You couldn’t pay me to go back to that school and relive my experience there. I was there to learn and get my qualifications but so many things that should never have occurred in the first place got in the way. In my first year there i came out as bisexual and that information spread like wildfire. I immediately began to receive inappropriate and generally homophobic comments from other students. After a few weeks I decided to go to my year team for help with sorting the issues which were greatly affecting my wellbeing. Expecting them to take action, i was massively let down and was told that “they are only words” and because i hadn’t been physically hurt there was nothing anyone could do. The homophobic comments and bullying continued all the way throughout secondary until in year 10, (my 4th year) i had received threats from one student in the year below me. My year team’s only solution was to ask me to remove my pride badges to “avoid the incidents”. They saw the only solution as to censor my identity instead of dealing with the homophobic students. This school has always claimed to protect their members of the lgbtq+ community, but what i received was the opposite of protection. Instead i was taught to hide who i was from other people and that my self expression and identity was invalid. Also in year ten i was being sexually harassed by a boy almost daily in my science lessons and in the dinner queue. I dealt with his sexually explicit comments for around 6 months (i had reported absolutely every incident to my year team over this time). i explained to my year team every time i had reported an incident how i was terrified to come into school and that his actions were massively impacting my mental health. It was only because i had had hit an extremely low point in my self esteem that they then decided to take action by bringing police into school. After this he stopped, however, it should not have taken them this long to take action. I think it is appalling that a secondary school that has a “no tolerance policy” for sexual harassment had continued to let it get worse and worse for 6months. In my last year of secondary, during the lead up to my GCSE exams a girl in my year had made up and awful and untrue rumour about me. When i first found out (in my science lesson) what had been said about me i was shocked and almost immediately began having a panic attack, i was sent out of the room and was picked up by first aid and taken into a room to speak with the nurse who then refused to send me home. For anyone that has had a panic attack you will understand that they are exhausting and that it is difficult to recover quickly. All I wanted to do was go home and rest but i was not allowed to as i was “not ill” After i had calmed down i spoke to my year team about what had been said and by who, and once again they did absolutely notching despite me having evidence that i knew who had made it up. This all took place at the start of the year, but continued all the way up until i left. My entire last year there was hell. I was ridiculed by all the students in my year and lost all my friends because of something made up. I was bullied for it and had panic attacks almost daily for the rest of the school year. No action was taken by my teachers, year team, or any members of SLT. Most of the incidents had originally taken place at the fault of students however only carried on at the fault of the safeguarding system. If you value your child’s wellbeing and mental health please do not send them here.