Okehampton College

This school is absolutely disgusting for many aspects but especially the rudeness of the staff, they treat the students horribly and dont care or even second thought their treatment of peoples mental health and their feelings, they constantly jump between ways to manage poor behaviour but cant even manage the other things that go on throughout the day, the schools policies have been backlashed by many students simply for their stupidity and yet nothing changes. its because they dont accept any kind of student input they all think there know it alls really, its very shamefull, the teachers who actually are nice and give any sort of care in the world to what the students want always get told off by seniour staff members for their lack of punishment and disiplin to students but they obviously dont see that it makes them listen when the students are actually respected and treated as equals, imagine going to a place where your opinion doesnt matter and one mistake is enough for a lifetime of suffering its absolutely horrible

bad school do not recomend

Poor handling of bullying (there asked if they did it, the bully says no, it goes no further) I was harassed for being gay and nothing was done. Suicidal thoughts, self harm etc is not handled well and the “safeguarding team” are not informed at all on the subjects.
I was given a speech of “arnt you embarrassed” and when I said yes they just said “that’s good”, would take me out of lessons to speak about these things and one particular member of staff would talk loudly about these issues in the corridors even though there were still people moving around. Bad treatment of teachers (from the school boards etc) aswell which made 30 teachers leave end of the last school year. Any teachers that actually care about students and talk to them are given warnings for not sending them down to well-being or safeguarding, two places that more often than not will turn you away at the door unless you get appointments. People are suspended for really stupid things now. Poor treatment of most students who attempt suicide, but then some are given loads of help. Toilets are disgusting and half do not even have working locks, have sticky toilet seats, have been smelling of pee for months that is so bad that you can’t even go into them which makes me believe they are not regularly cleaned. Students are rarely listened to about there concern's.

Worst 5 years of my life. Me and my friends were relentlessly bullied throughout secondary and the school would do next to nothing with the reports, everytime we would get the same response, to "wrote down the date, time and place where it happened" so they could check the cameras, we did this multiple times with big issues but they never managed to see anything on the cameras.
There are a few good teachers trying their best but most of the teachers care way too much about stupid uniform rules made to micromanage kids and make life so much harder for trans children. I just wanted to wear a jumper that made me feel better about my body but they weren't having it, even with my explanation.
In my final year I noticed some of the younger children going through the same things I did and resorting to the same methods to cope (self harm) and it's just sad to see, I genuinely hope this school changes for the better but me and all of my friends suffered here.
The safeguarding officer made it very clear to me that he did not care about me and wanted me to leave him alone when I went to him with issues.
I can only recomend this school if you are a bigot and want to bully minorities becuase you will face very little backlash from most of the staff here.

Do not give first/second GCSE options to students instead giving them the equivalent of a cheap alternative. Food is stale (supposedly soft burger buns crunchy) and people are always ill or sick after eating the chicken. Students that should have been expelled long ago aren't and the toilets are either shut or filled with people smoking/vaping. There's a window to the outside in one of the unisex toilets! Only upside are a few good teachers and good technology facilities but what good is that if you never get to use them? Most students mental health is suffering. Awful. Just truly awful.

Horrible school, horrible support, horrible management and horrible support. Would not recommend this school to anyone. Worse 5 years of my life. It’s not the students, it’s mostly the staff. Some are lovely, some are just tw@ts. Don’t even think about stepping into this school if you have mental health problem, i can assure you they not only make it worse but couldn’t care less.

yeah this school is rubbish when it comes to protecting students.
Went to the head of safeguarding about a certain issue and i was told to “move on”.
No less then two weeks later i attempted something and the school were told to do certain things, one being me not to be any where near a certain classmate. But they put me DIRECTLY next to that certain classmate on the day i had returned to school. Some of the staff are great, but i can only think of a few that are actually caring.
Oh yeah also when it comes to encouraging students to do the best they can, that’s BS. My maths teacher told me that i only had the ability to take the lower power... how supportive.
The school don’t talk to students they just punish them, that’s because they don’t care. Well a few staff care but none of those staff who actually help are in higher up safeguarding.
If you want your child to gain depression/ anxiety then this is the school for them!

The school have absolutely no care for people who get bullied, i have been reporting issues with the same group of children for 3 years now and nothing has been done. Was put into counselling ran by christians who ask if “i am having a good week” when i asked how to be tested for anxiety. the school are so busy keeping children who should have been expelled by now in the school that they dont care for children who are doing good or having issues. Placed me in a class that was clearly not my ability and refused to remove me until i had to report to higher members of staff, do not cater to my Coeliac Disease or my EDS, the stairs make it very difficult to get to lessons but i “do not qualify” to use the elevator. not pleased