The Henley College

I spent 2 years studying here and it really does only deserve 3 stars. Whilst there are some dedicated members of staff who really do care about teaching, the majority have been worn down to uncaring shells of their former selves due to the relentless stream of awful students.

I did a level 3 BTEC in IT, and my overall grade was negatively impacted in part due to other students becoming a distraction, but also because 3 of the 5 teachers I had weren't particularly engaging or even friendly. However I did have a good time here, and managed to earn a decent qualification, as well as becoming a more sociable person.

I am a current student at The Henley College. I have just completed my first year doing geography, philosophy and environmental science A levels. I have had a great experience so far as my teachers are good and supportive. I came from a school where you were spoonfed everything but Henley College gives you the independence, help and time for you to grow. It's a great stepping stone to university. I myself am applying to Cambridge and various Russell Group universities which I would not have considered doing before I came here. Student services are excellent and will will help you with anything you need as will the careers advisor. There are many enrichment opportunies and talks if you choose to participate. If you want to improve something at college you can as the adults will treat you like adults and not like children. I thoroughly reccomend applying here it has been a great experience.

I did BTEC IT here and it was awful, don't waste your time with it. 2 of our 4 teachers were useless and didn't know a thing about the subject.

One of the 2 teachers was particularly bad and would often shout at the class over minor things, or would voice moronic opinions to his students for no apparent reason, and would often spend inordinate amounts of time talking to the class about things completely irrelevant to the subject.

I completed my level 2 childcare course at this college in 2015. It was one of the best years of my life. The teachers and staff are amazing and I made such a wonderful group of friends. I particularly loved spending my free periods in the canteen, the food was always great. It’s very well run. The teacher I had on my course, I believe her name was Tracy was absolutely fantastic. She did a great job at supporting me, I don’t think I’d of passed my course without her help. Highly recommend for anyone needing an NVQ or A levels.

As someone who studied through Henley college I can not advise against this school enough. In short, the faculty were rude, unhelpful and outright volatile toward myself. If you want the best from an institution that can support and help you find further education or potential work placements, this is NOT the place to go to.
I attended Henley college a while ago and only continued to study further at University recieving a BA in business marketing and management. When I attended this school I was originally quite introverted and shy. I wasn't the most social person but I had friends who followed from secondary school.
Within my second term of first year I began struggling with severe anxiety and depression. I wasn't in a good place, but I remember the college counsellor being helpful, attempting to guide me through speaking to my family about my mental health. Unfortunately I still struggled to open up to anyone, including my girlfriend, friends and family, mainly from my own self-esteem/embarrassment of the situation. Eventually I struggled attending college but actively made the effort to complete my first year.
I didn't receive the grades I was hoping for and upon attending a meeting with my mum about either retaking the year or switching courses the psychology tutor reviewing my situation told me to "take things seriously" and "stop letting my mum down". She made an effort to suggest I "found the situation funny". However at this point in my life I was heavily depressed, attending a GP privately for antidepressants and struggling to see a positive outlook on life. Furthermore, I wasn't allowed to redo 2 of my courses as the teachers refused to have me repeat the year. So was switched to a btec course and felt my life was continuing to fall apart.
By second year I had withdrawn completely from everyone around me and was now being verbally abused by a former friend. During the second term I was pulled out of class by a head of house and told to "stop harassing" this individual despite having no contact with them, and barely socialising with anyone of my friends for the past 3 months. I was made to feel like a pariah who avoided everyone but could somehow still harass others. I made the head of house aware of the situation but was still told what I was doing wasn't right and was dismissed after a scolding from someone who I can politely describe as severely ill-informed. To this day I do not know if there were repercussions for that individual but if I had to guess I'd say no, as I still received verbal abuse a few week later.
Shortly after this I dropped out of Henley college and after a few months of private counselling I attended a different six-form, who assisted me with my UCAS and supported me in attended a university within the top 10 for business marketing in the UK.
The memorises I have from this place are mainly negative ones with the exception of the school counsellor. I reached some incredibly low points in my life while attending this institute and the faculty made fit to exacerbate the situation. If you are thinking of applying to this college do so at your own risk. Upon being accepted by another college and a university outside of this place's influence, I can see the standard of this place is completely unacceptable for individuals facing mental health issues and struggling with work loads.
I wrote this review because to this day the place still haunts me and I wish I did not attend it.

There are much better places to do BTEC IT, I had a "2 week sub teacher" for my whole 2 years here that was severely underqualified for the job he had been given. To quote him "I don't care if you learn things or not, I get paid either way" - he was also incredibly unprofessional and rude towards someone's belief at one time stating "where is the proof that god exists?" - I wish I was making this up. My other teachers aren't as bad but still severely underqualified and struggle at engaging the class. Other classes may be fine and this teacher I have mentioned teaches other courses with similar issues regarding competence.

Awful teachers (BTEC IT), Nothing ever got sorted. Had to self teach myself basically everything. Even though we complained about our teacher repeatedly nothing ever happened and nothing changed. So lucky i left early, woudnt recommend to anyone with more than 1 brain cell.

Terrible. Heads of department and tutors who do the bare minimum. Change is always promised when concerns are made but there are never any visible or meaningful changes from a student's perspective.

Subject tutors are much worse however, work is usually not marked or marked inaccurately when it is. Lessons tend to drag and the teaching (if you can call it that) is inadequate at best with most lessons consisting of endless shouting and tutors googling for answers or solutions. Certain tutors tend to be condescending and disrespectful when talking to students, notably demanding a student "proves that god exists" whilst overhearing a private conversation regarding the Quran during an IT class.

All in all a badly run and organised college a waste of two years of your life. I cannot stress this enough DO NOT GO TO THIS COLLEGE.