# Stanwell School — The Vale of Glamorgan, United Kingdom > School profile on SchoolBrowse, based on verified parent reviews. > HTML version: https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/the-vale-of-glamorgan/stanwell-school-25719 ## At a glance - **Type:** Primary - **Parent rating:** 2.0/5 from 17 published reviews - **Students:** 2000 - **Founded:** 1897 - **Principal:** James Mansfield ## Contact - **Address:** Archer Road, Penarth - **Phone:** +44 29 2070 7633 - **Website:** http://www.stanwell.org/ - **SchoolBrowse profile:** https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/the-vale-of-glamorgan/stanwell-school-25719 ## About Stanwell School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located on Archer Road, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It serves students aged 11 to 18 and has approximately 2,000 pupils enrolled. The school was originally founded in 1897 as Penarth Grammar School during the Victorian expansion of the Penarth area. It later became a comprehensive school and is known for its strong academic reputation, having been judged Excellent in its last Estyn inspection in 2015. The school offers specialist teaching facilities including eleven science laboratories, drama, music, media studies, physical education with sports halls and playing fields, information technology, art, and design technology. It has a house system with houses named Morgannwg, Dyfed, Gwent, Powys, and Gwynedd. ## Recent parent reviews - **1/5** — Never raise concerns they will fabricate lies: Never raise concerns with teachers!! I raised a concern about the RE curriculum and asked about some of the answers given in classes to my son. All in a calm ,polite , respectable discussion. A day later I had an email . The teacher fabricated a bunch of lies. Said I was targeting female teachers, female students felt threatened and claimed I caused a scene, non of which is true and I have no real way of defending myself . They've banned me from school property. So overall the school might be ok… *(Oct 2025)* - **2/5** — Horrible: Cares way too much about small things such as the colour of your trousers and makeup. They threaten isolation and detentions for the smallest things! Teachers constantly pester you about things that shouldn't really matter and have nothing to do with your education. The food is also overpriced and teachers are strict. I have had previous friends complain to me about favouritism and insults from their teachers. I was lucky enough to have a fairly good experience with all of my teachers, however m… *(Jun 2025)* - **2/5** — Bullies are rewarded: Bullies are always rewarded, they act like pals with the teachers. I liked taking part in the school shows, my favourite being The Phantom of the Opera but the pupils that year made my experience so terrible. My parents informed the drama teacher of this at the time and nothing was done about it. It’s always the ones who are pals with the teachers that feel they’re above and better everyone else. *(Aug 2023)* - **5/5** — Stanwell School simply the best: Wonderful school ! All children given the best education possible allowing them to fly and succeed in there future lives . My Daughter did just that and went on to shine at Bristol university reading Law And gained a great degree. A shy but bright child that the English and History department helped her shine And believe in her ability. Keep up the fantastic caring education you offer our child a very heartfelt thankyou To you all 👏👏 *(Jul 2023)* - **2/5** — Poor to non existent pastoral care: Stanwell get results but I would argue that's largely because of factors other than the teaching. E.g The catchment area for the school is a wealthy area where a 3 bed semi costs £500k upwards, the majority of parents are both University educated, and many of the children get additional support from parents such as tutoring. As a parent I would say science and English are particularly poorly taught at this school, I've heard this from other parents and supply teachers including those who have wo… *(Jul 2023)* - **1/5** — Had a really bad experience there: This school is pure hell. I have had the misfortune of going to this school. Yes, the school gets good grades but all the students are snobby and the girls were very bitchy. There's also some teachers in this school which made my experience at this hellhole even worse. For example, Mrs Ghazi Torbati who teaches Media studies. She flat out hates me for no reason, just because I was not one of the ''popular'' people she just hated my guts. But one thing is that she was always friendly and chatty w… *(Jun 2023)* - **3/5** — Learning environment: So it’s alright but there is some teachers and students have really brought it down. Also there is an issue with p.e, the boys do football and rugby but they don’t allow the girls to do rugby in p.e lessons and barley any football. Girls can do football in an after school club though. Also the food tech rooms are rank the equipment is always covered in leftover food. They could defo improve on this *(May 2023)* - **5/5** — Stanwell school review: I’ve had two kids at the school who lived it and have done well My younger kids are there and enjoying it - wish I’d had a school like that when I was a kid 👍 *(Mar 2022)* - **2/5** — Balls: If you want to send your children here, better send them to the gulag instead! Id rather scroll through new mums on Facebook who constantly upload pictures of their baby than being in a lesson. Most teachers will have anything to have go at you, it just not needed. *(Mar 2022)* - **1/5** — Bullying: I hate this school. They do nothing about student bullying and harassing other students, I have to deal with being called slurs and being physically attacked because of the poor ways they "help". I have a friend group of LGBTQ+ friends who all get harassed at this school. *(Jan 2022)* ## Other schools in The Vale of Glamorgan - [St Cyres Comprehensive School](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/the-vale-of-glamorgan/st-cyres-comprehensive-school-25720) — 1.2/5 (13 reviews) --- Source: SchoolBrowse (https://schoolbrowse.com) — reviews and ratings are user-submitted by parents. Please attribute and link to https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/the-vale-of-glamorgan/stanwell-school-25719 when citing this data.