Biddick Academy

When I attended Biddick Academy, my experience was disgraceful. Although the school building is large, the corridors are extremely narrow. When lessons ended, all students were released at the same time, which caused severe overcrowding. Students were squashed together, and people were pushing one another. During the COVID period, this situation was especially terrible.

While I was a student at Biddick Academy, I was treated very badly. I was body-shamed on multiple occasions by teachers and was told that I was “going to go nowhere in life.” I also experienced two separate incidents involving different male students. I informed teachers about both incidents, but no action was taken.

In one incident, I was placed in isolation after I pushed a boy who had called me overweight in front of my entire class. When I was called out, three teachers came out shouting directly in my face. Prior to this, the Head of Year had come out of his classroom and shouted at me. When I shouted back, he stated that I would be put into isolation after the lesson. After the later incident occurred, he said I was being placed in isolation because of that, even though all I had done was push a student who had verbally insulted me.

Another serious incident occurred in Year 7. A boy kicked me numerous times and pulled my hair very hard in the playground. Many students witnessed this, and a teacher also saw it happen. I reported the incident to my Head of Year, who said he would deal with it. However, nothing happened to the boy. The school claimed that CCTV footage showed I had thrown a small empty water bottle at him first, even though I did not have a water bottle at the time of the incident.

Overall, the school itself is a disgrace and should not even be operating as a school. The environment was horrendous. On one occasion in the cafeteria, a teacher approached me, put their hand into my pocket, and removed my empty water bottle. I felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward in that moment, which is completely understandable given the situation

I would also like to mention that during my time at Biddick Academy, I witnessed numerous incidents of students being bullied where the bullying would often get out of hand, with teachers failing to intervene or take appropriate action. In some cases, the behaviour escalated to serious physical violence. On one occasion, a girl smashed another girl’s head into a pool; however, the only consequence she received was a short suspension, followed by a single day in isolation. This appeared to be the school’s primary method of punishment. Relying solely on isolation as a disciplinary measure did absolutely nothing to address the behaviour or protect students.

In addition, the school’s management of basic facilities was unacceptable. There were originally three sets of toilets on each floor. However, later in the school year, two of these toilet areas on each floor were chained shut and made unavailable. As a result, all students were forced to use the middle-floor toilets only.

This created an extremely unreasonable situation, particularly during break and lunch times. Thousands of students were expected to share a very limited number of facilities: four female toilet stalls, four male toilet stalls, and one gender-neutral toilet stall. This led to severe overcrowding and long queues.

On one occasion, while I was being sent home from school, three doors in the area were locked. Students normally had access to the school office through this area, where two teachers were stationed at a window to assist with requests such as timetables or basic medication. However, while a group of us were waiting to be sent home, staff refused to allow any students through these doors, stating that they did not want students to leave the area.

There was a toilet located directly next to this window, and as it was unlocked, I attempted to use it. Due to the doors being held shut by staff, I had no other option. As I was about to lock the door, one of the female teachers waiting with us forcibly opened the door and attempted to hold it open, preventing me from using the toilet. This was both inappropriate and humiliating.

Despite this, teachers frequently refused to allow students to use the toilets during lessons, stating that students “had time during break and lunch,” even though the majority of toilets were not accessible. Students were often lucky to be able to use the toilet at all.

Furthermore, if a student had skipped even one lesson, they were not permitted to get food from the cafeteria during break or lunch, nor were they allowed to use the toilet. This policy was both inhumane and damaging. For example, students who were menstruating were forced to hold in period blood for over five hours without access to toilet facilities, while also being denied food, simply because they had skipped a lesson.

This policy escalated to a point where I was forced to wait approximately five minutes after lessons had begun, once other students had entered class and the toilets were no longer overcrowded, in order to use the facilities. However, staff members were stationed outside the toilets to prevent students from entering. On multiple occasions, I had to push past staff members simply to use the toilet.

In these situations, teachers—most often male teachers—would bang on the toilet doors and attempt to unlock them, threatening to open the door if I did not exit immediately. This occurred regardless of whether I was menstruating or not. These experiences were extremely humiliating and made me feel unsafe. Being denied access to basic facilities, particularly while male staff attempted to force entry, was deeply distressing.

As a result of being repeatedly forced to hold my urine and menstrual blood for extended periods—often exceeding five hours per day—I developed a urinary infection. Despite this medical issue, I was still not granted a toilet pass or reasonable accommodation

Remember if your child goes to this school they are not safe, The teachers will lie out of anything instead of owning up to their actions but want their students to own up to their actions, I still think about this school on a daily basis not because I miss it because trust me I do not but because I was failed in their school system and in their eyes I was a troubled student but really I was just sick of the constant hate from them, leaving this school made me realise how much they destroyed my mental health and my self confidence

When your child tells you what happened at school believe them because they are not over exaggerating its what happened.

dont send your children to this school!
this school is such a bad school then turn a blind eye to everything, they dont even care about mental health, my mam rang up and asked if they could help and she never got a response back, the so called teachers have there favourites and dont care about other students and if you come down late to the cafeteria they dont let you get food they send you away and if you are sitting with your friends while they eat and you have nothing they send you out of the cafeteria, and they dont let you go to the toilet 5minutes before the lesson starts, during lessons to even if your desperate, and even some children have to walk out of their lesson because the teacher wont let them go to the toilet, and the teachers blame students for everything, for example if there whiteboard pen goes missing they go straight to the students but the teachers actually left it on a desk, if you want your children to be respected dont send them here, from a student who is at biddick academy, im giving my honest opinion i wish i never joined this school, i was getting bullied for 3 years straight and i begged the teachers to help and they didnt care they turned a blind eye, my maths teacher turned around to the class and said she hopes we all fail our gcse just because we were all confused on one question.

