See all schools in Bristol
Oasis Academy Brightstowe
Secondary · Academy · Bristol
"I wish I knew about this website when I was about to choose School"
Lisa, parent
"Finally, one can access the opinions of other students completely transparently."
Fredrik, student
Get access to exclusive content, available only on SchoolParrot!
1 month
£2.99
First month. Then £4.99 / month
1 year
£19
Best valueFirst year. Then £39 / year.
For Schools and school staff
Do you work as a principal or school staff? Take control of your SchoolParrot profile. Click here
GCSEs
Don't count on this school.
GCSEs
TLDR - It's fine, like any other school
Right, let me start out with mentioning that I left in 2020, one of the coronakids who never got a final GCSE exam, and I went through Y7 to Y11 without the quarantine stuff of course. Things might be different now, and this is my own experience with the school.
Overall, it's okay, I think the staff did the best they could to support the kids - even working with organisations like Brook and Off The Record at one point (which was a big help for me, as a teen who had severe mental health problems). They had no issues with me going out of lessons for therapy, and they had time to support me when I was catching up on my work. The real issue are the kids, parenting of some of them honestly outstands me - and I guess the school isn't well equipped to handle entitled and loud problem children. Admittedly you could call me biased as I was one of the quiet kids who wanted to get on with it and work.
As an immigrant child, who comes from Poland, I experienced no issues with xenophobia or anything like that. I actually had a wonderful experience with programs like 'Reader Leader' (or something like that), when helping other foreign students learning how to read English. Also had an opportunity to do a Polish GCSE, got a level 9 which probably looks good on my CV.
Safety and security is questionable, but there were no major issues when I was there. We had practice sessions for the fire alarm like usual, and intruder practice (although it was never put to use thankfully). The problem with security came again from the students - how about the parents teach the kids it's not okay to try and bring alcohol (got confiscated fast) or knives into the school? Control your kids, man, not that hard.
Outdoor and indoor areas were... fine, at best. There were always complaints of not having enough places to chill out at break or lunch, and pupils were even asked to not stand around corridors (despite the lack of seating). This was especially the case in winter times, where the small building got packed with students. Teachers started opening up their classrooms at lunch only when I was in Y11, not sure if they still are today - this helped with congestion a bit.
The Library was FANTASTIC, Miss GG - a blessing. She is the most wonderful librarian, and inspired me to read so much, even going as far as to supply the library with the book series I was reading and getting a new set when I moved on. Surprisingly has a good manga section. If your child actually enjoys reading, then this is a pot of gold waiting. Librarian is involved and interested in reading, there was an after school club for creative writing at one point - which I adored, and now enjoy in College.
Teachers are hit or miss really, I've had some wonderful teachers who are passionate about what they do - and I've had some worse ones. However I have heard of recent staff leaving and people getting lots of supply teachers - which actually started when I was leaving. Science, English, and subjects like DT were most affected. In fact, a staff teacher left in the middle of a GCSE course, making the DT students suddenly switch over from DT to Photography and having only 1 year to do their GCSE coursework (affected by Covid in the end).
The houses the students are put into are very sports-based, with Sports Day probably being the biggest event. I remember it being a lot of spirit, and actually enjoying it (unless the weather turned bad on that day). PE was varied, and we did sports like cricket, netball, badminton, and tennis, along with gymnastics sometimes. It was okay, even for a student who doesn't enjoy PE.
Food was okay, I actually quite enjoyed the school lunch - even if the waiting times were quite long (there are a lot of kids, and only a small canteen + assembly hall when it gets opened up). Price for the meals is fair, and they're good quality, sure - the breaktime snacks (not main lunch) were on the pricier side and the bacon was more fat than meat but I loved it regardless. Fingerprint system didn't work sometimes but we can forgive new technology once in a while - was never a huge issue.
History department was AMAZING when I was there, Miss Norman (God bless her soul if she still works there), was the best teacher I've had so far in life. Her passion and love for the subject fuelled me so much, and I ended up with a level 9 in GCSE History, we both cried when we saw the results! School trip to Belgium was great, (although sometimes soured by OTHER STUDENTS), and generally was well managed. The history department at that time carried the school. Not sure if she still works there now however.
