Holcombe Grammar School, Chatham | Fees, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

This school is absolutely amazing my son is new to this school and he seems to be having a great time! I’m so happy. Thank you for being a great school.

Please don’t attend this school. A comprehensive school is way better for you compared to this. Teachers like Dr Harris , Mr Adedeji and Mr Zwanzig are fine but others don’t care. They refuse to answer questions most of the time and invalid detentions are issued regularly. DO NOT ATTEND

Terrable school my son has been excluded again for playing games on his phone dispute not being taught anyway. If your child is at all intelegant please don’t let them waste their time in this dump where their education will be wasted. Mrs Gauld has been the only teacher who has been consistently trying to help.

If I could give zero I would. This has to be the worst and most unprofessional set of educators I have known. Have no idea as to what they are doing here. They have changed 4 principals in 3 years and is very hostile to certain boys at the school and over lenient to others. Gross injustice and prejudice. And I hope more parents will take the step that I have and remove their child/children. I wish I listened to my child and moved him when he asked me to in year 7. Your boys are better off not setting foot in this place

One star deserved for the 3-4 good teachers here. The psychology, media, and DT teachers were good and fair.

Not afraid to name and shame. Alderson was an awful teacher, possibly having issues at home to be able to come to school and scream at students for such trivial things. I had once borrowed a book and opened her classroom door, smiling, to give it back during lunch when no lessons were on. She screamed the loudest scream I’ve ever heard from a teacher for forgetting to knock; so I said nothing, closed the door and left with the book. Usually the only sort of behaviour one would expect if intruding on something illegal. Rude and bizarre. There were many other occasions where I’d witnessed her losing her temper for no good reason.

Business teaching was awful. Sadly, I’ve forgotten her name but I think it was Rosalind. Our teacher was using her own money instead of the school budget to purchase school supplies. I grabbed a single sheet of A2 paper from a large pile on a desk one day to show other students on my table how a production line works. The class wasn’t doing anything as no task was set – common occurrence. We each took turns making a fold to make a box. Obviously, when she saw that I had taken a sheet of paper she threw a fit of rage and asked why I took the paper. Not leaving any time for me to answer, she revealed that she had spent her own money on it which was why she was upset. How she was able to carry out this performance without feeling embarrassed, I don’t know. This business teacher also didn’t care about students who were clearly slow and falling behind, she just let the class get on while she was sat at her computer doing God knows what.

PE was a waste of time. Everyone called out on the register showed up for the first lesson – standard. Only five people turned up for my second lesson of the year, even though it’s a compulsory subject. For the rest of the year I can only assume that four students were attending PE. Teachers didn’t care.

Bullying is a huge problem in the UK. This school doesn’t do the statistic any better. I’ve never heard of detentions or any sort of punishment being given here for bullying. It seems that students forgetting their homework is a worse offence. The only thing students can do is fight back bullies themselves – an art can be made of it. Unsurprisingly, it’s usually the ugly ones who look like cartoon characters. So in other words, a good portion of students at this school.

Some teachers are racist and will make no effort in hiding it. During a ‘study period,’ a friend and I decided it would be better to go elsewhere than the incredibly distracting and cramped library. As we were looking for an empty classroom or something similar, a woman (not even a teacher) stopped us and started interrogating me rather than the boy standing next to me because of what I could only assume is my darker complexion. Of course, I didn’t talk back and let her talk at me for ten minutes about why I need to “choose a place and stay there.” Ten minutes which I could’ve spent revising. She walked us back to the library as if we were in a prison and left us dumbfounded because there were no seats left. Shows poor training for whatever role she had at the school. I think she was working in the head teacher’s office the time.

The librarian, who has now hopefully retired, was in my opinion one of these racist abhorrent beasts. I recall a time when people sitting at my table during lunch were on their phones. Who would have guessed that when I decide it’s fine to take my phone out, she tells me and only me to put my phone away? Everyone else, phone in hands, just looked at her and me awkwardly. It seems that going for black kids is too obvious these days so they pick on the mixed races to feed their appetite instead.

The school may be different now, but make no mistake this is how things were only a few years ago. I’m sure that there are others who were students, even teachers at the time who will agree with me.