Forest Hill School, London | Fees, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We are so happy to send our son to Forest Hill and he appreciates all the hard work his teachers put in both in class and with extra curricular opportunities. He has had some amazing opportunities such as theatre trips, sports clubs, a trip to Germany to the Christmas markets, visits from authors and creative workshops. This school is a proper, inclusive comprehensive school in the best sense and as a clever, creative lad he is given plenty of challenge and guidance. Expectations of him are high. Not only that, but as our local community school he still gets to hang out with friends he had at nursery and primary school as well as meeting a lovely bunch of new friends.

Most teachers go above and beyond. Our son got excellent results and made many lovely friends at the school, continuing into sixth form.

If your son works hard and behaves he will do well at this school. The staff genuinely care about the boys. They work long hours, often going above and beyond. The exam results speak for themselves.

Perhaps more importantly, the pastoral care is outstanding. Problems get sorted out, not brushed under the carpet.

It’s a South London boys secondary school and the school reflects this. They proactively support LGBT and the BLM movement.

As far as we are concerned, FH is a great school. It came highly recommended by a family local to us and 4 years in, we have no regrets having chosen the school. Their acceptance of all is tangible and they go to great lengths to express it. The boys have access to so much if they choose to take the offers up: library, music studios, after school clubs and sports. Of course, like every school, FH has its challenges but Mr Sullivan and his supportive team appear to rise to the occasion every time. We were for example pleased with how quickly they navigated the challenges brought on by COVID and have always felt confident that the ‘young men’ are the school’s priority. In our experience, the teachers and head’s of year are responsive, connected and know who our boys are. As parents, we appreciate their efforts and are happy to support them in educating our children.

As a parent of a child with ADHD most of these teachers need training on how to deal with it. Instead of marking everything down as ‘bad behaviour’ and then making that child build up a load of behaviour points until he gets kicked out of school for a week, this becomes a pattern until it comes a ’cause of concern’ is this the right school for him meeting?. No, it’s because the right strategies haven’t been put into place. The advice from professionals wasn’t followed correctly, i.e Drumbeat and others. When a child recognises teachers are pinpointing them, they will play on this, so it doesn’t help them. Getting angry against a child with ADHD makes it worst. This is why I state these teachers was not trained to deal with it. However, my son was not severe with his ADHD as much as the school wanted to state he was. His diagnosis report doesn’t state severe. The school always thought they knew best more than me. Especially THE SEN team. They always looked down on me especially when they found out my son wasn’t medicated. I experienced nothing but stress throughout the whole time my son attended this school, the times he was good, it wouldn’t get noticed and I wouldn’t get informed and my son picked up on this, these things matter to a child. I am not saying my son never misbehaved, but I don’t think the way teachers dealt with it helped at times. My son made a lot of mistakes and choices but that was apart of his growing up but I understand the school has their policy and procedures to follow, but to promise him to let him finish his studies at the school even though he was excluded, as he was working from home, being excluded a month prior to leaving, then not incluing him in the graduation, I find that very disgusting and appalling. I write this review as a very hurt parent and I am hoping that no other parent has to suffer the way my son did with the help of needs with their ADHD or any other needs, hopefully it will be a walk in the park for you.

Horrible school, the old head teacher Mr Brady was an amazing head teacher, making sanctions when needed, late detentions at break etc. When Mr Sullivan joined it was as if the teachers controlled him, banning anything a teacher reports to him. He removed detentions at break and favors teachers if you report them to him. For this school you need extensive knowledge in yourself as the teaching is horrible, teachers giving up and not teaching if students talk. And the food?? The dinner ladies are absolutely amazing at their job, however the school throws away tons of food that they don’t use. Teachers even threaten to throw away your lunch if you’re not fast enough eating. Teachers just do their job to get paid and don’t care about the students which i feel is necessary, like changing what they teach to help students struggling in that area. Instead they shout “you’ll all fail!” and putting down students instead of helping them. There isn’t a spot of grass and all things are so cheap. They removed plastic straws as if they’re helping the environment yet keep plastic cups? If there’s a leak in the water fountains they’re not fixed until a half term. The toilets reek and aren’t cleaned at all through out the weak, having to stand in pee as soon as you walk in. The only good thing is the art facilities. The gym facilities have broken and completely unsafe machinery. The sports equipment is worn out and not replaced. The school is even known to force students into wearing lost and found PE kits when they don’t bring in their kits.

In conclusion, the school is a mess. Total mess. It is financially unstable, firing amazing teachers and hiring ones with barely any knowledge. I remember my favorite teacher crying as she was being sacked. DO NOT send your kids to this school.

PS: When Ofsted come to inspect the school fakes and acts so much. Teachers become friendly and pick certain things to teach that would look appealing. The toilets are cleaned and everything is just way better. As soon as Ofsted leave, they return to horrible hygiene and bad teaching.