Townley Grammar School

Townley Grammar gives out A level results at 9am. I know some schools that are giving out results at 8:30am. Why is this such a big deal?

My daughter has applied for Medicine which is extremely competitive so Clearing is a realistic consideration. Some universities put out an online form at 8am to apply for Clearing. Clearing is notoriously a first-come first-serve system.

By giving results at 9am, Townley put students at a disadvantage to other students whose school give results earlier.

The examinations officer I spoke to refused to admit that Townley put students at a disadvantage by giving out results at 9am, when that is clearly fact.

I understand not being able to change the results day time, since this was the day before results day, but the refusal to acknowledge this a disadvantage to Townley students was the worst part.

Very disappointed and would like to speak to the headteacher about this.

On cultural day, I wrote something in a randomised language and then it apparently translated to something bad. Teacher believed that one of my classmates was involved because they are from the country the sentence I wrote was in. Teacher knew I wrote it but thought that the other student was involved too.

If you are willing to sacrifice your mental health for townley then go ahead. If not, then read on.

Townley likes to act like they care so much about student's mental health- and for some students that is true, but keyword SOME students. They pick and choose the students that they want to support with their mental health so that they can be poster children for townley. If you're not one of the lucky ones then too bad you'll just have to suffer. If you get bullied, then you might as well just move schools because this school does nothing about it (unless their precious reputation is at risk of course!). The culture with students here is that if you're not popular then there's around a 50% chance that you're suicidal and the school doesn't care enough to do anything about it- apart from kicking you out if you become 'a threat to the safety of the pupils' (you have potential to damage, again, their precious reputation). If you get lucky, they'll call your parents and you'll get 'weekly check ins' (whats that going to do for a suicidal child..?). People getting away with horrendous things because townley likes them. The experience of neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ children at this school are particularly notable. Neurodivergent children, (when they can actually be arsed to identify and assess them) are often left on the sideline. LGBTQ+ children are often bullied and it is brushed off as "people's personal opinions." I would say most teachers (apart from the safeguarding and mental health people) are nice though- but they're overqualified! Get your PhD and go to somewhere where your work is appreciated.

Overall, if you want to be suicidal for some GCSE's then go for it.

If you care about your child in the slightest, you won't send them here. This place is a breeding ground for all kinds of issues. The students are taught to be aholes from the beginning. The teachers are nasty. Some teachers have some sort of anger issues and decide to take it out on us. The whisper tool is about as useful as a rock. You walk into that "school" and your smile slowly curves into a frown They get resources and don't even use them correctly. If you're planning on sending your child here, don't. If you have a child here and plan to keep them there, don't.

i have literal trauma from this school, the staff bullied me to the point of disgust. my experience at this school keeps me up at night and will do forever. worst decision of. my. life.

They only cared about you if you were a potential Oxbridge candidate or wanted to medicine. Anyone else were given little attention. Image was more important than actually educating students.

i mean, the friendships i have made are amazing but like, my mental health has deteriorated so much. one girl who keeps talking abt me behind my back, side eyeing and spreading lies about me around the school has made it much worse, and the amount of homework i get is unbelievable. they now have a one way system, but its really not gonna help traffic blockage in the corridors, the toilets are the grimmest places you can ever imagine, and the amount of pressure they put on you to get A grades is making me upset when i got an A because i wanted A+. i mean just save yourself and dont go

My experience from Year 7 to 13 was appalling. This is a racist, misogynistic institution where teachers themselves go as far as to partake in the bullying and alienation of students. A logistical nightmare with poor disorganisation and next to no student support. In terms of academics, a good percentage of the time, we taught ourselves. The few good teachers brightened the experience of select classes but in terms of leadership and management it was a catastrophe which seems to have only gotten worse over the years with sexual assault cover ups and the like. This is an institution which is more concerned with keeping up appearances than ensuring student wellbeing, hence the regular occurrence of mental health conditions among the students and a lack of support when this happens.

I HATR THIS SCHOOL THEY ARE A BUNCH OF STUPID ISLAMAPHOBES

Okay so this is a great school IF you want to do a lot of sports and preforming arts(art, music, drama, dance exc.) but they don’t do that much for mental health and stuff if something happened with bulling or something that just do an assembly like it will stop anything. The performing arts department is a 5/5 , sports probably a 3.7/5 but the rest of the school eh 2/5. OH AND THEY PROMISE YEAR 7S THAT THEY DONT GET HOMEWORK OR A LOT OF HOMEWORK IN THE FIRST TERM BUT SOMEONE I KNOW WHO ARE IN YEAR 7 IS STRESSING THEIR HEAD OFF.

