Sheffield High School for Girls

My daughter a happy confident girl started in Sheffield high 2 years ago and left the school recently completely broken with anxiety, eating disorder, suicidal thoughts and depression. No help from school. The arrogant headteacher did nothing but brushing all the matter raised under the carpet.

Bullying from pupils and teachers culminated in daughters breakdown. Removed daughter a few years ago so things may have improved, but the recent dates on the 3 reviews I can see see suggests otherwise. The 'curates egg' review mentioning 'don't be too talented' really chimed with part of my daughters experience. Having seen and experienced other private and state schools (albeit it a highly regarded state comprehensive) I would question the value of fees at SHS. I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Horrible school with a bullying culture

For parents: your daughter will get a good academic education. It's worth the fees in that respect because it gave me a great foundation that has been with me ever since. Speaking as an old girl, I was miserable for much of my time there. The teachers knew something was wrong but, because my parents were well-off, did not intervene. There were problems at the school and at home but neither were addressed. Ultimately, the then-headmistress cared more about the fees than the psychological well-being of her pupils. Girls will always be bitchy and bully other girls, it's the nature of the beast. It was only isolated incidents but one, which happened in the junior school when I was blamed for something that I didn't do, and which was a set up by the form bullies (two girls who went everywhere together) was barely investigated. If they had, it would have been easy to prove it wasn't me. I was so distraught that I thought of suicide, aged 10! That sort of culture continued into the senior school. Anyone who was not one of the "popular" girls got it, but the one I got was especially diabolical and damaging. I have never forgotten it. Also, I was being seriously abused at home (I was adopted) and became very thin, which my form teacher in Upper 4 asked me about but that was the only time any concern was shown. And the subject was dropped almost immediately after she took me aside to talk to me. As say, the school knew there was something wrong from my appearance and behaviour, but did absolutely nothing about it. I'm encouraged by the claims on their current website and I hope the ethos really has changed. I don't have fond memories of Rutland Park. Another problem was that they didn't like you to be talented to the point of not fitting in with the syllabus for any subject. The school likes the girls to be clever and talented, up to a point. After all, it reflects well on them. But don't be exceptional in your abilities or unconventional in your mindset because they don't like that. Independent thinkers, at least in my time, were not encouraged. I became successful in my given field entirely due to my own efforts but I must give credit to the good basic academic grounding to which I referred at the start. Also, we all had to have impeccable manners, which, while an old-fashioned concept now, is an important social grace that is always appreciated. To sum up, the Highschool is a curate's egg: good in parts.

Some teachers are very helpful and many even inspirational however as with most schools there is a great contrast within the staff. Whilst the school claims to empower young women to make a change, sexist dress codes and uniform in constantly enforced. At the some time, they claim to be inclusive to all religions, however christian hymns are mandatory and Christian teachings always seam to be at the focus of religious topics. As a lgbt+ student it is also apparent that the school seems to tolerate bullying towards queer students, especially throughout secondary school. As well as this, they encourage students to report all types of bullying but it quickly became apparent that after this, they do nothing to handle bullies and students that target their peers.