St Catherine's Bramley

[Surreyschools]

Does anyone have any feedback on the senior part of this school? I've read (and heard directly from parents) some less than positive comments about the online provision during lockdown and bullying at the school. I'm less concerned with the online learning as hopefully they have learnt from the experience and are now better prepared should it happen again. I'm more concerned about the bullying - I'm told it was openly acknowledged that there is a big problem in the school newsletter. I'd like to understand if parents have seen any changes in the way bullying is being tackled by school to address this. Thank you!

[Firenze12]

Bumping because I'm also interested in this.
I know the lockdown provision was poor and know people who moved schools because of this.
As you say however, they have presumably learnt from this. I would be very interested in any views of their pastoral care and provision.

[ChampagneCommunist]

I live locally, but don't have a child there myself.

However, it's often said that girls come out of that school with excellent results & an eating disorder.

They like you to be rich, clever & thin

[Rool]

I have two daughters at St Cat's and have they have both been very happy there so far. I have heard talk (mainly on here) about their lack of pastoral care but our actual experience of the school has been the total opposite. The girls are very caring to each other and the teachers look out for the girls. Both mine love being there and have thrived.

[Surreyschools]

Thank you! Are you girls in the senior part of the school? I only ask as lots of mums have said the same positive comments as you but about the Prep and have then told me they aren’t staying for the senior part of the school.

[Rool]

Yes they’re in the senior school. Feel free to pm me if you want more info.

[Surreyschools]

Bumping this post in case anyone else has some feedback

[R0llonspring]

My DD has been at the senior school for a few years and is very happy and she and her friends have had no serious problems with bullying. Having said that she has a relatively small group of friends who she chooses to be with, some of whom she has known since the prep school, who are all lovely and very supportive of each other. My DD acknowledges that she finds some of the other girls a bit challenging to be around because they like to have a dig whenever they can, so she started off avoiding them but now has the confidence to stand up for herself or laugh at them, (my suggestion!) Annoying, but not bullying. In my experience the sporty girls can get a bit 'alpha' and my DD's academic, not sporty. We also deliberately restrict our DD's access to Social Media, which I think is often where bullying can go undetected. The school IT dept are pro-active and give parents very through info about what is appropriate to have at what age.

The confidence and maturity she has developed at St Cats has been incredible and I don't doubt she would feel empowered to speak up if she had serious problems in the future.

I live locally and know lots of parents with girls throughout the senior school and I know some of them have had problems with bullying, but I don't believe it is a 'big problem.'

I thought the head mentioning it in the newsletter was transparent and helpful - she acknowledged they had uncovered a problem, discussed lessons learned and reiterated advice to everyone about how to discuss/report it with their DD going forward.

My other DD is at another Guildford girls school and by comparison I believe St Cats is far tighter on encouraging respect for each other and their staff members and I am confident nothing is left to chance with her education and personal development. Since returning after the summer, DD has come home full of beans with so much to tell me about her day, she's extremely happy to be back!

[Unknown2314]

My daughter didn’t have a good time there. It was very toxic and the pastoral staff did a bad job at looking after her. Do not recommend! (Even if the results are good)