Northampton School for Boys

"I luuve the schoooll sooo muche because the help me so much luvee drinking alcohol with me mate and that is why teachers incourage this so good job! Luve the hedtecher he makes the studenns smarrt and make ggood d spelling so God really gooodd"

"I attended this school as a student from around 2010. I joined this school with a diagnosis of ADHD and Autism. I am now 24 and finally understanding what it was I was going through at school. I had been stuck in a pattern of behaviour that, in hindsight, should've been immediately noticed, especially due to my close contact with the SEN team. 12 years later I am finally able to understand and make progress. My opinions and requests were regularly ignored and I was forced into a cookie cutter plan. This involved forcing me to sit with an assistant in class, which made me a prime target for bullying. I regularly brought this up and made it incredibly clear that I did not want or require it, and the effect it was causing. No efforts were made to understand or improve my mental health issues. Instead I was regularly moves to "isolation". A small room where students could be put out of the way and forgotten about. From the get go I was relentlessly bullied. This has had ongoing effects on my confidence and mental health and has had lasting repercussions in my life. The year I left this school Rod Goldswain had been made acting Head Teacher. This was a change, but for me, not pleasant. This man is incredibly proud, and not on the positive way. He came across as much more interested in the schools and his outward facing image than he was in the underlying problems in the school. He made it his mission to have anyone deemed a "problem" removed from the school and often had a less than professional relationship with his students, where he would show favouritism to those who actively made the school look better, whilst holding long lasting grudges against those who crossed him. To have such thin skin and fragile ego is not a good quality, especially when working with teenage boys."

"I went here when I was a teenager. The bullying situation got so bad for me that even a couple of the teachers took to ripping on me. Nothing was ever done about it. The school produces good grades, but that's because they'll do their best to filter out anyone they don't think will perform well in the first instance. I was also forced to take extra curricular activities I didn't want to take and was given detention when I didn't attend them. Any decent parent wouldn't even consider it an option if they knew what it was like on the inside."

"Let me think... academic wise the school excels in that field if you're ready and willing to be taught you will get the results you strive for. Be humble. Per my experience there in regards to bullying that sort of things will only stop if you actively go and ask your form tutor on what you can do and where to go to get it dealt with. If it's a thing you've noticed early on deal with it early on. Be observant. Honestly none of the teachers are bad at teaching but they all do have their individual quirks when teaching; some might over explain and go off on different tangents unrelated to the lesson, some might not explain enough what you need to do. They're all humans so feel free to like certain teachers more than others just keep your rebuke about them to yourselves and let the lessons go on, stopping the lesson hurts everyone. Be patient. Female students (sixth formers) and teachers, guys they're here to teach/learn don't treat them any differently to how you'd treat other male peers and teachers. It's unnecessary and in the outside world shocking as it may seem there are two genders and if you can't coexist in the school, in a relatively controlled environment, I sincerely wish you luck in the real world where there is the LGBTQ+ community and other races. Be respectful. Having borderline respect toward everyone in the school and outside the school takes you a long way, cliché as it may be, you might not realise that now but in the future honestly you will be thankful. Also if you start in year seven....it's an unspoken rule to just pick on you down to the slightest thing. All in good fun you get your turn. Have fun. Make mistakes. Learn from them."

"This school has high standard's of teaching. High expectations of pupils and staff, strict rules on uniform. In return pupils who wish to learn can do really well here. Facilities are outstanding with in house gym,swimming pool, dance studio, huge playing fields, and a fully fitted theater. Well oversubscribed so get your child's name registered early."