If you go here you know when I say mental health and wellbeing is not a priority of the school. We as pupils are left to struggle and sit in lessons with the teachers constantly treating us like adults when we are NOT. We are 11-16yr olds with the world’s weight on us. Some teachers take time for us and make sure we’re heard and seen. However, most do not. Do better biddick or I will be taking this higher.

doesn’t treat the kids well and targets them. cheese paninis down the toilets nearly every day wouldn’t send your child here. they don’t bother with ur mental health or if your getting bullied they just put u on manage move to another school thinking it will solve the issue then they will say “there isn’t anything we can do about it” .

Hello frainds it’s benn brought to my attention as a father that some fatso wood is bullying my daughter fatso wood If you’d like to continue this kind of behaviour I will kick you to mars you chubby little mamle

By far the worst school in the UK the teachers are disrespectful to students the lessons teach nothing the food is vile and so it the head teachers face rubbish everywhere nothing to do at brake and lunch uncomfortable uniform blazers forced even when very hot

Could anyone from the school comment on the bullying that is rife at this so called academy....It has been brought to my attention that it is a common practice from older pupils to bully younger children and the so called teachers here turn a blind eye and sweep it under the carpet...I will be watching.

We've been happy with the school overall, but there have been some issues with communication and organisation that have caused us some stress. The curriculum is really engaging and the teachers are generally great, but I think the school could do more to support students with SEND.

My two children currently attend this school My oldest has had a positive time she’s a positive learner, great at all sports and is a positive pupil that represents the school well . However my youngest didn’t adapt so well to the changers from primary school to comp and has had the worst experience throughout all her time at this school she is now in year 8 and has barely seen a full week in school as she feels bullied by her head of year . Head of year is terrible when it comes to any sort of support. Unless your child can be a robot and fall in line with the others, they 110% have to be getting extra funding for any and I mean any support at all.

My child has only been at Biddick for a year, but they've already made some amazing friends and are thriving. The school has a really supportive atmosphere and the teachers are always approachable. I've been impressed with the homework and revision programs they have in place.

They would lock the doors after 5 minutes meaning we could not go to the toilet or leave a lesson as we couldn’t get out of school. They cared more about a piercing on your face or in your ears rather than your education and problems within the school such as bullying. Some teachers would not allow you to open school windows even at 25 degrees. After 10 minutes of eating your food in the cafeteria you would be kicked out to stand outside no matter the weather, no indoor spaces. Send your child somewhere else if you want them to be respected.

We have been incredibly impressed with the school's facilities, especially the music department. The staff are so supportive and encouraging, and the values of the school align perfectly with our own. Our child has flourished here and we couldn't be happier.

My child attended Biddick from Year 7 to Year 11 and it was a truly transformative experience for them. The school's emphasis on British values and SMSC has had a lasting impact on their development as a person. We were so grateful to have such a supportive and caring community behind us.

There's a minority of teachers that will help they do care . A minority . But infact these teachers are restricted . On several occasions I have requested to go to a "trusted adult" as they say but been turned down and gold to talk to my heads of year as I I their concerned ,not nobody else's.

We should be allowed to go to who WE trust ,not just a teacher because they are in controlled of our year group. There's been times I've been sent into lessons crying my eyes out about my mental health but again denied of any help .

Not to forget that when ofsted come to the school we are told to be good ,to lie . I had a friend lie to ofted saying there was no racism, sexsism ,classroom torment ,homophobia ,transphobia, there's even children being bullied fir having horrible habits of self harm and the school sits back and watches ut all.

The boys are misogynistic and so are the male staff .what teacher tells a child that if a boy is saying sexual, vile things about her there is no proof so he can't act on it . That it's just rumours so it could be false . Could be . But it wasn't was it .

Fair to say there's room for improvement

I was bullied relentlessly for years with no help from teachers at all. They turned a blind eye to the homophobia going on from students even when it was right in front of their faces.
When I became too ill to attend in my final two years, they offered little to no assistance and had to be strong armed into offering help.
Teachers were largely uncaring.
They told us to lie to OFSTED when questioned, and problem children were removed and hidden away before reviews, sent on school trips or given incentives to behave for a week.
Don't go here.

Would not recommend, does not handle bullying or other problems. Only good points are: LGBT+ club, Student Support (handles autistic children)

Never rewards or helps the hood children, only focuses on bad children. There are multiple homophobic, racist, anti-semetic, sexist children in the school and they have never been expelled. It’s absolutely disgraceful.

honestly horrific, the homophobia, transphobia, and racism is very present and the staff do nothing about it. the teaching quality overall is extremely low aside from some staff who put in the effort to help the students.

it’s okay but honestly i wouldn’t send ur kids here

When I first went it was great, they were really helpful at helping get me into school since I'd struggled for a while. After about a year all help seemed to cease. I've been through staff members lying to me about my parents, claiming they consented to things they didn't, lying to my parents about me. There's a lot of pretty nasty students in my experience, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Was just ignored and I was often told that they were just 'upset and being a bit rude'. Overall was a very negative environment and has taken a big negative effect on my mental health in all honesty. To be fair, there were some lovely staff members and I miss them greatly, but they were in the minority.

alright. not the best staff and the students especially are horrible

not good, been there for 4 years. came across about 5 pleasant teachers, the rest shouldn’t even work with kids in my opinion, ridiculous, most unhelpful negative environment ever.