Here's a list of staff (in no particular order) who I found great (publicly available names): Mrs Eyenon, Mr Symes, Mr Clayton, Mrs Stebbings, Mr Thie, Mr Keys, Mrs Wright ♥, Mrs Playfair, Mr Mattson ♥, Miss Jessiman ♥, Mr McBride (all the kids love him), Mrs Darby ♥, Mrs Ashiwn, Mrs Lane♥♥, Mrs Gardener-Graham ♥, Mr Chapter, Mrs Harris, Mrs Iredale. These guys carry the school on their damn shoulders and backs - especially with the constantly changing Principle.
Oh, and my year group pretty much never had a prom due to Covid, probably never going to, which is fine by me - but probably was a shame for others.
Overall, it's okay, I think the staff did the best they could to support the kids - even working with organisations like Brook and Off The Record at one point (which was a big help for me, as a teen who had severe mental health problems). They had no issues with me going out of lessons for therapy, and they had time to support me when I was catching up on my work. The real issue are the kids, parenting of some of them honestly outstands me - and I guess the school isn't well equipped to handle entitled and loud problem children. Admittedly you could call me biased as I was one of the quiet kids who wanted to get on with it and work.
As an immigrant child, who comes from Poland, I experienced no issues with xenophobia or anything like that. I actually had a wonderful experience with programs like 'Reader Leader' (or something like that), when helping other foreign students learning how to read English. Also had an opportunity to do a Polish GCSE, got a level 9 which probably looks good on my CV.
Safety and security is questionable, but there were no major issues when I was there. We had practice sessions for the fire alarm like usual, and intruder practice (although it was never put to use thankfully). The problem with security came again from the students - how about the parents teach the kids it's not okay to try and bring alcohol (got confiscated fast) or knives into the school? Control your kids, man, not that hard.
Outdoor and indoor areas were... fine, at best. There were always complaints of not having enough places to chill out at break or lunch, and pupils were even asked to not stand around corridors (despite the lack of seating). This was especially the case in winter times, where the small building got packed with students. Teachers started opening up their classrooms at lunch only when I was in Y11, not sure if they still are today - this helped with congestion a bit.
The Library was FANTASTIC, Miss GG - a blessing. She is the most wonderful librarian, and inspired me to read so much, even going as far as to supply the library with the book series I was reading and getting a new set when I moved on. Surprisingly has a good manga section. If your child actually enjoys reading, then this is a pot of gold waiting. Librarian is involved and interested in reading, there was an after school club for creative writing at one point - which I adored, and now enjoy in College.
Teachers are hit or miss really, I've had some wonderful teachers who are passionate about what they do - and I've had some worse ones. However I have heard of recent staff leaving and people getting lots of supply teachers - which actually started when I was leaving. Science, English, and subjects like DT were most affected. In fact, a staff teacher left in the middle of a GCSE course, making the DT students suddenly switch over from DT to Photography and having only 1 year to do their GCSE coursework (affected by Covid in the end).
The houses the students are put into are very sports-based, with Sports Day probably being the biggest event. I remember it being a lot of spirit, and actually enjoying it (unless the weather turned bad on that day). PE was varied, and we did sports like cricket, netball, badminton, and tennis, along with gymnastics sometimes. It was okay, even for a student who doesn't enjoy PE.
Food was okay, I actually quite enjoyed the school lunch - even if the waiting times were quite long (there are a lot of kids, and only a small canteen + assembly hall when it gets opened up). Price for the meals is fair, and they're good quality, sure - the breaktime snacks (not main lunch) were on the pricier side and the bacon was more fat than meat but I loved it regardless. Fingerprint system didn't work sometimes but we can forgive new technology once in a while - was never a huge issue.
History department was AMAZING when I was there, Miss Norman (God bless her soul if she still works there), was the best teacher I've had so far in life. Her passion and love for the subject fuelled me so much, and I ended up with a level 9 in GCSE History, we both cried when we saw the results! School trip to Belgium was great, (although sometimes soured by OTHER STUDENTS), and generally was well managed. The history department at that time carried the school. Not sure if she still works there now however.
Here's a list of staff (in no particular order) who I found great (publicly available names): Mrs Eyenon, Mr Symes, Mr Clayton, Mrs Stebbings, Mr Thie, Mr Keys, Mrs Wright ♥, Mrs Playfair, Mr Mattson ♥, Miss Jessiman ♥, Mr McBride (all the kids love him), Mrs Darby ♥, Mrs Ashiwn, Mrs Lane♥♥, Mrs Gardener-Graham ♥, Mr Chapter, Mrs Harris, Mrs Iredale. These guys carry the school on their damn shoulders and backs - especially with the constantly changing Principle.
