Burntwood School

"TERRIBLE. DO NOT GO TO. MANY PEOPLE ARE OPENLY MADE FUN OF AND NO ONE DOES ANYTHING. the teachers r rlly bad and dont help, and teach like u should alr know what ur doing."

"This school has caused nothing but harm and trauma to young students, constantly trying to ignore the issues they cause caused. For 1) My daughter is a student here and now has a fear of going in due to the constant fights and mistreatment from teachers. 2) The students are constantly spoken down on and do not handle violence in a professional manner i.e telling students to ignore any problems within the school rather than to find a solution and provide help. These are young students who get sent here to progress in their education but they cause nothing but trauma and damage to students self-esteem, mental health and education."

"Academy status schools are appalling. Return them to Borough control."

"First week at burntwood school year 7. Not impressed with lack of communication and in fact lack of knowledge by the head of school. She didn’t know the bare basics with school facilities, she looked puzzled and was unhelpful just said to ask the department. I would expect the head of school to be aware of this."

"I attended this school from year 7 to year 13. Before it became an academy, it was okay. But after it became an academy it all went downhill. This school is a business (an unsuccessful one) and not a place for quality education. The main problem with this school is the teachers. Ever since it became an academy it hires the poorest teachers. The teachers have no passion in their subjects, you can tell they hate their jobs and the few that do have passion and are great teachers are treated badly by the students or are loved by the students but deserve to be teaching at a better school. There is inequality in teaching staff. The Heads and YCC and anyone senior is white, if you're not white you will not get any promotion. This is not my opinion, this is what a teacher who has now left, said to me. Secondly, the food and treatment of students regarding food is horrible. Some days I would be so hungry, I would get to the sixth form cafe and all they would give me is a single piece of chicken for around £3 if I recall correctly. I would have to purchase a whole new meal which I couldn't afford- even then I would be starving. Aside from the portions, the quality of the food went done severely since they switched to that appalling new brand, I don't remember the name. They switched after it became an academy. Also, when the weather is bad, extremely cold, rain, wind and even snow, you are not allowed to enter the cafeteria for shelter and warmth unless you purchase their food. You have to stand out in the cold and rain and snow. Rarely, if the weather was very bad, they would let us sit inside in the hallways. And if you do purchase the food, you have 15 minutes to finish it and leave and stand in the cold. Thirdly, they never ever shut down the school. In 2015 or 2016 they had at least 2 BOMB threats and even then they made us come into school. All we did was stand at the back of the field, how will that help us?? For one week in 2013 or 2014 none of the boards were working and they still made us come in and we would sit in class and do nothing. Another time, the heaters were broken and there was no running water or no warm water and they still made us come in. Fourthly, they are very active in LGBTQ+ acceptance but do nothing in regards to other problems. My white history teacher once said the n-word at least 2 times in one class claiming that its okay to say it. I personally suffered from mental health issues but was dismissed, but my LGBTQ+ classmates were favoured and seen as victims by the teachers. The list goes on, the students have fights on the daily, the PE teachers have sticks up their bums, I rarely ever saw the headteacher, the teachers didn't have a connection with the students, they didnt provide sufficient extra learning support, my sister tells me that they dont allow the use of toilets anymore. There is one redeeming quality of this school, the buildings and the facilities. All good teachers, leave- you deserve better. All parents of year 6 children, do not send them here."