St Albans Girls' School

Currently the weather outside is -5, a large amount of schools around Hertfordshire are shut down, due to safety reasons and continuous snowfall forecast throughout the day. Students at STAGS are unfortunately being told to remove layers (thermal jumpers), scarves and coats due to not conforming with the schools uniform policies. Plus, other schools, who are open, have informed students saying that they are allowed to attend to school in warm appropriate clothing - not uniform.

Additionally, the heating in majority of the classrooms is broken , yet students have been getting consequences for wearing either an under layer or a scarf because of the extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, students have been late to school due to the high traffic conditions, yet they have been given late detentions and teachers haven't shown care or understanding. Overall, this shows that this school cares more about the image of their students rather than their mental health + well being.

I honestly do not recommend that you send your daughter to this school, my parents both thought it would be good because it has excellent gcse results and it is ofsted outstanding. In year 7 & 8 I struggled with a few minor mental health problems and got no support from the student support team, despite going for help numerous times. In year 10 my mental health dropped to a dangerous level, (Which may not of happened if I got the support that I needed), I took several months off of school but was pressured into going in for 1 lesson a day. I had a meeting with the KS4 support leader and got no help from it, the support leader tried to cover it up with bizzare reasons such as hearing and eye sight. I got mocked for taking time off school for quote, “being too soft,”. They demanded a doctors note, which by the way costs £15 to get, to state why I was off, despite already having two meetings with me about the reasoning, once I gave them the doctors note they didn’t have any interest in it at all.

In the aspects of learning, it is decent enough, but if you get put in lower sets the teaching is very poor and most teachers can not control the class. I complained about distractions in my classes multiple times but got nothing done about it.

This school pushes students to the extreme, which is why a lot of students suffer from anxiety and depression caused by stress.

The key focus in this school is apperance and grading, they do not focus on the wellbeing of students, which in the long run could also help with higher grades, (if they did focus on wellbeing).

Please do not send your child here, I am now suffering from multiple mental illnesses induced by this stuck up, stressful school.

Ps,

I have now decided to leave the school and am a lot happier because of it.

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