Whitchurch High School

It's ok tbh just some really weird and low-key gross people attending this school can't lie and they're usually the 'popular' kids.

I had a very bad experience with this school. I dealt with things that no teenage should of in school. Had many teacher bully me for years and I have spoken to generations of people who have experienced the same with the same department of teachers. The school mentally destroyed me and when I explained to them how I was feeling they laughed it my face.

This school is appalling, I fought long and hard to get my girls to get here and now they’re being discriminated against BY TEACHERS for expressing themselves? One of my girls has a nose piercing which has been told to be taken out despite being told repeatedly from me at home that it is not healed yet. This is working her up and she’s refusing to go to school!!! My other girl has dark red hair (natural) and has been told by a ginger man to dye it or shave it off? This is not only rude but extremely hypocritical as he is also a redhead. Don’t hate!! You don’t know what my girls have been through, in and out of different houses and as they finally settle in our now home of whitchurch in cardiff have been rudely spoken to and mistreated. FIX IT😡

Disgusting school. The teachers have zero respect for the students. My child and multiple others were made to change their NATURAL hair colours because they weren’t seen as fitting to the school. I am appalled at this and will NOT be allowing the school to get away with this.

it's sht, to say the least. wellbeing department is amazing but everything else isn't. if you get picked on, some aspect of it is always your fault, whether you're defending yourself or you give someone a taste of their own medicine.
they only care about doing anything if you're
popular
pretty
good shape
charmable

not to mention how cruel everyone was when i started year 7. everyone picked on me because i was fat, ugly and my hair was greasy (it was always greasy) and i lived through hell every single day. my grades were also pretty sht because most teachers suck at their job, and stress.
it was sht until lockdown anyway, then life started to improve drastically.

the kids are horrible. if you're not the things i mentioned above then they can and will talk sht behind your back. then they take the pisss when they're talking to you. you're just a part of their funny joke and it honestly sucked.

Now life is much better because my greasy hair finally stopped being greasy 24/7, i wear skirts now, i'm still fat but i'm better than i used to be, i finally got friends and people don't pick on me as much anymore. but THAT'S only because I got a slight glow up. teachers treat me better but defending yourself is still punishable.

kids here are cruel yall so if you want to send your kid, consider a different school. ESPECIALLY if they're a race other than white. and if they're unattractive, incredibly smart or stupid, and part of lgbtq+.

they also load you with work and extra studying (6 hours 20 mins still not enough for you lot? look at finland they barely spend time in school yet they have the best education).

thanks for reading this ig enjoy ur day

quick edit: also some teacher drop their pens and ask you to pick it up in order to look under your skirt. it's disgusting.

*Qutibah and my point still stands bruv mans bent wallah

The school is alright. However, some students are too werid. For example a male student in year 11 said he beat off to most the girls instagram pages and then to make it worse went around screaming he never and his friends all saying he did. Also teachers do let the females off many more stuff.

I wake up dreading going to school most days, they either overload you with work and homework or a few quite frankly have given up to the point where they do not insist on anything being done. They let the badly behaved kids get away with it and then pick on the good kids for the tiniest of mistakes such as turning around to pick something up yet the bad kids are yelling and being dreadful. Few teachers are actually nice most go out of their way to make you dread school and lesson. Teachers WILL refuse to let you go to the toilet (I've witnessed this even causes accidents) they only care if you are popular.

seriously if you aren't into sports they will either hate of ignore you existance. if you once played a flute 3 years ago the music department will rope you into lessons, choir orchestras ect. seriously do not mention you have ever played an instrument.
Pastoral only care if you are popular, otherwise no help for you. They don't try to help anxiety and depression and accuse victims of bullying and harassment of being the ones to blame . seriously i go to bed wishing i could either never wake again or wake in a different reality. Teachers are also dreadful with giving feedback back most wont ever take in books , one english teacher took in our books for 3 months we had to write on paper sheets which they would often loose.
this school lacks support for anyone who isn't into sports or is popular, they dont fix whats broken the will just take away parts and leave behind cut pipes and tubes like they did to the few fountains , in the lower site there is only 1 water fountain and it is in the boys toilets corridor and it reeks, im not even surprised though considering we talking about a school that only hires children hating teachers, multiple which have made sexual attempts at young students, even doing the pick up my pen and look under her skirt thing it is not ok.
sexism homophobia transphobia racism harassment are tolerated and even done by some teachers

Pretty good school. Facilities are good with a fully new science block being built. The PE department does get a lot of funding, and attention but I feel for those not that interested in sports don’t get engaged as much with PE related activities - which is to be expected.

IT resources and digital skills are great with fast computers and a reliable network and internet connection which is also very fast. Also the online resources are very good with lots of digital revision guides and very good in-house workbooks all available online via the school Office 365 account, remote access to the school network via RM Portico, and also on the school website.

