The Westgate School

The school appears great from the outside and has overall high grades for GCSE. However, as a student who has been attending this school since reception (2016) to currently year 9 (2026), I have a number of issues that are in urgent need of fixing here. Firstly, bullying is not taken seriously enough; the school has made a point that bullying is not acceptable but without leading by action it has not and will not change. I have personal experience with bullying related to homophobia of which I reported to receive no support or action. Moreover, I find it is the 'troublesome' students who get all the support in an attempt to get them to no longer be a bother to senior staff, as a student in all top sets and has had no detentions I feel I am ignored and left behind without a second thought, personally I have a history of 'timidness' and often find staff forget I'm even in their class and do not try to understand or make things more accessible to people who learn differently. Teachers, while I understand they have a difficult job and have their own responsibilities too, seem to have no care for their students beyond their behaviour and do not make any attempt to support (instead choosing to yell often escalating the situation) with the exception of only a couple. Furthermore, Mental health is not at all tackled properly, an example of this is one of the major support teachers holding the belief self harm is purely for attention, often people are left feeling forgotten after attempts to get help or unable to ask for any support. The school has attempted to portray themselves as in complete support of the protected characteristics but I do not believe they are, a few years ago there was a club called the GSA (for a lgbtqia+ safe space) which was closed down with little explanation, as a prefect applicant and member of this community I had attempted to reopen this and had many conversations with a teacher who agreed this space was vital just to be shut down being told it was 'too political' and this is just one example. Also, the standards here are placed too high and many students with very high potential end up feeling burnt out and no longer are able to succeed like expected.
There is very little community here something needs to be done.

This school is ass, I got an isolation for not going the one way system, suspended when I stood up to a bully, frequently got in trouble for standing up for others, most teachers are mean and won't even let you talk. I do like the school trips but that's about it

This school looks good from the outside but in actual fact it’s hell to attend. I’m a year 10 student and have been attending since year 7 and I truly believe that I have learned more life skills from tik tok that this shit show of a school. In the 4 year I have been here my mental health has gone from a 10 to a 2. 90% of teachers cannot control their class and on many occasions it feels like they don’t even know about what they are teaching. The PE teachers are the worst though. They are thoughtless unoriginal and judgmental morons. Also it honestly feels like sometimes this school cares more about the uniform policy than our education. I missed half of one of my lessons today as I had forgotten to wear my jumper and therefore they felt it was appropriate for me to go on a wild goose chase to find a disgusting old jumper that was so big it went down to my mid thigh from the bottom of the lost and found box. And don’t even get me started on the school lunches. It’s going to cost you £3.20 for a half cooked stale panini or you can get 2oz of mushy fruit for £1. It’s over priced, badly prepared and on the most part, incredibly unhealthy. Another time a teacher had been incredibly inappropriate to a group of me and my friends so we filed a sexual harassment report, and after a 3 week investigation nothing had been done except them violating our privacy by telling the teacher we reported him and he had been let of with a warning. I am unfortunately still in his class and I feel as if I not only have a creepy teacher but now he also has a negative bias towards me that seems to be affecting my grades. We are not the first people that have reported this teacher specifically for similar incidents yet the school does nothing despite there obviously being a problem. Seriously don’t go to this school.