Forums Forums Wirral Information Ask - Wiki Wirral Weatherhead Vs Oldershaw, advice needed.

Hi, sorry to be all angsty and moany but I need some advice. Daughter is in Weatherhead at the moment and another is due to start this next school year. Daughter thats there is only yr 7 and has had nothing but trouble since starting there, silly bitchyness, bullying, snotty rude teachers, unreasonable responses from teachers regarding help with bullys. The school seem more focused on what the girls are wearing than how the girls are behaving. We're at the point of thinking of moving her to another school and she really wants to go to Oldershaw as thats were alot of her primary school friends are and they have settled there really well. But I've heard lots of bad stuff about Oldershaw regarding behaviour and teaching standards. Can any parents of Oldershaw pupils give their opinion? Is it a case of better the devil you know and sticking with Weatherhead and riding out the troubles and hope she perks up, at the moment shes so despondant about school and she used to really love primary school and was a good pupil but since the troubles her work standard has really slipped. Any advice folks?

is this not what happens in a girls' school though?

oldershaw is meant to be a good school, better reputation than weatherhead.
I personally went to St. Mary's, and from the first day to the last, it was a pleasure to attend.

also in relation to your rumours with oldershaw, every school has it's non-tryers that bring teh reputation of the school down, but i had friends that went there, and they say it wasn't too bad, nothing special, but nothing horrific either.

Send her to marys then

My lad is coming to the end of his first year at marys, all I can say is it is a brilliant school, no problems whatsoever, and he loves it there...

Shame about the bulling.My step daughter has had fours year of hell at her school,But thank god she now finish.The teacher and headmaster at some school do not do much to help people who are the victim..Hope you find a nice pleasant school for your Daughter

Thanks for the replys guys, choosing high schools is a tough decision and at the time I was constantly told how great weatherhead was/is. Got a meeting with head of year to discuss our issues so we'll see how that goes but I can't see one meeting solving any problems. I'll look into St Marys, I presume they take non catholic children too (isnt there a rule that they have to take a certain percentage of non catholics?. Thanks again for taking the time to read and reply. x

My son is in year 9 at oldershaw and he loves it. i am not saying that bullying doesn't exist there, but my son has never encounted it. The level of teaching at oldershaw in my opinion is very high, my son is 13 and has just passed his maths gcse.
Take a look at the Oldershaw Academy website. x

The thing is though some kids are cruel to others at that age due to silly things. So your son may just be one of the lucky ones .

I went to St Mary's and I did get a little bit bullied. Just got a few names shouted at me as I walked around and I was never part of the "popular" crowd, but like in any school at least one kid always gets bullied.

Hi my son went to St Marys and I couldn't praise it highly enough. They take non-catholics as some of his best friends were. If you have any problems someone is always willing to listen and deal with it rather than brush it under the carpet as many do! Good luck but as a 2nd resort Oldershaws reputation is a lot better now than it used to be.

I must say that Oldershaw did my Grand Daughter very little good. Poor discipline in classes meant that she was dragged down in Maths. After some private help she was then moved up but had lost too much time and confidence. Then the teacher forgot to enter her for the A level Maths; told her to sit it and he would get it dealt with as a late entry; then didn't. Result two years work wasted.
Weatherhead is what it is a girls school, full of teenagers who are inclined to be bitchy and value dress sense more than Maths. I must say, however, that I would stick with Weatherhead, and I say that as an old Oldershaw boy who was very proud of his school.

At St Mary's when I was there the year head had a go at me because I was off for my Grandad's funeral when I was in my second year there. My Mum had a right go at them, having no compassion like that. As soon as I got to sixth form level I left to go to a different Sixth Form.

I've heard lots of parents complaining that their children have been bullied at Weatherhead and that the staff dont seem to be able to do anything about it. I had one of my children in Oldershaw a good few years back now and ended up having to pull her out of the school due to the extent of the bulying problem and the staff's inability to do anything bout it, but like I said tings may have changed since then.

As for educational standards... the Council website has statistics on all the local schools which may be helpful for you as well as a help and advice section.

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/my-service...ion-parents-and-carers/school-admissions

What I will say is that NO child should ever be subjected to bullying and the school IS responsible for your childs welfare while they are on site. I would phone the Education Authority and ask to speak to the Director of Education and let him sort it out... or you could try mentioning that if the school cant deal with the bullying that you are going to seek help from him you may find that alone is enough for them to suddenly take more of an interest.

Had same problem my daughter in year 7 and was having trouble with one child who had ADHD and I phoned the school 4 times and was promised that this would be sorted it wasn't so I went in and complained and was again told that his would be sorted then the girl said she would murder my daughter so I wrote a letter to the head master saying if they don't move this child immediate I would go the police as this is threatening behaviour the head master phone me within 1 hour of taking this letter to the reception and the problem was resolved there and then and I made them phone me weekly to make sure nothing else happened. My advice is to go straight to mr dymant the headmaster and the problem will stop. Also threaten to go to the school govenours over this. Pm me if you need any more advice on this as it could possibly be the same child who is bullying yours as the school wont suspend her as she has ADHD and they reward her all the time if she behaves for a day and she gets more iris points than the children who behave all the time, my daughter asked me if she should behave bad in school and then be good so that she can get the same amount of iris points as this girl.

my son is at Oldershaw and I think its an absolutely brilliant school,my sons really happy there(as far as school goes lol)im so glad we chose it.The staff are very approachable especially the head and deputy head.I highly recommened it,go in and have a word with them and look around.good luck

My daughter is in Year 9 of Weatherhead and I cannot praise the school enough.. I have found it fantastic. Cannot believe how well she is doing academically. I think a lot of girls together will cause some unrest but if your child can rise above it then it's fine. Also going straight to Mr Dyment is an excellent idea. I went to Oldershaw quite some years ago and hated every single second of the place. A friend of mine pulled her daughter out of there and put her in Weatherhead and she is thriving now. I trully believe a certain school is suited to a certain child.

Now my son was in Mosslands sixth form and he spent this last year every Tuesday in Oldershaw and every Thursday in St Marys and the other 3 days in Mosslands. This makes him a unbiased advocate for the schools lol. He said the worse school without a doubt was Oldershaw, the kids did what they wanted, the lessons where unruly and he hated it. He found the teachers didn't help etc. The best school was St Marys, he loved it there! So if it was my daughter who was not suited to Weatherhead I think I would choose St Marys over Oldershaw!

Best of luck with your decision.. try seeing the head first though x