The Gilberd School

This school seems good on the outside, but it really isn't. They shove (roughly) seventy girls in one changing room for PE, completely disregarding the fact that it is incredibly crowded in there. They don't let some Muslim students change in the bathrooms for religious reasons. They don't care if you need support - I only have a pass to go to the front of the lunch queue because my best friend's mother works there. I can't handle overstimulating places and the school doesn't care. They don't care about bullying. I get bullied, so does my best friend. My best friend has put many reports in for this student and they do nothing. Teachers don't care about students' mental health, and give you a detention for not doing homework that you weren't present when it was set and therefore not aware it was set. Many teachers humiliate students on purpose and don't care if you aren't comfortable presenting. The queue for food is unreasonable, often taking the entire lunch break just to get food. Many students don't get to eat due to this. Ofsted needs to re-evaluate their rating. There is nothing to do at breaks unless you're a sporty person. Teachers discriminate, they are sexist but because they favour girls it goes unnoticed. I'm not biased (I'm female). The amount of homework is unreasonable. If you're injured, you still have to do PE. This school is horrible. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN HERE.

Honestly such a joke this school cares too much about skirts and shirts yet im hearing actually jaw dropping things daily basis and they just dont care and the food is a piss take. The lessons are honestly so boring and they dont teach anything they just read a powerpoint for 50 minutes and when you try talk they start having a go at you. “Ofsted said our school is outstanding” right… why are we lying in the big 2025… i thought we left that when we were about 8 years old.

I sent my kid here and they have autism,adhd,and they do not care about the mental health of these kids they say they can have a exit card but the child gets told off for using it they kick kids out for putting school in dispute but there’s kids drinking and smoking in the school,the school is so strict on stuff like this but anything outside of school they want to deal with it but anything inside they don’t give a flying giraffe the toilets are open and always have menstrual pads everywhere the environment is disgusted the teachers shout and scream at kids for the slightest thing do not send ur child here

It don't care if your child is geting bullied

while this school does have some good gcse results, the ways in which teaching is presented are often boring, with teachers mainly following a powerpoint created by the exam board and then forcing students to work from more exam board textbooks (in silence). if you dare to talk dont even bother reasoning with the teacher because theyll just give you a one way ticket to isr. now for the main issue, the school cafeteria will charge around 3 quid for a southern fried chicken burger that contains 2 dry chicken fillets between two stale buns. if you want to try and add flavour to this burger, theyll also charge you extra approx 20p for a single sachet of ketchup. considering the daily spend limit is 6 pounds i believe, this is barely enough to get you through the day. this will only get you a burger, drink, and dessert, leaving no room to buy anything before lunch at break. the quality of the food isnt very great either, as the pizzas have hardly any toppings as they are quite literally a fat piece of dough with a dried out layer of tomato puree and cheese on top. after reading various reviews on this forum, it has also now made clear to me that the school does indeed, worry about their 'precious' reputation more than the student's needs and wellbeing. and dont even bother coming in if you're late. many times theyll see you coming and still shut the gate on you, then giving you a 20 minute detention, even if you were only a minute late. doing this prevents you even further from getting to lesson as theyd rather sit all of you down in a hall and force you to write your name down so they can further punish you. the aggressive approach the school takes towards a punctuality statistic which they care way too much about is easily beaten if you have forgiving parents who are willing to call the school and take you out of detention (which they can do nothing about). the school also seems to believe in collective punishment as before, there has been a whole class sitting in silence due to one single comment that was heard by the teacher, patiently waiting for about 20 minutes for someone to give themselves up until it finally came to the conclusion that the student who made the comment had already left the room (for some unknown activity). stopping half the student's learning time. some teachers are nice tho, some aren't. youll pretty quickly find out after a couple lessons.

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO EXPERIENCE 5 YEARS OF HELL!!! I have enrolled both of my child to this school after going through such a warm and welcoming introduction day, rather this was the moment I have realised I have made the biggest mistake of my life, taking away their childhood and their joyful personality….. I have raised two wonderful children, (which i’m not going to mention names) incase the school senior team chases them down for ruining their so well proud and well deserved “reputation” as being the best school in colchester. One of my daughter would come home everyday crying and locking themself into their room after school, every. single. day…. I finally noticed and asked her what’s wrong and was replied with a rather horrifying and dissatisfying answer. She said that “Miss Oldham” quote on quote (I’m not 100% sure with the names of the staff) has been picking on her and embarrassing her in front of her classmates because she has anxiety and doesn’t enjoy talking out infront of 20 other teenagers her age. I have phoned the school to see what could be done and how we would solve the conflict. The school said that they would have a word with the staff and a staff meeting would take place and this would stop. Only if I could tell the future that NOTHING HAS HAPPENED!!!! my daughter still COMES HOME CRYING FROM THIS PIECE OF SHIT SCHOOL!

