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Secondary education

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Ashcroft Academy - any thoughts?

27 replies

Sirine1708 · 23/04/2024 21:33

Hi, last time it was discussed here in detail 6 years ago, we live not far so I'm wondering is that that good/bad?
Haven't heard anything from current pupils, but know that some local parents are not even considering it while others were happy to get a place.

OP posts:
ParentOfOne · 16/09/2025 21:26

@bird123elephant You are saying that your children didn't get detentions, and liked it there. With all due respect: so what? None of that negates my points.
I never said nor implied that every single child would get detention every day, nor that every single child would absolutely hate it.

My key points were that:

  • the school is unnecessarily strict. Those methods are not necessary.
  • The ethos of the school and the attitude of the headteacher reminded me a lot of the toxic work environments which wrecked my mental health.
  • The headteacher's attitude is: my way or the highway. Huge red flag. He think he knows best. But so did the headteachers inflicting corporal punishments not too many decades ago.
  • These needlessly draconian methods are a covert way to create a hostile environment where special needs families won't apply.
  • These methods can create huge anxiety and mental health issues in some kids, not just in those who misbehave, but also in those who behave well, specifically because they can end up terrified that the slightest, silliest transgression will get them in trouble. The BBC interviewed Mossbourne kids who started therapy and who still have nightmares. But you don't care, because it didn't happen to your kids, right?

A little note on the ban of bicycles is as far as I is there believe to keep your children safe , first of all the school is on the highway and second of all not all children have bicycles which can make your child feel left out comparing to their friends that do have bikes , also it may encourage kids to use lime bikes

Nonsense.

First of all, a local newspaper found the plans for the school, and the bicycle ban was proposed before the school had been even built. It's a policy driven by ideology, not by evidence, indeed there is no provision to review it if circumstances change.

It is contrary to all the local and national guidelines on incentivising healthy travel to school. In fact, I am not aware of any other school in the whole country with such an idiotic policy.

It is another red flag, because it signals the kind of capricious petty rule which is not justified and which does not need to be justified, because the headteacher decides and you, irrelevant minion, must switch off your brain and obey your master. You do you, but I don't want that for my kids. And, if your mental health had suffered because of similar behaviour, neither would you

ParentOfOne · 17/09/2025 08:07

@bird123elephant My older son went to the same school, but he left, after my daughter joined so we have a lot of experience with the school ( which I forgot to mention )

So you are telling me that you already have another child at the school, forgot to mention that, and only mentioned that the school is good because your other child likes it after a week? Sure, that sounds credible...

As for the rest:

If I worked in a place where many people left because they hated it, I wouldn't just say "I like it there", I would say "I like it but many people didn't, so watch out".

If I worked in a place which mistreats many employees, with many employees leaving, going to therapy etc, I wouldn't say "I like it there", I would say "It didn't happen to me, but many people suffered x y and z, so watch out".

But that's just me.

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