions are horrid, and the teachers reward the more sporty and male students. Aswell as forcing CHILDREN to do pe lessons in the cold and rain resulting in them having illnesses and injuries. Also the swimming lessons have no consideration for body insecurity and the teachers are not understanding whatsoever. I personally think they should remove swimming as a pe lesson.
Neurodivergent students are extremely mistreated, and the idea of someone having an issue, sexuality, gender or disability that they have to hide from their parents is APPARENTLY impossible, due to this, many LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent students have been outed to their parents and faced abuse, being unsafe and mockery.
White teachers say the n word in the name of "historical accuracy" when reading to kill a mockingbird.
And the "no homework" thing they say is purely a cover up. they overload students with homework and make them stay until dark every day to complete it if they don't have a quiet household. Which is extremely unsafe for female students due to it being in the city near pubs, with lots of drunk men at nighttime.
They hide everything that actually goes on and mistreat their students then hide behind fancy uniforms and awards. I find it disgusting, and it needs to be stopped.
Student
Jul 18, 2021

Disappointing School, Getting Worse and Worse

Since the departure of the former headteacher, Jane Austen College has gone to a very bad place. The teachers are uncaring, lazy and discriminatory. Misogyny is rampant within the school, supported by the teachers, and nothing is done about it. The school is weak and unable to deal with things adequately, allowing students, mere children, to play the school entirely.

As I mentioned before, so many of the teachers are horrifically lazy. They act like they would rather be anywhere but in the classroom; if that is so, then I suggest a job in education was not a wise idea to take.

Children with neurodivergent issues such as ADHD and autism are left to rot and hidden from the public in case they should embarrass the school. There is little to no support for them and these children--keyword being children--are expected by the staff to come up with solutions entirely on their own to help them since the staff have failed them so miserably. No one takes time to listen to their problems and certainly no one affords to care.

Severely disappointed in this school. It's run by students because the staff are, by and large, too weak and afraid to stop them.
Student
Jul 14, 2021

Great school

Jane Austen College is a brilliant school which I’m proud to go to. I’m not sure what the other people are talking about, the teachers are brilliant and always there for extra help. Maybe some of the bad teachers have left now.

The best part for me is the LGBT+ inclusion. We are taught in pshe about all types of families and orientations.

It’s a small building but teachers deal with any problems quickly and any time I have had an issue they’ve taken me seriously and it’s been dealt with.
Former Student
Jun 28, 2021

Simply, a bad school.

Wow, I already knew that the school was bad while I was attending it, but when I left, I started realising how bad it actually was.

I have many subjects to speak about, so I hope you will stick around and read this review fully, taking my opinion into consideration before you send your child there.

I was part of the second year that attended this school, and I really wish that I hadn’t.
But I had no other choice, sadly.

The first subject that I would like to speak about is how they handle the topic of bullying. I, myself, experienced bullying severely for three to four years at this school, from mostly students but also a few teachers as well.
Teachers have seen students get bullied by others and have simply turned a blind eye to it, and pretended that it never happened. Which is absolutely atrocious, as you would expect them to go ahead and deal with it immediately to ensure the victim’s safety. But unfortunately, that is not the case in Jane Austen College, they will ignore you and your requests, and will never go forward with what they have promised to do. They told me that I was a liar and that I needed to sort out my “friendships”.
(They weren’t friendships, I was getting bullied, which they failed to notice even though it was EXTREMELY obvious to see.)

I was seen as one of the quiet students at this school, and therefore, that usually meant that you would fly straight under the radar, unseen by the teachers, and not listened to either.
They have a huge tendency to ignore these students, refusing to acknowledge that they need help, and ignoring the fact that they struggle with class activities, and speaking out in class.

I also have a problem with the language teachers, especially the teachers that teach Spanish. I used to love the subject and had always wanted to learn how to speak a different language other than English, but all I was faced with was a teacher that enjoyed humiliating me and forcing me to speak up on things that I didn’t understand, causing laughter in the classroom and continued bullying.
These teachers also have a problem with simply being polite, making comments, such as; “my child could/can do this better than you”, and “you clearly haven’t studied for this exam, leave this room -now-.”
I had studied well for these exams, I just struggle when it comes to doing exams, but hearing this did hurt and started my dislike to learning it.

Another subject that I want to talk about is, when they were faced to deal with the death of a child at the school, they dealt with it poorly.
Yes, they had provided a space for students that had been traumatised from the event to stay, and process it. But it felt like they had just done this for a day, and then proceeded to rip the memorial off the wall, and act as if the students needed to erase the situation from their minds, which they couldn’t have done, as it had obviously traumatised them.
I am also sure that some students had moved because of this too.

There were some situations which made the students feel very unsafe, I had only heard of one while being there, which was the time when a person had leapt over the school gate and ran from the police, literally entering our school grounds.
That is extremely unsafe?!

Something else I want to speak about is the SEN department.
They are absolutely awful.
They treated students with disabilities/special needs as if they could help the things that they couldn’t control.
It was a difficult process for them to get laptops, and even more difficult to get into the SEN room, where they could calm down if they needed to after a sensory overload, or something similar.

The teachers, I’m not sure how to speak about this subject. Most of them were bad. I could only rely on one teacher to understand that I needed support and help, and I am thankful for that one teacher. But the others, failed to recognise that I was struggling, and decided to constantly humiliate me in class.
I do think that some of them were mistreated by the school though, I do not know too much on the subject.


One of the final subjects that I will talk about is the treatment of the LGBTQ+ students, it was also awful.
Many people had been outed to their parents, which is -extremely- unsafe if their parents do not support that.
School is meant to be safe for students, not actively putting them in danger.
No LGBTQ+ sex education was taught, but there were a few pride events, and some classrooms were decorated with a few rainbows.
But they do at least have diverse teachers, and those teachers are happy to talk about equality, and educate students about it.

