Torquay Girls Grammar School

Alright school. As a student I definitely like the school and the majority of teachers are quite nice. The only problem I have is how obvious the school is about “looking” the best. Holding fundraisers, activities and many other things to make the school look pleasing when in reality it’s not. It’s mentality draining and students often feel targeted by members of staff often for uniform. Verbal abuse is not new either many teachers slander students for bad grades and teachers often are blunt and rude and show very little respect for students even though we students provide so much for the school. When I first got in it was drilled into my head how much of an excellent school TGGS was and how exceptional it is, I don’t believe it is anymore, the building are small and we don’t have nearly as many benefits as TBGS does. The stress on students is also quite extreme, I have witnessed many of my friends become distraught over grades including myself, many students depend on the grades they receive, and we don’t have a lot of fun activities like other schools such as activity weeks. Near last week of school I had a test. The foods not amazing. And the school isn’t very organised a lot of news comes to students late and that is often annoying and there are a lot of loose ties in subjects and staff such as lousy form tutors and lessons not being covered. Overall I like the school mainly because of my friends but it definitely has its issues like other schools do. It is most definitely not a perfect school.

TGGS is a good school for any student that just wants to learn and pursue academically, however any student with learning difficulties e.g. Autism and ADHD, can find it hard to learn in the schools environment, due to the teachers lack of empathy and support. The bullying happens often and even when reported isn’t usually solved, the school doesn’t allow students to express themselves or even have lunchtimes to themselves, students are shamed for not taking part in events or raising enough money for charity, if students aren’t academically gifted with high grades, they are pushed to the side and not helped at all, they aren’t rewarded for taking part in any events or their enthusiasm for lessons, as the teachers never actually get to know their students and usually just choose those with the highest grades for rewards for enthusiasm even if they have no care for the subjects. The teachers don’t listen to the students and can be rude and unkind to them without fully understanding the situation, making a large rift between teachers and students. The schools food is good however it’s all very generic and uninteresting, the canteen is small and stuffy and loud with not enough tables for students, and the queue for food takes up half of the students break time. Many students I talked to shared their disapproval with the school. The school doesn’t allow badges on blazers and takes away from the students individuality, even complaining about socks being “not black enough” even though it makes no difference to the learning. Overall, Torquay girls needs to pull itself together as right now it’s a shambles of a school, with vaping teens and bad teachers. If you want to only pursue academically this school is great, if you have any learning difficulties or your just a social person, don’t go here.

The school puts a lot of emphasis on grades, which is kind of a double edged sword. On the one hand, it means there’s lots of support available to help you be the absolute best you can be and the schools results show that. On the other hand, it does mean that your anxieties surrounding exams are much higher. There’s lots of great opportunities surrounding clubs, including non-sporting clubs although the sports program is excellent. There’s social clubs that are excellent, diversity groups to try and help the school do the best it can for its students and just fun ones for if you want to take up a hobby. The environment prepares you for a very specific type of career: if your focus is on achieving a good academic career in law for example the school sets you up really well for that. It doesn’t have particularly good resources surrounding the arts or sport if that’s where your focus lies. Socially, I’ve never found the single sex aspect to be particularly difficult and I know that’s what a lot of people worry about going in. If I had one complaint, it’s that the teachers hover too much when the students have even the smallest disagreement. It makes it difficult to resolve stuff in such a way that you don’t burn bridges. It also means that you’d parents get contacted over every little argument. Overall, I love my school. They provide good opportunities and the support their students as well as could be hoped for a school. I think that, especially when considering other schools in the area, my school is about as good as could be hoped.

terrible support for mental health and learning disabilities, they care more about the uniform policy than the students wellbeing. i had a lot of problems with a girl in my first year there (bullying, death threats, blackmailing and physical as well as sexual abuse) when i decided to speak to the school about it they made me write an apology letter to my bully (because apparently the stress of reporting her triggered her seizures) i was made to rewrite the same letter 3 times because i was told it sounded too passive aggressive. most the girls there are very gossipy, when a student reported me for self harm i was told i had to roll my sleeves up so that my old head of year could look (she also tried taking my helix piercing out without my permission) there’s so much drama that is just overlooked, the rules are ridiculous and my grades and mental health got so much worse during my time there.

Really good school, teachers are lovely and other students are welcoming and supportive.

You get the same level of education at a normal school, I only stayed cause I made good friends. Lots of bad behaviour (gossiping, bullying etc) that is turned a blind eye to. Despite this, you still achieve alright grades in the end so not entirely bad

Expects very high standards and puts a lot of pressure on for good grades but overall very good school

Very friendly and welcoming