Oh, and my year group pretty much never had a prom due to Covid, probably never going to, which is fine by me - but probably was a shame for others.
Think twice before going to this school
I'm a year 11 at this school at the time of writing this, the only reason i like this school is because I have good friends, they play football and the food is somewhat decent, however in terms of education it's absolutely shocking 😂 if your thinking about taking your child here next year you gotta think again because after my year leaves it's gonna be hell I can tell you that, there's hardly any proper teachers in mainly supply teachers and the toilets as expected tbh are ruined every week so your better off going to another school if i'm being honest
Year8
Bullying
I was here since year 7 I have been bullied and the school does nothing about it and it’s the worst neaver take your child here it’s disgusting the worst school you get bullied and they also make out they’ll do stuff about bullying but they don’t I got bullied since year 7 I think it’s absolutely vile and disgusting
Bad school
•Firstly the teachers are very strict and do not want to help students
•Secondly they don't let students use their phone even if it is an emergency call
•Thirdly they allways do assemblies about you should stop Bullying and listen to the teacher but they don't do anything about you or someone else getting bullied
•Secondly they don't let students use their phone even if it is an emergency call
•Thirdly they allways do assemblies about you should stop Bullying and listen to the teacher but they don't do anything about you or someone else getting bullied
Trigger Warning
They do not handle bullying, and don’t care about mental health. Led me to attempted suicide.
Procedures for show. No heart or care.
Saw this site advertised on Instagram so I thought I’d jump on and give my old score a quick review. For the record, I left in 2019.
The school likes to believe it has good safeguarding but hasn’t. Often when I got detention (which wasn’t that often), the school would not clarify the reason for them to those at home (which, with hindsight, they should have done) and sometimes they wouldn’t even notify those at home that I was there which is supposed to be procedure.
Safeguarding issues continue when it comes to bullying and harassment. The school did the bare minimum when it actually took the time to combat these issues with myself and others. There was a mob mentality and the higher-ups did nothing. It wasn’t a safe environment when it got really bad. And of course, the presence of knifes and weapons are becoming more and more present.
Now - safeguarding out of the way. The teaching! I was taught by many teachers over the years, naturally, with the most changes being in the English department. As every year passed, all but one teacher would leave that department leading to oftentimes inconsistent teaching and a profound lack of stability. The school acknowledged this but it was too late for my year group as we faced the brute of the problem throughout. As for other subjects, the science department were pretty good in all honesty. As for Maths, it was hit or miss but Mr Greenup was a gem. All of the other subjects were inconsequential to me but I do admire the consistency the Geography department had found in 2018 which I believe they still have.
The school didn’t prepare me sufficiently for college nor adult life but thankfully I was independent enough to fulfil this by myself. The extent of their help was to find us our college places and that was it - and even then that was only one (or two - optional) twenty minute meeting!!
The extra-curriculum activities are vast but don’t be fooled by the green grass and the concrete court: The facilities are not good for sports and there are far better in local schools across Bristol. Football was fun but games were few and far between because of the pitch quality (it’s practically unplayable between the months of November and April).
I hope this helps. I can’t recommend it but if it’s the only option you have - go for it. You’re in for a ride and issues aplenty with the higher ups.
The school likes to believe it has good safeguarding but hasn’t. Often when I got detention (which wasn’t that often), the school would not clarify the reason for them to those at home (which, with hindsight, they should have done) and sometimes they wouldn’t even notify those at home that I was there which is supposed to be procedure.
Safeguarding issues continue when it comes to bullying and harassment. The school did the bare minimum when it actually took the time to combat these issues with myself and others. There was a mob mentality and the higher-ups did nothing. It wasn’t a safe environment when it got really bad. And of course, the presence of knifes and weapons are becoming more and more present.
Now - safeguarding out of the way. The teaching! I was taught by many teachers over the years, naturally, with the most changes being in the English department. As every year passed, all but one teacher would leave that department leading to oftentimes inconsistent teaching and a profound lack of stability. The school acknowledged this but it was too late for my year group as we faced the brute of the problem throughout. As for other subjects, the science department were pretty good in all honesty. As for Maths, it was hit or miss but Mr Greenup was a gem. All of the other subjects were inconsequential to me but I do admire the consistency the Geography department had found in 2018 which I believe they still have.
