The Derby High School - your views/experiences please (and other Bury Schools)

[Jcbmgb]

I've lived in Bury all my life and seen the reputations of the local secondary schools change from bad to good to bad to good etc over the years.

For the past 5 yrs it seems that the reputation of Derby has been poor with many people telling me that standards of behaviour and bullying being the main concern, as we are in the catchment area for Derby this has obviously worried us.

However, Derby has an outstanding Ofsted report and we have looked round the school and were very impressed (although I did see some different incidents of unruly behaviour which considering it was open day and kids are usually trying to show themselves at their 'best' was a bit of a worry)

I really liked the staff and felt the resources were excellent but I do have some niggles of concern, I spoke directly to some kids about behaviour and bullying and got the feeling they were perhaps putting a 'gloss' on the issue, they were saying positive things but something didnt quite 'fit' in what they were saying.

I also keep hearing 'stories' from many different people which go along the lines of.....' I have a friend who works/worked there and they said they would never send their own kids there and told me not to'

So I'm trying to find a balanced review of the school from parents who have or have had children there or who may have attended the school themselves in the last 10 yrs.

I know all schools have bullies and all schools have kids who are disruptive, I'm more interested in how these issues are dealt with and how children with shy, gentle dispositions ( never in trouble at Primary) might get on in this school.

If you have any comments about other Bury High Schools I'd really be grateful to hear those too as we are currently trying to identify a secondary school for our Yr 6 dc.

Many Thanks

[jill666]

good luck with that ds just started little lever i was convinced this was the right school cause of the anit bullying no mobiles etc seemed really strict on the uniform has 2 b this that n the other etc etc now im not so sure but ds loves it lol