Hurst Lodge School

[Hedgehogheart]

Hello. Any opinions on this school please near Blackwater. Just came across it and interested for my DS. Thanks

My husband and I visited this school and something did not feel right! The nice lady who showed us around seemed to be picky in what we saw. It was very noisy and there was an obvious lack of discipline in the school. The teachers seemed miserable and I just had the sensation that something was very wrong there. Something was not quite right that is for sure.

Yes absolutely correct no discipline at all, that is how my son got injured so badly.
I have spoken indepth to my childs' teachers and they are miserable and stressed. I suppose I would be too, as a majority of the students are the type who get kicked out of other schools for violence/attitude, but Hurst Lodge will take anyone and everyone. The council pays them an absolute fortune! The Children's Act means that every child has a right to education, and if the state schools can't cope with certain challenging kids, Hurst Lodge takes them, but there are no specifically trained staff to cope with the violence. They need to train staff to restrain kids, but they don't.
You made the right choice and I'm glad others can see there is something very wrong there.

How on Earth did they pass the ISI inspection- there are so many children being let down and in distress ?! Needs not met and so many lies and gaslighting. Where does all the LA money even go??? Disgraceful

Hiya, I used to attend when it was still Hawley Hurst, I wouldn't trust them at all with money. The school went into closure when I was in year 10 because of covid (thank god I left I was much happier) and that year we were supposed to go on a year 10 trip (to France I believe or Spain) which was very expensive for what it was, and magically around the same time the school got a new fleet of people carriers/mini buses. When covid happened we all requested the money back as obviously the trip was cancelled, yet they somehow had lost the money???

The deputy head is ISI inspector so knows what’s needs to be done I guess. How are they not reported to ofsted?

for fucks sake please don’t send your kid here😭 this school is genuinely a hell hole and the teachers here are so shit. AVOID THIS SCHOOL!!! teachers do absolutely nothing when ur getting bullied

I heard most of the teachers have left , the headteacher is no-where to be seen, I heard that they have a new team in different department

Hiiii former student here! Everyone is correct do not let your kids go to this school. They do not do anything when your kids are getting bullied. They do not care about the physical well-being of students the teachers and they think they’re better than the parents and students.

There is a lot of old and now out of date information on this thread. I would hate for a prospective parent to find this and choose not to send their child to Hurst Lodge because of it. My child has been there 3 years after becoming very mentally unwell in mainstream. The support they receive is above and beyond and the pastoral care is excellent. The teachers and the learning assistants are there for the pupils and have an excellent relationship. And the school tailors its teaching according to the child’s abilities. The head teacher is readily available to speak with and communicates well with parents. My child would be completely out of education if not for this school. It has been life changing.
Obviously do your research but speak to current parents and don’t get hung up on comments here if you happen to find this thread, it is a fantastic school for children who need more support or have ADHD/ ASD among other diagnoses.

My child went to this school , awful school, bullying is very bad , the school does nothing in fact they ignore it, parents go on Facebook you will see what people have had to say. The school does not tailor to the child’s abilities as the teaching is dreadful they don’t even have teachers for certain subjects, so many staff leave. Do not send your children to this school.