It’s not the worst but it’s still pretty bad.I have just left this year and think that there were way too many petty and not needed rules.Furthermore the separation between sets and students is rather insulting to those who are in the bottom sets like 5 and 6 as they are usually put with misbehaving kids.The food is alright a bit overpriced but it’s pretty good.They are also extremely pushy with studying and revision which is great if your child can handle it.Overall the Gilberd School isn’t the worst and as a student who has just left it is recommended as the best one in the area but not the country

Many people moan about issues. I will say, the claims of harassment are false. The claims of unfair treatment are not real. As a autistic student with ADHD also, the school has “mostly” supported me, and never has unfairly treated me because of it. They have even pulled me out of trouble when my meds were wrong, and lowered my punishment due to the situation. The teachers are amazing, and while some claim that the school unfairly treats children by locking them away, I have one thing to say. If your in IER/ISR/RR or whatever you call it, you were a pest to others. So yeah, great school for those who decide to actually try and behave, and be on time. JUST GET A WATCH, as I have seen far to many students be late due to them choosing to arrive close to the gate closing. Just arrive earlier, it’s easy.

ik someone really bad who went there physics teacher.

I really don’t understand what is wrong with this school! Wish I never sent my daughter here. She got her skirt banned for a term because it was too short (it was only a bit above her knees?) and this made her feel very upset as she didn’t want to be in trousers as they made her feel masculine. They basically said they didn’t care about how she felt, and that it was the rules, so they don’t care about the students feelings. Meanwhile, Year 10 and 11 girls have their skirts rolled about 4 times and they can go around like that all they want? What a stupid school. I had never even heard of skirt bans before this school. Absolutely ridiculous. Seriously don’t recommend. OFSTED need to come again because this school is not outstanding, not one bit.

I've heard some good things about this school and I may even transfer there myself. I've heard good things about your educational system, your eating area, your teachers and your food. Its just brilliant. Keep up the good work guys! :)

this school has ruined many peoples mental health. when you are trying to talk to a teacher about it (even if you're crying) they say their main aim is to get you back to lesson. I was at the school a minute before the gates closed and they decided to close them early and I got 20 minutes out of my 40 minute lunch and was unable to get food. this is a prison, not a school. Ofsted should ask to speak to students other than the 'perfect' ones. see how their opinion sways.

Absolutely awful, the school only cares and focuses on their reputation. Students have been sexually assaulted by other students and even a teacher yet no action is actually taken to address and prevent these incidences from reoccurring (despite countless student reports!). When students threatened to get higher powers involved the staff were dismissive and demeaning towards them, discouraging and scaring them out of speaking up. The environment is heavily sexist and racist where students are constantly put under immense pressure. Which for many, will lead to burnout and the school giving up on you. When there are visitors (such as governors/ofsted) any child who they deem as ‘badly behaved’ (even if they haven’t done anything wrong!) will be concealed and confined in isolation/ empty classrooms. This is where no sufficient educational support is provided which is unjust and not beneficial in any way. Their treatment of such pupils is dehumanising and wrong on so many levels. Only academically strong, ‘model’ students are favoured and given respect. Therefore, if you don’t fit their preferences the school will be treat you bad and they will impose it on any other student who tries to defend/ call out the bias by wrongfully isolating and punishing them for minor actions which other students wouldn’t have been penalised for. When looking to apply here at first glance, you may think ‘what an amazing, outstanding school’ but the reality is if you are of any other ethnicity you will be treated awfully. They may preach ’equality and diversity’ but it is only for show and no discipline or support is actually provided to prevent and help those experiencing discrimination. Overall, the atmosphere is so toxic it will drain any individuality you have left and just turn you into another person, another number and another set of exam results.

While the head of year’s clearly had favourites, they still cared about everyone. If you had a genuine concern or problems, they tried their best to help you. In my past experience, the pastoral/SENCO team were really supportive of any additional things I needed to help get through school, whether that was something simple like leaving 5 mins early to reduce anxiety (due to disabilities) or something more complex like spending some classes not in the actual lesson, if you were genuinely upset or unable to return for whatever reason, as long as it was genuine reasonnot just a minor falling out, they are happy to try to accommodate you. I wouldn’t change anything regarding them. Yes, the lessons that you didn’t enjoy were boring and there were always some teachers that you didn’t want, however you will get that at every school. Overall, while yes there are somethings I would change (tiny things), that would be making it perfect for me rather than being able to meet the needs of everyone the best they can. I truly believe it deserves the outstanding ofsted rating. I would highly recommend this school to anyone, and would go back myself and start again if I could.

The Gilberd only cares about its image and being the best school in Essex. They focus on all the wrong things (skirt lengths, appearance etc.) and only want students to maintain perfect grades for their own benefit. They have tried to make it look like they’re an advocate for mental health and diversity but when it comes to genuine problems of racism and poor mental health etc., they disregard it.

Lessons are often boring as they would be in any other school, however they are great at getting students to reach their highest potential and as of recently in the past year have been much better with the mental health of students.

The lessons are alright sometimes boring and we do learn. However they don't really care about your mental wellbeing that much which is quite bad because so many students are struggling and aren't getting the help they need.

The school care too much about their reputation rather than the students themselves.

yeah no this school is so bad if ur a parent don’t be fooled by their outstanding rating this school is not outstanding at all it’s actually so BAD they pay too much attention to skirt lengths and jewellery for no reason