Sutton Valence School

A school that changed my life... As a child I found my school career very difficult. Before coming to Sutton Valence I was very much closed off to not only my peers, but my family as well. My previous schooling had led to a complete belief that I myself was flawed, broken, a "difficult case". Not one iota of confidence presided within me, too scared to make friends, to scared to explore ideas and experiences that intrigued and excited me. Joining Sutton Valence I was told one thing by everyone, faculty and family alike, "try everything". Initially, I was slow to adopt this mantra. Still unsure of my surroundings, the hang-ups left over from my previous school were compounded and I feared this school was going to be no different to the last. It was not long before school noticed my isolation. My fear now was that I was to become even more of an outcast. The last thing I wanted was the teachers holding my hand through lessons, or going off for 'special lessons', I just wanted to blend in, to be normal, I didn't want to be a "difficult case". To my surprise, I was not treated as a case that needed solving. For the first time in my schooling carrer, I was nurtured, encourgaed, accepted. I worked with several different staff members at school, focusing on both my academic and social challenges. This was done with respect, and with flexibility, as to not make me feel any more ostracised as I had originally feared. It was not long before my confidence built, and suddenly the "try everything" mantra was one I lived by. I joined the CCF and progressed to the highest rank a student can achieve. I was encouraged to take up strength and conditioning training, this lead to my many appearances in the schools First XV rugby team. I joined numerous clubs; debating, archery, model united nations, and public speaking. Academically I went from being a substandard student, to achieving several school awards for best class effort. As a consequence, the awards for achievement then started to arrive. It started with a set of GCSE results that earned me an academic scholarship, and progressed to a set of A-Levels which landed me an offer to study a Masters in Marine Engineering at a Russel Group university. It culminated with me achieving a first class honours degree. Whilst it may not of been Sutton Valence that taught me my degree content. It was Sutton Valence that taught me how to learn. It was Sutton Valence that gave me the confidence to move 350 miles from home and do something utterly terrifying to me. It was Sutton Valence that taught me the social skills that lead to a successful interview for my first engineering graduate job. Of course, my time at Sutton Valence was not perfect. The ebb and flow of school life came with the occasional challenge. But anytime I felt let down by the school, my concerns were heard, discussed, and solutions were always found. In short, I owe a lot to Sutton Valence School. I came as a "difficult case" and I left with a plethora of experiences that left me a socially confident, academically profound, and well rounded young man. Who now writes this review as a graduate engineer. I cannot recommend this school enough, it most certainly can, and will, change lives.

Amazing school, very caring environment. Teachers are passionate about students success and always going above and beyond, not only in the academic space but also extracurricular activities! Food is incredible, with such great variety can’t say a bad word.

Im a former student from sutton valence. To start off with I have to say if there is one thing that bothered me the most about this school is how sports orinated they are. If you were someone who played for saracens or any other elite team they would treat you like your a star. You would receive so much benefits compared to someone who doesnt play sports at all. if you dont play any sports or not well enough you get treated like your a nobody. You can defintly tell that the school have 'favourites', catogerised in as: someone very sportive, someone overly talented in something else, an A* student, or known to be a popular kid. So what were getting from here is that if you arent categorised in any of thous... you are more likely to get in trouble, not be respected as much, looked down on ect. The facilites in the school are quite good, but then again the only thing they offer is everything sports based. The food is really not that great... remember you have to pay extra if you want to eat at the school, where youll recieve the most basic repetitive blant food. on the odd week you actualy get something which is average but then again they wouldnt provide enough, so if youre running late youd be left with pasta with beans?. The way you get treated from 4th,5th form to 6 form is such a big difference. In some ways i really liked the differnce. Of course when you were younger the teachers were very strict and everything was more serious. However, in 6 form they would treat you more like a person and gave you more room and respect. You would really feel like you and the teachers could actually get along and bond a relationship with them which helped you whilst coping with all the stress. The price compared to what you get out of the school is redicilous, they either need to decrease their costs or do something to meet thous expectations. Otherwise your better off somewhere else where you actually get some benefits from the amount of money you're spending. If you are a spoilt, sportive, popular kind of person that is defintly a school for you.

My son started at SVPS in reception class. My husband and I thought sending our son to this school would give him the best education and start to his learning journey possible. However, our son has additional learning needs and we were told he required extra support, so started paying additional costs for 1:1 lessons that we were told were necessary and also were told he required additional assessment to diagnose his problems which cost an additional £600. Our son appeared to become increasingly unhappy at this school and despite us spending additional funds to have his learning needs officially diagnosed, none of the teachers appeared to have any idea about our sons difficulties with his learning and received no extra support during lessons at all. The pressure applied on a daily basis was unacceptable and our son became increasingly insular and solitary and so unhappy. None of this was communicated to us or even noticed by the staff at this school. When I questioned this I was told he required further additional support which would obviously incur an additional cost. I grew increasingly concerned about my child’s well being and finally discovered that he was being bullied. The bullying had been occurring over a long period of time, which was not noticed or dealt with by the school! Even more concerning was that he was also being bullied by members of the sports team staff, which included verbal and also physical abuse! This school promotes the fact that they treat children as individuals and nurture each child through their individual learning journey. This is not the case at all, and it became very evident that children with additional learning needs were not treated as individuals at all, and extra needs not taken into account at all. The pressure applied was excessive, especially for an academically struggling child. The later years of prep school were very much focussed on achievement and results according to what the school expected, rather than what was achievable for each individual child. I’m writing this review because I’m utterly appalled and so upset that we trusted this independent school with our child’s education and well being, and feel he has been failed in every way! We immediately removed him from this school due to the serious concerns with his happiness and mental health. We have since enrolled him into a local state school and thankfully our son is recovering and is now becoming the happy, fun-loving child that he was previously. Also, I am utterly appalled that despite my requests, and his new school requests, no information has been provided to his new school regarding achievements or learning needs, to assist progression going forward! Which ultimately proves to me that there is no care or concern genuinely for the children being taught at this school or their learning journey going forward! Shocking at every level!

A great school on paper, supposedly lots of opportunities, I have no frame of reference for this but I’d say it was average. Very sports orientated which isn’t ideal for someone with little interest in it. Overall it wasn’t the nicest environment for me to spend 6 days a week at. Great food, the hours and homework amount were just a little too much for me.