St Aidan's Catholic Academy

The way I felt at this school was summed up by the words of a late actor "I used to think the worst thing in life was being alone but now I realise it's being in a room full of people who make you feel alone". There are many good teachers at St Aidan's and St Anthony's Sixth Form and as a kid with special needs many have gone above and beyond to try and help me within their limitations and I will always be grateful for that. The thing I found hardest at St Aidan's a St Anthony's was the lack of extra classroom help. I really struggled. Then there were the lack of online lessons during covid and my exam year in spite of promises of great things and newsletters which made out that we'd had great online learning during covid. It's like the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes". Just because you tell a lie lots of times, it doesn't eventually make it true. The worst thing is that St Aidan's worship at the altar of academic success and vanity and anyone who doesn't match up to this is left to their own devices. Careers advice non existent. We were palmed off with an Art Teacher who gave us zero help. At least the Head Of Sixth Form helped me with my UCAS Statement. Btecs are rubbish. Please don't believe them when they give you all the Schtick about how great they are. You may, like me, go to a Uni Open Day at Sunderland, mention Btecs, and the invisible wall comes down immediately and they say "Oh.........Btecs". And there is the faint sound of another door closing somewhere. Plus I nearly got mugged by a druggie chav near the Uni Metro when I left for the day. A man walked up to me and unzipped my rucksack and started rummaging through it. Don't expect any help. The students here walk right past you even though you have a disability lanyard on. I hit him with my physics book and ran. The teachers in the main are good people who will be great if you are academically minded. If you are average, forget it. The outdoor environment is nice enough. Can't comment on the food as I took my own lunch but put it this way the students have a tiny common room with a kettle and micro and the Teachers have a huge, posh room at The Briary with a vending machine. Some of the students had to sit on each others knees as there weren't enough chairs. In terms of keeping you safe they were consistently excellent and my Mum had lots of praise for St Aidan's in that regard. I'm sure the activities were good but I never wanted to join in so can't comment.

Teachers scream at anything you do and give pointless detentions the headteacher who nobody likes btw screamed at y9 and 10 students after school for not walking on the right side of a coridoor which made people late for the bus and had 0 sympathy off it all the slt crew also obey him and are slaves for him in isolation or basecamp which is what them call it you also need to put ya phone in a safe which doesn’t sound very legal

my maths teacher is absolutely banging

Amazing and friendly