5
Penny May 15 months ago
okay so basically there's a lot of reviews from school kids hating their lives and deciding to take it out with an attempt to ruin ivys reputation ???? if you're actually interested in sending your kids to this school, i'd say go for it. I went to the school from year 10 to year 13, after moving from a small school from wales. It was a big change, but if your kid(s) like a busy place with lots of opportunities and friends to have then it is perfect. Most of the teachers are lovely, of course you'll get the odd miserable sod but I think that's the case for every school. The teachers that I had genuinely seemed to enjoy their jobs, and it's even inspired me to go into teaching! The teachers are good at their jobs, mainly, and are firm but not strict. They are pretty onto poorly behaved kids, from what i've seen, and won't hesitate to give them verbal warnings, tell them to stand outside etc. Another thing that I love about Ivybridge, being from a tiny school, is their clarity and effort with teaching pupils how to revise at home! They have an entire 3 step process or something! It's really good to learn how to study young, (and i know it sounds silly because it seems like everyone knows how to- trust me they don't- i can't!), because it sets the child up with the ability to self discipline academically, and it'll benefit them in the long run! The school offers a lot of subjects to take, which is great, and the school appears to encourage creative routes as well instead of just scientific or mathematical. However, there is a clear bias on going forward to tertiary education, specifically into their sixth form, instead of a college, but i think that's our societies doing instead of the schools alone. I found a lot of enjoyment in the topics I took, but at the end of the day it is majorly the teachers doing- if they are enjoying it, the kids will too. On that topic, the pupils at ivybridge are just school kids, there is nothing extraordinary about anyone who goes there, and by that i mean there are no otherworldly children of satan ???? but because it's such a big school, some things can slip under the radar, I've heard some cases of bullying not getting sorted and it's really unfortunate, but I think that's one of the only case of the school genuinely lacking. Other than that, the safe guarding and 'school therapy' that is offered is very professional; I hated it then, but looking back at it, they were doing the right thing. I believe that kids are looked after as much as they can be, given it's a school of around 2.5k.
The school is clean, if that concerns you, and the food is fine, so ignore anything you read about food being rubbish- even after leaving year 13 i still think about those cheese and tomato paninis ????
As someone who spent 4 crucial years of my life (through covid as well!) at ivybridge, and has left, I say that it is a good school for anyone to go to, pretty much every kid hates school when they're there, but it's only after they leave that they can look back and think, actually it was alright!