Finding the right secondary school for your child is hugely important and so it is always useful to read other parent’s first-hand experiences of particular schools. Today a Bristol mum of an 11-year-old in Year 7 at Bristol Cathedral Choir School kindly shares her experiences and opinions of this school.

Bristol Cathedral Choir School is a mixed gender non-selective musical Secondary Academy situated at College Square, Bristol BS1 5TS and presently has an Ofsted judgement of 2: ‘Good’.

Was Bristol Cathedral Choir School your first choice and if so, why?

My son’s first primary school was my third choice and it was a disaster! My son was repeatedly bullied and excluded and his additional needs were not identified or met – so I moved him during year 3 to another school because it became untenable.

The move was positive until year 5 when he was bullied and then discriminated against in year 6 which resulted in SENDIST tribunal which was upheld. He has additional needs and therefore we got first choice of secondary school as he has an EHC plan in place.

What are the positive aspects of this school?

Music specialism, excellent pastoral and SEN support, small school, good teaching, good academic attainment, excellent bullying policy that manages incidents immediately and successfully, lots of extra-curricular activities. Excellent transition process from year 6 to 7.

What (if any) are weaknesses of this school?

Bristol Cathedral Choir School still has a lot of the private school ethos which I am not so comfortable with and also the long private school terms which is difficult childcare wise, school uniform is extremely expensive £300 initially. No parking at all! Communication to parents is very poor.

What do you think of the school building, facilities and size of the school?

It is small and parts are like Hogwarts, which is nice! Is strange due to having public access through the middle, very limited outside space. Love that they have assemblies in the cathedral every week though.

What do you think of the staff?

The staff are formal but approachable, they deal with issues well. SEN team are fantastic.

What are the school’s values?

Wisdom: Not just knowledge, but insight, reason, judgement, learning from our mistakes, listening and not being afraid to fail.

Fellowship: Being together, in community, participating, supporting, sharing, welcoming, belonging, celebrating, diversity.

Courtesy: How we treat each other – goes beyond politeness, but extends to kindness, empathy, mercy, forgiveness, alleviating suffering, giving to charity, selflessness and love, showing compassion and being respectful.

Do kids receive homework/reading/tasks do do at home?

Loads of homework 1.5 hours per day!!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I appreciate that there are positives and negatives to every school and we seem to have had a number of problems. I often wonder if I had had my first choice school for my son if we would have had so many problems.

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If you would be happy to answer a few questions about a Bristol primary or secondary school for a Bristol Mum school review, please email me (Hilary) on bristol_mum@hotmail.com.