I went to Highbury Fields for 5-7 years if you count Sixth Form. This was 09 to 2014 or 16 (again, if you count Sixth Form). I can answer anything based on my own experiences there.
I don't know about other schools in the area tbh, or how my experience of HFS related to other schools. I only ever had some lessons at Highbury Grove so I got an idea of that school in relation to Fields, but probably not enough to make too much of an accurate judgement. Also I realise that a lot of the issues I personally dealt with were probably widescale, as in, not necessarily was it the fault of HFS, but more likely the fault of the way we currently run things and the state of people's awareness of topics like wellbeing etc. These are relatively new concepts for most people, 100% teachers included because they're just people like everyone else, and as a result, we all know there is MUCH improvement needed in terms of these topics.
I had a very negative experience of HFS, ESPECIALLY in regard to regard to wellbeing. I often reflect on this period of time because it was hell for me, I'll say that. I had a terrible time and I have many wounds that have needed looking after as a result of my time there. Again, not necessarily the school's fault, but it could have been. I'm not sure if this was felt by every student at every school, or if this was definitely to do with HF. But I'll say this:
During my time at the school, things changed. Things started changing when I was about 14 (year 9) when the school was going through a rennovation. I believe this is when current headteacher, Mr Fox, came to the school as well. I began to start to see a shift in the dynamic of the school. Ms Berry, who was the head during my time had come to the school at the same time as my year had, and I remember girls in the older years telling us how much nicer the head before her was, and how things were more relaxed and their needs were taken into account. This is the sort of vibe I got about this headteacher, and it made me miserable knowing we'd missed out on that as I was always much more of a creative, free type. I liked things being relaxed and I would have preferred to have an enjoyable time at school than get good grades.
As I was saying, things were really beginning to change in the year 2012. My memory of the two years prior is that they were more lax, yes, but more fun, more community-oriented, more authentic and creative. But even during those years, I felt the rigidity seeping in. 2012 was, in my mind, a serious implimentation of rigidity. It was like the cliche in films and books, a new member of authority comes along and starts implimenting rules everywhere, slowly squeezing the colour out of everything. I get it. It must have been hard to deal with us, and we probably weren't improving much academically, but it was much too harsh. There was a lack of understanding of who we were too. 95% of us were basically coming from either ethnic or White working class backgrounds and most teachers were from a White middle class background with no understanding of who we were and why we were the ways we were. Everything was always dealt with via punishment, inducing fear was a common weapon against us and on top of all this, the teachers themselves could be bad role models.
It was a horrible experience for me. I personally felt like a broken down horse. By the end (in 2014, when I was 16) I was scraps of who I had been when I came to the school. I was torn and shred and fed crumbs of validation throughout my entire time there.
I don't believe that anyone is born smart or dumb, and I know how smart I was - how smart I have learned that I am (with time and healing and self-love work) but I left that school utterly traumatised, self esteem in scraps on the floor, and with a huge hatred and understanding of how dangerous rigidity and authoritarian rule can be to us as people. That's why I know the traumas that I went through, that others probably did too, will be burried deep down and avoided like the plague until it is necessary to look at - perhaps one day in their old age. I'm sure what I went through was felt by other people; they probably haven't realised it yet.
When I was at school I remember going swimming in y7 or y8 and we'd have to walk to school in the cold, our hair soaking wet, and having to lug around a damp bag all day because not everyone had lockers. (I think I must have been one of those unlucky ones??). Very cruel but apparently it's okay because we can just deal with it - what will we do? We're just children. That was the vibe I got from start to finish, absolutely. Little pop culture reference: It was like in Matilda, when she's listening to her dad/ Ms Trunchbull say "I'm big, you're small, I'm right, you're wrong, and there is nothing you can do about it" (great film). If I am correct, I believe I recently saw a review for the school by a student saying they were forced out in the cold to do PE. No surprises there - feels like bread and butter when I think back to the school. Other attrocities: Bullying was not dealt with very well. I remember one girl in my class throwing a javelin disc at a girl everyone bullied (we must have been in y8/9?), and another girl and her friends throwing scissors in science behind the teacher's back at girls in hijabs (I must have been in y10?? 2013). I remember confiding in a counsellor once who I remember thinking was the nicest one out of the three (three counsellors in a school of about 500 or more) giving me a look when I told her I was being bullied. When she spoke to the girls in question she came back to me with "they said they hadn't" or something along those lines and then proceeded to stare at me, waiting for an answer as if I'd lied about it. I already had major trust issues as a result of my background and wasn't used to asking for help, so when I did, and this was the response, I felt utterly dejected. At the same time I felt like it was the result of unfair rumours that had spread about me amongst the teachers. So this was most likely the result of incorrect judgement. Also, I was a child. Teachers need to realise that children act as a result of their backgrounds. They're not born like that, and they don't owe you an explanation. You, as an adult, should not judge a child. There was also a moment at school when I confided in a female teacher about a male teacher who was treating me weird. She basically proceeded to laugh in my face and say "look, I don't know how many boys you see outside of school" etc, absolutely unprofessional, terrible, emotionally damaging way to deal with a situation like this. She did not even ask for details.
