Chesterton Community College - Cambridge

apii

im a parent from a student in this school... This school is terrible, students asking for books for a while now and members of staff shrugging off like its nothing while my daughter has been around with paper for about 10 lesson worth. Not to talk about the lack of the member of staff, which repeatedly meant that students in the corridors at break time and lunch time arent supervised which led to several acts of bullying and students ending up injured in school hours! The members of the isolation room have to chill down... they are over- aggressive with young minors (while they are about 60) This is just not good enough...
It’s incredibly frustrating to see young students lose motivation and confidence because of poor teaching methods and a dismissive attitude. A teacher should be someone students feel safe approaching, but that is absolutely not the case here. OUR KIDS DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS CONCENTRATION CAMP

PS:
Students searching up absolutely inappropiate content on their ipad while the school talks about "safe browsing on school ipads
" (we are talking about pornography)

Kizzia S.

I was a student there and had a such a horrible time. They would do absolutely nothing for bullying, heavy favouritism, judge you if you have any type of needs and homophobic.

I was extremely sick when I was about 14, I was projectile vomiting every day for hours on end. My mum gave them assess to my medical records so they could see I was going to the doctors and getting a lot of tests. So they took my mum to court.

In year 11 a girl is year 8 had a crush on me, I had no idea at this time. She was telling everyone we were together. When I finally found out I very much avoided this girl but she would try her best to follow and stay in my friend group even after we asked her to leave. She came to me online saying she’s bisexual and is very confused so I say her due to her age please don’t get up to anything bad. Yeah have a girlfriend but probably don’t go any further than simple kiss as she can’t protect herself yet. She had also gone into detail about abuse with her parents so I ended up showing the school my messages being worried about her. Her mum ended up reading these messages after being informed of my report. The girls mother had then said she knew my address and would fight me and make an example of people like me and coming out with homophobic slurs. The school had then decided despite me showing everything and me trying my best to avoid the girl I was the one in trouble and if I did one more bad thing I was expelled or I could chose to go to a different school what was at the time called tbsp academy. Let’s just say I chose to transfer over to tbap and to this day I do not regret doing so. That school had showed me how stuff is actually run properly and how badly I was treated at Chesterton.

So basically if your kid is part of the lgbt, has disabilities or even just a hard time learning please don’t send them here. I’m not the only person who’s suffered from homophobia and discrimination for disabilities from this school and far from the last. I even bumped into a old teacher from back then and she had admitted she was also shamed for being part of the lgbt by her fellow teachers but nothing was ever done

Harold L.

The sixth form is really good, the size of the class is small so easier to focus on lesson. Student behaviour and quality of teaching is outstanding . Professional Card given as well, Lots of enrichment opportunities (e.g Kenya trip and Gold Dofe)

The common room is very cozy, got sofa, beanbags etc

Apollo ?. H.

Teachers are mostly wonderful and good teachers but with a select few who shouldn’t be teaching anymore.
The pastoral care is awful, with one teacher asking people to “promise to her” not to relapse in self harm.
Similarly the numbers are often deemed more important than the students. I struggled with my health during yr11 and was once forced to go back to lesson In excruciating pain and nausea by someone who didn’t even come see me. All because my health had reduced my attendance.
As well as this the pressure to excel in all lessons is unsustainable and leaves you with a constant need to overachieve down the line.
Otherwise the inclusivity is incredible based on a couple teachers hard work as well as pretty good teachers.

Rhiannon

As an ex-pupil (2013-2018) the teaching I received at Chesterton was amazing and I had a generally happy 5 years there, leaving with 11 GCSEs at a high grade. However the pressure directed on us from the senior management had a serious detrimental effect on the mental health of myself and others in my year (myself and many of my friends ended up seeing therapists or on SSRI's because of this). We were constantly pushed and told that whatever we did, it could be better by a small section of the senior management (e.g. a 7 in chemistry constituted extra holiday work because a computer algorithm told them I was capable of getting an 8).

Much happier and more confident in myself since moving onto sixth form elsewhere.

Update: 17/12/2020
I've just finished my first term at Cambridge University and can safely say the environment here (during a global pandemic) is much less stressful than sitting GCSEs at Chesterton. I think that says everything about the senior leadership!

Doris W.

Excellent teachers who are really dedicated to their students’ welfare. I am so glad my daughter didn’t go to Hills Road. Hills Road enrolment team were cold and unhelpful but my daughter received such care and help at Chesterton Sixth Form College. I am forever indebted to Mr Mepham and Mr Bowles for their love and care over the last 2 years. I would strongly recommend Chesterton Sixth Form College to all parents and students!

Sihem B.

Fabulous teachers, games and lots of work good for students

Bahar S. A.

Very down to earth and supportive of new teachers. Highly academic headteacher and members of staff open to new ideas. Very diverse set of students from various academic, socio-economic and ethnic background, but the school has put so many interesting provisions in place to ensure inclusion and they are very adaptive, creative and flexible policy-wise!