The Sixth Form College Farnborough

Overall, my time here was a real mixed bag. I thoroughly enjoyed Biology and had a fantastic teacher. Geography could be a bit dry at times, but the teaching staff were consistently kind and approachable.

Unfortunately, my experience was severely undermined by the Chemistry department. The teaching approach relied heavily on students self-teaching complex content prior to lessons only to be tested on it, with very little effective support when asking for help. The environment felt unsupportive—to the point where receiving test results was extremely stressful, and personal distress was publicly pointed out in front of the class rather than handled with empathy. Clear favoritism was present, and I felt targeted.

While I was offered additional learning support from another member of staff, having those private sessions reported back to my main subject teacher defeated the purpose and felt like a breach of trust.

To put the academic impact into perspective: despite never actually scoring a U, I was predicted a U in Chemistry here so asked to drop the course. After transferring to a different college with a supportive teacher, my predicted grade jumped to an A.

If you thrive in self-directed study and don't need strong pastoral or academic guidance in Chemistry, you might be fine—but I personally had to leave to get the education and support I needed