God, I could probably go on and on at length. We used to be allowed to go out for lunches when we were in year 9 or 10 and then suddenly we weren't allowed to anymore, for no given reason. Explain why! Or else we have to believe there is no reason why, you just wanted to be authoritarian about it??!! There was not enough transparency with us students - we were treated like idiots, and then, as the common saying goes, expected to behave like adults. Calling girls aged between 11 and 16 "ladies" is problematic on multiple fronts. I was aware that girls were sexualised at a young age and was cat-called mutiple times in those years - it was misguided to use the term 'ladies' when we were quite clearly, children. In fact, there was a teacher at school who used to clearly look at all the girls' skirts/ legs who I was never taught by (thank god) who still, I think, might teach at the school. He borderline flirted with girls too. I highly doubt he was ever spoken to about it. I don't believe I had more than 2 sex ed classes at my time during 7 years. I remember one in RE and the other in sixth form. Absolute chaos. We had a teacher make the remark that it was okay when women didn't shave their legs, but that if they didn't shave their armpits, it was gross - and the entire class were copying her behaviour saying it was gross. I learned when I was 16 in a sociology class that men could not be raped. The list goes on and on, as i've already mentioned.
Oh and of course, the force used at sixth form to get us to maintain good grades and attainment. People were kicked off courses for getting lower grades, brilliant students that I knew had loads of potential and were super smart and creative girls, probably not seen that way by authority members. I soon learned that the whole 95% A-C or whatever was a total lie - they kicked people out who did not attain! Of course they had such a high attainment. It's laughable, but it's not because we suffered a lot. The current head made a mistake with me at one point, brought me into his office to proceed to threaten me if my attendence did not improve. I was sat there crying my eyes out because I was telling him I had* been coming into classes, that there had been a mistake. He soon learned that I was telling the truth but I still remember that moment, and it was just one more bit of hurt to pile up on top of all the other hurts adults in supposed authority had caused me.
The worst thing about this school is that they care about your grades and the success of the school way more than your wellbeing. Maybe they think they care about wellbeing, but it doesn't show. Much improvement is needed here. More research into our backgrounds needs to be made to understand where we are coming from. Up until the age of 11 I lived in a council block and I witnessed a lot attrocities in the every-day lives of people living around me. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for those people to balance really the hard-hitting realities that they went through at home, with school. People coming from privileged background cannot understand it - that's why threatening students rather than trying to understand their circumstances will not help. They will just leave if that's your supposed threat. You are just depriving them of a future to succeed. Trust should be put into the students. If students felt this from their teachers, and that they really do have the potential to do well, they will try. When you come from a background where no one believes in you, and neither do your teachers, how can you believe in yourself? So much change is needed. Stringency might get you your grades, but you're also creating traumatised individuals who will live out their traumas by projecting it onto other via racism, or worse. Look at the situation we are in right now - people are being killed because of their skin colour - is that an accident, no?? This is the result of what we have built. If we continue to keep treating our students like cattle, like their wellbeing is disregardable, like their say doesn't matter, like they have no potential, like they are powerless, like authority will always be right, they will just become the product of that. Hate-filled individuals with no self-esteem, no motivation to change anything, we will keep living in this hellhole that we have created for ourselves. Take a chance, do something different. Come out of your shell, just a bit. Try something out, work with other schools, idk, try anything!!
I have some sympathy, of course, due to cuts and how much effort it can take to be a teacher etc. But it's the small things that can go a long way. Like at registration, teaching your students about self-love, self-care etc in those 10-15 mins.
Anymore questions, I'll answer them :--D haha
[Post edited by MNHQ at poster's request]