St Thomas’s high school

[Edin]

Hi there. Does anyone have any recent experiences of St Thomas’s high school in Edinburgh? Especially for kids who have gone there from a non denominational primary? How is the support for learning there? And the head? I take it he is fairly new?

I don't I'm afraid but giving this a little bump for you.

No personal expierence of the school but I was shocked by these reports of racism that emerged over the summer.

www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/former-pupil-edinburgh-school-racism-18553669

That is not the same high school, it is St Thomas if Aquinas that I am talking about not at Augustine’s. But yes I would be horrified if anything like that was going on.

Sorry my mistake!

I have friends with mixed reports. A couple no issues at all. Another major issues that the school misinterpreted and resulted in a lot of damage being done and social workers asking why they had been involved.

I’m not liking the sounding that🙁. I mean I know there are issues in every school but that sounds quite serious and sounds like the communication between school and parents wasn’t very good. I am concerned as my kid needs extra support for emotional issues/anxiety, but doesn’t have a diagnosis of learning difficulty or mental health condition (atm) so am worried there will not be enough support for someone like her and she will fall between the kids who are fine and the ones with some sort of diagnosis and need a lot of support.

I have dealings with St Thomas of Aquins through work. Their top kids are well supported, their ASN kids are quite well supported, they use things like DofE to keep kids engaged who might otherwise not come to school. But like everything else their money and resources are limited and you have to be pretty much bottom of the heap (sorry, terrible terminology) to get into those programmes. I suspect like many state schools there's a whole range of kids in the middle who miss out on the support they need.
The staff I work with try their best, I don't think it's any better or worse than anywhere else right now.

That doesn't sound very cheerful, my kids are at another state secondary and they are the same. Try to stretch the top kids, work hard with the kids at the very bottom, struggle to give the ones in the middle what they need. Because of lack of resources not willingness to help.

Thanks. That was very helpful. That is exactly what I feared ie that all schools are in the same situation with lack of resources so if you are not at either end and need support it is hard to come by. I guess I was hoping for some miracle here thinking I could find a school where there was enough support for those who sorely need it but are not “at the bottom of the pile”. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.