Sir William Borlase's Grammar School

I’m currently a student at this school. My first few years at this school have been incredibly enjoyable and I’ve never had any problems with the teachers, however, looking at the new uniform policy I cannot put into words how enraged I feel but I will attempt to conveign them here now. We are no longer allowed to wear anything that gives us individuality, for example, we are only allowed ‘plain black coats’, ‘no jewellery’, ‘no scarves’, ‘all rucksacks must be plain black’ and so much more. Not only that but there are now PE kit rules for indoor, outdoor, summer and winter sports and it is horrible to make people spend huge amounts of money on overpriced equipment (like studs for example) which the majority of students will wear for three lessons and never touch again (I wore them twice in year seven and I’ve never worn them again). I understand there have been problems with skirt length before however punishing everyone by enforcing such ridiculous uniform regulations is absurd and I disagree entirely. The punishments for disobeying these nonsense regulations are also far too extreme. The school itself is amazing and there are teachers that I genuinely love there and so many opportunities are available I just hate the uniform policy with every inch of my body because of how strict and unfair it is. The school would be an easy five stars if the policy was less strict; it’s a shame such a small thing can ruin my entire opinion of the school. Please change the policy.

Borlase is great school and i would 100% recommend, the bad reviews on this website almost put me off but I'm so glad I came anyway, Borlase has great academic records and excellent pastoral care, I'm honestly happy to be a student here : ). The teachers are nice and there is a healthy social environment around the school.

I really like this schoooooolll. It is goooood. :)

Hi, I'm a current year seven student at Borlase and I think its an amazing school so far. I haven't seen, heard or experienced any of the bullying or 'sense of lad culture' talked about in other reviews. I'm not necessarily in a great class, there are quite a few jokers but the teachers handle them well so it's not really a problem, contrary to what others are saying i think the canteen is fine, maybe if not the healthiest. All the teachers are great if a little strict but are always there to help you if you need it, there can be pressure for some people who haven't experienced much homework at their primary school but it's easy to adjust, and if you are struggling they have an after school club to help and everyone is very supportive. Borlase has a good social environment and great facilitates, I would definitely recommend to a friend. I feel lucky to be a student there.

School does well academically. Poor staff for handling mental health and overprivelidged rude students.

academically good yet they don’t give a sh*t about bullying homophobia , misogyny , racism and ableism is used in language casually and disregarded by everyone as an issue because they’re ‘the lads’ care far too much about uniform , which wouldn’t be an problem if they were also focused on the more important issues the way they bring christianity into school life through the chapel can be very harmful to students from different cultures (though this could easily be fixed by making school culture more focused around the school than religion eg: singing the school song in chapel rather than hymns)

amazing teachers however the pressure of a grammar school is sometimes very overwhelming. very nice students and excellent grades

The pastoral support is both too good and not good enough at the same time - if you're on their radar, you're followed and watched like a hawk - always being stopped for "little chats" and "check ins". However the school is very dogged about reporting back to parents, which is both good and bad, as it can make going to a teacher about your problems harder, as you don't know whether they'll tell your parents. This makes it hard to get on their radar in the first place - you have to be caught having a panic attack or worse to get serious support - otherwise they will just ask you if you're okay, no matter the answer they'll probably not care enough to seek you out, unless you say you're s*lf h*rming or something. Derogatory language is used frequently and not often dealt with; the teachers care more about skirt lengths than misogyny, PE kit than homophobia. I've even seen a few teachers take notice of the discrimination and not do anything about it, which makes my blood boil. Although, you do get good grades because, well, it's a posh grammar school. Also the canteen food is s*** lol