The John Henry Newman Catholic School

They care far too much over small things rather than the quality of education we receive. Food is far too expensive, care far too much on appearances, they very invasively search your belongings and search your body with a metal detector, staff often favourite students or a certain gender of students, the school is filthy, bullying goes unnoticed and racism is a very big issue in this school. The amount of racism i’ve received while within this school is insane. Boys often picking on me yelling offensive slurs at me or making jokes about stereotypes reguarding my race and it all goes unnoticed.

Not bad- Catholic life is the center of the community

To the person who wrote that this school is excellent in every standard.
You have devalued the real experiences of the students and families who have written how this school has effected their lives.

How can you say " The best school in Stevenage "after reading these reviews.
State your reasons.

Time parents and students told the truth about this school.

One of the best schools in Hertfordshire

As parents we regret sending our child to this school.
Bullying not dealt with, always our childs issue.
St John Henry Newman relies on the reputation of Mr Kelly the previous Headteacher.
Genuinely think twice about sending your child here

Some of the teachers (though explicitly not all) put you in a really difficult spot and it makes you cry because they don't consider if your having a bad day or if you are experiencing personal problems such as mental health issues. It's like they expect you.to just say 'I have mental health problems' outloud when surely they know how difficult it is to do that. The likely hood is that we won't say anything and they will never really know what the problem is becuase they confront you in front of other students and turn it into an interrogation and make it so hard for you. They alienate you. Its all totally unnecessary.  I was told that i have to see my negative experience as a teaching moment and that i need to be stronger and less fragile.  I don't understand why it's so necessary to experience negativity In  order to learn and to grow. Why can't it be a positive experience ?  Why can't they all be kind and flexible instead if me being stronger and less fragile ?  Why do I have to be less of the person I am? Why don't they just acknowledge that you have an issue without probing you to ask why. The "why" isn't really that important. When someone harms they are not seeking attention , they are seeking acknowledgement and when you say it like like that and you think about it it doesnt seem like such a terrible complex thing. You realise how much of a need it is to be acknowledged and not have judgements made about you. We don't want to be defined by these things so please don't.

I would not recommend this school. Bullying is not dealt with, by Senior leadership or Headteacher.
I experienced verbal abuse daily, rubbish thrown at me, physically pushing me to the ground.
When informing staff especially Ms Broom , informed not to make it an issue.A member of PE staff would ridicule me at every opportunity, when left out of groups, students would complain do we have to have him, he would say "Sorry I know he is rubbish, someone has to have him "and then laugh.
Increasing anxiety lead me to being physically ill every morning. One occasion when I did make it in comments and looks made me lock myself in the toilet.I could see no way out , contemplating do harm myself Pulling myself together I walked out no one noticed.
For every student who has been bullied at this school, when you are told "Your alleged allegations have been denied. I have so many incidents that I am now with help learning strategies to cope with.
Write a review here hopefully some one Ofsted, Westminster diocese will listen.
The Headteacher and senior leadership do not

They urge this concept of trying to “find your mission in life “. All this does is perpetuate a very narrow view on what success is. Even the attempt to just be happy can be challenging to some people. Theoretically the idea of doing your best and working towards your dreams sounds like it’s easy. All sunshine and rainbows. In fact all it does is place a deeply philosophical burden on those other kids who are currently unhappy or struggling to establish what their “purpose” is and have no idea how to achieve this kind of goal. I think the teachers care deep down .. well I hope so… but they outwardly seem to follow this preachy catholic philosophy and don’t seem to use the initiative to know where things just aren’t right. As a student here you feel as though you are talking to a wall sometimes. Or singing into a void. I can’t relate to my teachers that well. Sometimes I don’t feel comfortable talking to them. They want to help but you sense that maybe they don’t know how to do it and it makes you lose confidence in their ability to do so. They have this supposedly great mental health support but it just feels like it’s all talk at times, But I suppose this is probably everywhere ... They talk about all the things they have in place and reassure you about provisions when students might be in crisis but I wonder what they would actually do if and when confronted by a true crisis. If a student really was in dire need of support. In some ways this school is great but in other ways it tolerates so much that is realistically “wrong” and It is my belief that : what you tolerate you promote… what I do like is there does seem to be a promotion of us being able to advocate for ourselves. This should really be further encouraged. It is good to make a stand for yourself and for your own learning experience when you don’t feel you are getting enough out of it and to be heard. Hopefully they actually listen to understand and not just to respond. They need to really promote the different ways to communicate. Some of us don’t like to talk in front of others or to talk generally about what is bothering us. Some of us like to write it down. Maybe email. My older sister said that when she went here in the past she really wished there was somewhere you could physically go when you were having a hard time. She spent most of her bad days hiding in the girls toilets crying. The cubicle was the most private enclosed space in the whole school. She said it was all well and good letting her leave the classroom for a breather but there was nowhere appropriate to go for some space or some time alone and the stress of having to find somewhere private in a sea of over 1000 people just added to the initial anxiety she already had. She was really impressed to hear that the school built a room specifically for this purpose.

Teachers care more about the length of your skirt than the quality of your education.

A good school to be honest, for someone who absolutely hated there time there the only thing i can say i dislike is the overbearing sense of authority from staff and the stringent enforcement of rules.

i do not enjoy going to school here, i enjoy learning and academics but i do not enjoy the environment, it is volatile and unsafe.