The Richmond upon Thames School

RTS = worst five years of my life

The teachers and leaders at the school were continuously lazy and unresponsive to my problems I endured while at RTS. I was bullied relentlessly from year 7 all the way to year 11 (it went as far to people following me home, egging my house and following me into the toilets and trying to kick my stall down) and throughout all of this, the teacher basically didn’t give a shit. I had to move tutors in year 10 because my actual teacher was joining in on the bullying and found it funny to laugh along with the whole class.

I was practically one of the only (not closeted) trans students in the entire school, and fucking hell, it was obvious they were unprepared. Me and my mum fought for three consecutive years for me to be able to go to the toilet or just generally feel comfortable around the school and majority of the time, e-mails and phone calls were ignored and false promises were made that would be forgotten in a week or two.

I am also autistic and during my testing in year 9, the GP requested the school to give a statement on my behavior so both my mum and the GP sent emails asking for this. It wasn’t until the start of year 11 that they actually responded, which was after my mum had to physically come in and argue with the head of year.

Furthermore, they only have one mental health safeguarding person that students can go to. A lot of the time that person is used so that students can skip lessons. This results in children who are actually actively struggling unable to go and talk to someone because there’s 20 students all skipping class in the safeguarding offices.

The behavior at the school is disgusting. I witnessed teachers getting punched in the face by students, someone’s jaw being broken, a girl getting dragged down the stairs, relentless bullying that was never followed up, and just overall classes that are continuously interrupted and no one actually doing any work.

Another problem I think needs to be brought up is the treatment of me being transgender while at this school. I was bullied for it a lot, with no consequences for anyone who bullied me. The school actually refused to change my name with the excuse “you’ll just get bullied more”, instead of actually sorting out the bullying problem in the school. When I finally was able to change my name (after many meetings of which teachers made me cry from their deliberate attempts to not help me), it was told to me and my parents that there was a whole staff meeting on my behalf, updating every single teacher on my name change. However, when I was going away on a trip (to France for art GCSE), my mum wanted to talk to the Head Teacher about rooms and where I would be sleeping. Obviously we thought due to the staff being informed and the role of a head teacher needing to know updates about the students, that that meant she would understand the situation. But no. She misgendered me, didn’t know my name, didn’t even know the situation. It was such a disgusting and disappointing thing to experience as a young teenager who was struggling in school, to witness your Head Teacher actively not caring about you or taking the time out of her very unbusy day to actually learn about her students.

This school was the worst experience of my life, leading me to actually attempting to end my life. Again, no actual help apart from me being taken to the toilets by a teacher (usually one that didn’t get on with me or I felt uncomfortable with), and this just resulted in more bullying. If I was a teacher and a student displayed suicidal tendencies, I would step in. Obviously this isn’t a goal at RTS, because I was completely discarded and pushed aside by the staff, labeled as a problem child.

Also (I thought I was finish with my review but there’s something else) when I was in year 9 (13-14 years old) I was assaulted in class. One of the boys in my class touched me inappropriately in front of the entire class, claiming that he did it because I look like a boy. The whole class laughed, I ended up crying and walking out, the teacher did nothing. I told the school about it and for some reason, that result was me and this boy sitting in a classroom together to apologize to EACH OTHER.

Anyway I hate this school. It’s definitely going ti get closed down in the next five years. One of the years lost 30 students due to the all moving schools within their first term. It’s that bad.

Extremely expensive school. My son has been bullied since starting year 7 he's now year 9 nearly year 10 and still has the same issues. He's autistic and doesn't get listened to as a normal student everytime he tries to report the bullying he is being called oversensitive. Duke of Edinburgh is now mandatory meaning the parents are now lumbered with all thr kit costs and the travel costs. There is no changing rooms so kid have to wear their smelly pe kit all day if they have pe first thing. There have been 4 trips my son has been invited on to help him with his gcses all of which cost upwards of £1200 being a single parent there's no way I could afford that even if it's subsided there just no way.

In my opinion, RTS falls short in several key areas, particularly in providing adequate support for children who require additional assistance. The school's mental health support is notably lacking, leaving students without the necessary resources to cope with their challenges effectively.

Communication with staff is a significant issue, with direct correspondence often neglected or forgotten, leading to frustration among students, parents, and guardians. This lack of responsiveness creates an environment of uncertainty and adds unnecessary stress to an already demanding academic setting.

The enforcement of school policies could be criticised for its excessive strictness, bordering on military discipline for minor student infractions. This rigid approach lacks flexibility and fails to consider individual circumstances on a case-by-case basis, leading to a sense of unfairness among the student body.

Classroom conditions at RTS leave much to be desired, often with small, cramped rooms and inadequate natural light in some instances. These subpar learning environments can negatively impact student focus and well-being, hindering academic progress.

The management is a glaring issue, with a noticeable lack of effective leadership and organisation. The high turnover rate of students mid-term suggests underlying problems within the school's administration that need to be addressed urgently.

In summary, RTS faces significant challenges in providing adequate support for students, maintaining effective communication channels, enforcing policies fairly, providing suitable learning environments, and managing its operations efficiently. These shortcomings highlight the need for comprehensive reforms to ensure a positive and conducive educational experience for all students.

Our experience of this school has been very disappointing, despite trying so hard to be engaged and supportive. The management is terrible I’m afraid, and the approach to teaching is lazy and ineffective. The sports department do very little to encourage a range of teams and borough fixtures, the science department doesn’t offer any practical work in classes, and cookery classes involve watching master chef instead of actually cooking. The school don’t seem equipped to pick up on failing students and put measures in place. There doesn’t seem to be any quality control or general overview going on. The school provides iPads (at cost to parent) which the students use to play games on during lessons. I have had 2 sons at the school and the same issues have applied to both. I have recently been able to move my younger son to another school and the stark difference is astounding! I know RTS wasn’t great, but now being at a ‘proper’ school, I see that it was even worse than i feared. Do also look at their exam results (not as the school presents them, but as the council lists them) and you will see that they are in high negative numbers for value added, meaning students actually go backwards at this school!

most of the teachers were lovely however their lack of communication is astounding and they are clearly very unorganised. favouritism is employed and overused which makes their motto “excellence through endeavour” that more ironic as they themselves create the endeavour, not the excellence