I feel I am respected by my teachers and associated staff, and I also respect them. This allows lessons to be much more fun and relaxed with teachers having good relationships with pupils.

Thankfully their extremely strict uniform policy has been toned down slightly and the changes that have been made have been positive (allowing shorts, blazer becoming optional).

The pastoral support and wellbeing is pretty good. They’ve sorted any issues I’ve had but a very small number of support staff (1 or 2) can be judgemental and not exactly too welcoming to more nervous people.

As I stated, PE grabs a lot of attention with the likes of Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and Geriant Thomas being the most accredited sporting alumni. However that doesn’t mean other subjects are ignored. For example, the Arts and Creative subjects have a couple annual events, Christmas Concerts, and smaller events like those in assemblies. Personally, I’m not a very athletic or arty person, but I am contempt with the subjects I do and am happy with my learning in them. (Coming from a straight A*/A student). An issue that has been raised is the male PE staff being sexist towards the female students. This doesn’t seem to be being resolved which is disappointing. It isn’t anything major but the odd comment or grouping if you will.

I found learning whilst at home to be positive - greatly improved from early 2020 with the use of interactive activities and good continued support throughout the lockdowns.

I do feel safe in the school with CCTV actively monitoring the site, secure gates on entrances, staff monitoring areas of the school site and a very nice environment in the middle of Whitchurch Village with lots of trees and green spaces. The school does have some environment initiatives such as the ‘ESDGC’ which is a group in the school dedicated to environmental sustainability and also many things such as a fully paperless mail system, Eco -friendly computers and also light sensors to reduce electricity consumption. There were also proposals to increase the schools estate of Solar Panels. Disappointingly the school doesn’t recycle (which seems a bit counter intuitive considering all of the promotion of Eco friendly projects) as apparently it costed too much to continue recycling.

There are a very wide variety of extra-curricular activities on offer varying from Art to Newspaper clubs and to various Sports training. I would also comment on the food on offer. Generally it is quite nice (slightly overpriced for what it is) and there’s a large variety of food on offer. However I wouldn’t exactly call it extremely healthy. Hot beverages are served which is nice but the vending machines seem to have been removed.

I do feel regularly challenged and the work is engaging and not just reading something off of a PowerPoint slide. Field trips in subjects are often (missed out on many due to Covid-19 but they are planned) good fun and even fieldwork around the school site is also positive. The GCSE options process was supportive with an open evening to speak directly with subject teachers to gage what subject was right for you.

I would say that most people are happy with the school, most people feel happy with teachers but those in lower sets may not get as high of a standard and may get overlooked. Lower school is most certainly different to Upper school, being a lot more relaxed and quiet in Upper, due to people being more mature and older. This works well as the transition from Year 6 was made very easy as you only start off with the younger years, and also then when in Upper, you don’t have those younger years disturbing important classes and exams. All in all, a pretty good school. If you/your child isn’t very loud and disruptive then they will not have any issues. I think if the school received more funding to match many other schools in Cardiff these few issues could be smoothed out.

To be honest this school can do better- their well-being department is fabulous but other departments are lacking. The sports department is obviously prioritised because they’d rather have an athletic star that a smart former student. In my opinion I cannot name one female athlete to come out of Whitchurch High School- and that is because in the lower school recreation centre (the rec) has 3 massive banners of male stars to come out of their school- yes I know Gareth bale, Sam Warburton and Geraint Thomas have succeeded but I’m sure there are people from other departments who deserve as much praise. They must do better

The school's focus in terms of praise and funding falls entirely on sport. Arts and academic subjects are not prioritised.
When it comes to bullying and discrimination, this school claims to have a zero tolerance policy but in fact seems to go out of its way to make things worse for the students seeking help. Incidents of harassment, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia are always dealt with poorly, only for the school to use minority kids as a photo opportunity for their "Diversity Week" on twitter.

I’m not just a pupil that automatically hates the school they attend just because they think they naturally have to. But I hate this school. I’m in the middle of my gcses so I can’t leave, other wise I would strongly consider. This statement that I will make probably can’t describe how bad the school actually is. Everyone here is depressed, not just because they are a teenager, but because they school environment is so bad. Dreading going back in September because it literally causes my depression.
The teachers obviously are just here because they are stuck in their chosen career root of becoming a teacher and are so miserable and misunderstanding to pupils. The conditions are poor, it seems like it hasn’t had work on since it was built.School should be an enjoyable environment, seeing as we all attend every day and not a place that makes you sad.My brother goes to a different high school and he is way happier and the school seems better even though they are the same type of school. All the work i just rushed(quality over quantity). I feel very isolated hear. There are a few nice teachers, most are women. Just not a very nice place to be, it honestly causes me stress just being there let alone work and other things. Can’t wait until I can leave next year and hopefully be in a better place.