The school didn’t prepare me sufficiently for college nor adult life but thankfully I was independent enough to fulfil this by myself. The extent of their help was to find us our college places and that was it - and even then that was only one (or two - optional) twenty minute meeting!!
The extra-curriculum activities are vast but don’t be fooled by the green grass and the concrete court: The facilities are not good for sports and there are far better in local schools across Bristol. Football was fun but games were few and far between because of the pitch quality (it’s practically unplayable between the months of November and April).
I hope this helps. I can’t recommend it but if it’s the only option you have - go for it. You’re in for a ride and issues aplenty with the higher ups.
Bad school
Why don't they help the year 10s and why do they lie they don't care about the students
Review of OAB
Teachers are altogether ok. Some can’t teach or control the class. Students are immature and not told off which is annoying Doesn’t have much money so can’t provide certain things
food
shits always thrown in class, mainly snack but i ain’t gonna complain bout some free food.
Horrific!!!
It is so easy to get covid 19 there is always about 50 people in corridor during classroom change. And apparently its not ok to eat in a cafateria but its ok to cue up for lunch with 30 people 15 centimeters apart. Also they said no going to toilet during class without someone to take you but 99.9% of the time u go on your own.
Showing 11 of total 41 reviews
About SchoolParrot
- SchoolParrot is a review site for schools. We are a company that believes in more transparency within schools. Our platform is open to all users.
Read about SchoolParrot and our company - Reviews are published in real-time without moderation and we want to encourage our users to provide constructive feedback and keep a serious tone. The responsibility lies with the user.
Read our review guidelines
Beginning with personal satisfaction, and as a tl;dr: Considering the funding that most public schools get, and the administrative nightmare that is presented when running a school in a socio-economically deprived area, I find it hard to hold this school to account for many of its shortcomings. In general, my experience at this school was... fine. It's remarkable, even, that it's stuck around for so long. However, it can be guaranteed that you will not receive anything above average in terms of your experience at this school if you decide to come here, at least for the next 2 years. There's nothing at all special about anything that goes on here, apart from MAYBE the PE department, which I can't speak on from personal experience.
The academics are, you guessed it, average (to my knowledge). I've been able to succeed to a desirable degree, in most of my subjects, with just a bit of hard work and application of skills. It is important not to conflate my anecdotal academic success with the school generally allowing academic potential to apply itself, however, as this is not necessarily the case. I am not an expert by any means in the analysis of the academic potential a school has, of course, so take this with a grain of salt.
The floors are clean within the school, and fights are uncommon both inside and outside of the institution (to my knowledge). The school boasts a large field and tennis court. I dunno, you could use it for football or something. This is not a great review for the physical side of Brightstowe, as you may be able to tell.
Security? Well, one guy jumped the fence last year, and watching Mr Keys have to take the place of the security guards and chase him halfway across the field was world class theatre. I get uncomfortable when I'm around the students who go to our school, though it may just be my intuition for danger flaring up around future criminals.
Some of the teachers are good, some of the teachers are bad, some of the teachers are great. They're all kind and caring people, it's just that some are FAR more engaging than others. Just a shame they're all leaving this year (oooooor not!)
Should I even mention that when one of the students at our school was bullied to death last year (rest in peace), the principal got on his puny little chair in his office and told us that "she would want [us] to be working hard."? Are you kidding me? How heartless do you have to be to push productivity when a CHILD HAS DIED DUE TO YOUR INACTION? He "left" later (got fired, let's be realistic. A year and a half at a school and you suddenly "leave" without notice? Why even try to lie to us?) probably because he wasn't doing what the higherups wanted him to be doing.
I'm running out of time, so I'll quickly go over the following:
Food is meh. Edible at least.
Communication was always annoying and bad. Underfunded, I'd bet.
Discipline is awful. A kid broke his leg(s?) the other day because someone was running in the halls. I wish I was lying.
School "culture" makes me uncomfortable at all times, and it makes me even more uncomfortable when the school tries to act like we're a "family" even though I wouldn't be too saddened to never see most of the people at my school ever again. In fact I'd be happy.
Personal development was always ineffective and pointless. Senseless posturing; a waste of time.
It was challenging to find a reason not the dislike the school, if that's what they mean by that.
In conclusion, there are almost certainly better options. Don't come here unless you have to.