Skl is so bad im an internal here and started yr 12. the teachers are so bad i haave to go thru all my work at home myself and theyre all so uptight they make us wear blazers all the time even tho they said we can create a sense of identity and have a loot more freedom w our uniform but we dont. the food is expensive and they give rlly little portions. the skl is soooo unorganised and all the teachers do is basically shout at u i wouldnt recommend

Hated my 7 years here. They only care about making money and maintaining a so-called ‘good reputation’. No genuine care for wellbeing of students, only care about them getting the highest grades possible even if the students off themselves in the process. If you’re not high achieving they bunk you off, call you a disappointment and treat you like dirt. Praise the high achievers simply for achieving high grades, no matter whether they have good traits or are walking devils. Wouldn’t recommend this school to my worst enemy.

Student hub is a joke. I went there once because I thought I was gonna pass out and they gave me water and sent me straight back to class. Another time I almost puked and they were like, if you do puke, go home but you should be fine. Turned out I had a fever and was ill. One other time I had an accident t that left me hospitalized and the nurse said, and I quote, we get a lot of you guys in here when she saw the uniform. All in all it is a pretty crap service they should probably try to make better, but no. They spend money on new white boards but not on broken toilets or students mental health. DO NOT GO THERE

When I came here to begin with, I loved it but now I have had several incident with my mental health and now have an ed and had a problem that left me in hospital for the rest of the day. The teachers told me that just because I was in hospital doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do the work. They care too much about grades. People there are horrible and can be bullies, I was left crying alone a lot. Teachers don’t help and they made me feel dumb. If you value your mental health don’t go there.

since i started here, my mental health has gone down really badly, i started to get a ed and had a problem involving a car and me, which left me in hospital. when i came back, the teachers almost gave me a detention for not doing the homework when i didnt know we had any. the food is overpriced and some drink are expired. it has some good aspects, like dance and drama lessons, but it has killed my confidence and my mental health is at rock bottom.

This school really makes me feel safe, and everything just feels so fun. In spring and summer, loads of people eat around the field and everyone's always laughing and having fun and it always boosts my mood.

I love this school so much, there are loads of people to help you when you're struggling, and I feel like so many people expect the school to be perfect, because obviously there are some annoying teachers or whatever, and there are a few faults, but I genuinely believe the school tries its best to help us, to be really diverse, and to be the best school it can be. I am so much happier since coming to Townley and it honestly really annoys me when people complain about it constantly, because they can never give a reason, they just want to moan about it. Everyone expects the school to be super strict and then when it isn't, they call it overrated or a bad school, but I think it's good that they aren't super pushy, but also want us to get the best results. If you want to do well, then I would say to come here. And it's extremely diverse.

i mean it’s overrated

Listen, don’t go here. Sure, you might get good grades, but if you care about your mental health in the slightest don’t touch it.
To put it in perspective with one quick experience, in year 11 i was hospitalised after a mental health crisis at school, and the nurse who was helping me at the hospital recognised the uniform and i quote verbatim, “We get a lot of you in here.”
You might not be outright bullied, but the social isolation is no joke.
The people who claim this school is good at diversity- sure they have it on papers, but they don’t do a single thing to protect their students. They pick a poster student and then focus on them and them only.
If you had any desire to learn, or felt good about school, this place will beat it out of you.
The amount of teachers who are also exposed for being predators is also insane- my sex ed teacher being arrested for child pornography ownership, and another who was blacklisted from teaching after an affair with a sixth former, who also commented on seeing childrens bras underneath their white shirts.
I wouldn’t have reviewed it if this was just me or my own struggling’s as an autistic student in a mainstream school, but everyone I’ve known who’s gone to that school echo the same sentiment.
Even down to the GCSE certificates, we received them a year late.
Please don’t go, for your own sake.
Though, I guess I got straight 9-7’s, so yippee to that.

This school strives for academic excellence, that's what selective schools do, that's what we sign up for when we go here, if you dont want that PLEASE JUST GO ELSEWHERE. Additionally, I'm frustrated at other students slating this school for trying to be culturally diverse ! They are trying to embrace us. Everytime they try, people from my culture slate them online, its counterproductive and really sad. I have come from being a shy little girl, to an over achieving, happy, multicultural, LGBTQ+ woman here, Townley has helped make me, I rate it.