I think this is everything that I have to share that isn’t personal about the school, so I hope that you can realise from my review, that this school is not a great school.

Please rethink sending your child here.
Former Student
Feb 1, 2021

I, a former student, need to speak

From the outside it seems like quite a posh school, with the Jane Austen uniform being similarly modelled on private school uniforms. But once you walk through that gate there is LITTER EVERYWHERE, I was a prefect and stayed behind after lunch to help clean up, making me between 5-10 minutes late to my GCSE LESSONS! The amount of grime and filth in that school scares me. Not only that but the walls of the corridors on the second and first floor are paper thin and can easily be broken or dented. Meaning that in the science corridor during year 9 there was a hole big enough for a child to sit in. And don’t even get my started on the toilets. The toilets are putrid and covered in period blood, defecation, urine and only 4 toilet doors have locks and of those 4 only 2 of the toilets work. I had to force myself to literally not go to the toilet for 6-7 hours a day because they were so disgusting.

I moved into college in September 2020 and oh my lord going into college made me realise just how bad the school is. I was a part of the second ever year to go through that school, I grew up with the school and even so I wished I hadn’t.

I was outed by a teacher as trans to my mum, after a ‘safeguarding’ incident the person in question, ignored my mental health state and rang my mum about me being trans. The school refused to accept this happened. The pastoral system is TERRIBLE. I struggle with anxiety and have panic attacks. The pastoral team would either A) tell you to just go back to class B) tell you to just calm down C) Berate you about missing a lesson. They would never help. I, throughout my entire time at JAC, could only rely on one teacher and they helped me so much- they were not a pastoral member.

When it comes to bullying, it is felt with pretty quickly. I was bullied from year 7-10 and the first time I reported it was year 8 where repercussions were put in place. The second and more severe time (having the people bully me literally hate crime me) was dealt with swiftly.

Not only that but I was Bullied by a language teacher, I was told in a Spanish speaking exam that ‘my ten year old could do better than this’ and ‘clearly you haven’t been studying’. I had spent 1 hour a day studying for that exam and was not only bullied in exams but in lessons too. It really pushed me away from the language which I loved so dearly- it made me hate it and now have practically forgotten all of it.

The school is not safe by any means. They dealt with the death of a child at the school very poorly with having a teacher rip the memorial off the wall, having students returning to school the next day, having a very shakey support system in place. It was all dealt with in such a way that many students moved and have been traumatised by the event. Not only that but we had a person running from the police jump over the gate outside, run across the outside space to get to the other side followed by a plain clothes cop and a police officer. And the time when someone threatened to burn down the school and threw lighters at people and burnt a kids fingers. The school has no safety measures and made all of the students, including myself, feel unsafe. A school is a place where you are supposed to be safe.

The SEN department where also very unhelpful and did NOTHING to help students. I myself have learning difficulties and had little to no support from the SEN department. For younger students, I think they got a lot more support but when I got to year 10 year 11 they did NOTHING to help. We had to ARGUE with the school about anything- something as simple as using a laptop for exams or even just to sit in the SEN room to calm down due to having a sensory overload.

The teachers are possibly the best thing about this school, the teachers I had where all amazing and do whatever they can to help support students. But from hearing about a couple of things ‘behind the scenes’ JAC treats their teachers so poorly. They are literally thrown away and replaced at any time. One teacher in particular left due to the treatment of teachers.

There is only one thing I can give JAC credit for. There LGBTQ+ education. Granted no LGBTQ+ sex education but they had an assembly every year about pride, held pride events, decorated classrooms with rainbows. Even though they may OUT THEIR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS, they do have a diverse range of teachers who are happy to educate others about equality. Particularly great to have diverse teachers because it shows people that you can get any job regardless of orientation or gender identity.

There is so much more stuff I could say about the school but from everything I have said I think you may be able to infer that JAC isn’t great.

If you want to send your child here I recommend talking to parents of former JAC students and to Students themselves-
Student
Nov 22, 2020

Not great

Seems like a seemingly “great” school from the outside, with our private school like uniform etc but there are many problems in the school environment and treatment of pupils.

The grades are good as the pressure on students is so high. On the first day of year eleven we were told there are only three things that matter: we have to get a 5, you have to do 2.5 hours of revison at home EVERY DAY, and you need 8 hours sleep. Already you can see that 2.5 hours of revision after possibly 6 periods at school is unreasonable especially because we get set large amounts of homework.

Mental health is looked straight over most of the time, many students have eating disorders, depression and anxiety. They have a team called map but it has not been successful. I’m years 7-10 there was no pastoral service what’s so ever.

There is no outdoor space, and the corridors ore 1m wide and crowded at many times. Terrible environment. Yes
Student
Aug 24, 2020

Mental pressure

The support on mental health is appalling. With almost all students suffering from depression, anxiety or eating disorders, the school doesn't do anything without telling parents which can be dangerous in many circumstances.

Children on the spectrum get no extra treatment and get punished for things that they can't help such as: the urge to draw attention, problems focusing and preferring to stay silent.

Pupils also get put under immense pressure to achieve top results and are spoken to in a demeaning, degrading way all throughout. I as a student have always tried my hardest and even at that I still get get disappointed sighs. Hearing that every week for a few years really gets to your head.

The male teachers are also a problem. It's recurring that they will stand closely behind young girls and look down their open neck tops. The girls are shamed into not speaking up as they fear they will be told ‘liars' by their piers.

Every term, break and lunch are shortened by 5 minutes as we’re ‘too slow’ trying to get 600 people through a 1 meter door in 2 minutes in silence.

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