Northline Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Our eldest is going to secondry school in September and we went to an open evening at Ballakermeen last Thursday. I was very impressed with the head teachers speech re standards etc and bowled ver by the facilities on offer for drama, sports, IT etc. The kids there helping out and demonstrating activities and giving guided tours were all really great , friendly, confident role models and out 10yr old was impresed as were we. However I am led to believe that there may be another side to Ballakermeen and that they have problems with drugs(?) vandalism, antisocial behaviour etc. . . Just wonder if MF members have any experience of these problems and whether they are any more of an issue at 'Balla' than other secondry schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girl89 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 LOL! Sorry but that stereotypical view of the school has been around for years. Currently, I am at Ballakermeen school (and actually helped out with tours that night!) and find that the view of the school just does not fit how it is at present. Anti-social behaviour is a problem in all schools. Whether it's bullying, or just kids who are disruptive. I've found that since the new head teacher has been in place, things have improved alot throughout the school. I guess the bad, drug taking students view of Ballakermeen just wont go away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 My daughter is in her second year at Ballakermeen, loves it and is doing well academically. There are bound to be problems such as bullying, disruptive behaviour etc. (it is a school after all,) but they do seem to deal with those issues effectively. I am not aware of any drug issues, but this was the reputation of the school when we were considering which secondary to opt for. I have to say that I thought this was only tittle tattle and saw no evidence or heard of specific examples. Also, if there were drugs it would be no where on the scale of the schools in England we would have been looking at had we not been here. As there were so many other positive factors, we decided on Ballakermeen. Apart from that, I went there many years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deejay Denzel Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I went to Ballakermeen and loved every minute of it. I really didn't want to leave when it came to it. Back in '91 when I started i was led to believe it was exactly like grange hill at the time (Just say No drugs campaign was still fresh in the mind!) Once I was there it was totally different. The only thing that was a pain was older students sending you in the wrong direction when you were looking for directions. Was good though as we were always fashionably late to everything. The facilities there are amazing, they only started on all that the year I left. it was proper old skool back then where it was so cold that you had to wear your coats in class and the wind was whistling through the metal windows that wouldn't close properly. All change now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorian dad Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Re-vist the School during a normal day & observe the children during breaks; Are there any staff supervising or are they all hiding in the staff room? Take a look at the pupils toilets; Are they clean without kids hanging around in them or are they full of graffiti with the bullies lying in wait for the next victim? Don't just judge a School from the open evening when everything is not as per normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis_C Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 But arent all schools open evenings aimed at showing the school in the best ways possible? You are going to get bullying and distruptive pupils in every school, its not all like mary poppins... But I left Ballakermeen 2 years ago, after staying on at 6th form; I am now at Uni in my 2nd year. I have to say, that Ballakermeen was an excellent school, and in fact today I wish I could go back for a few days, because once you leave you really miss it! The drugs thing from what I saw at my time there wasn't a problem at all... Its always the bad things that people tend to pick up on and ponder over than the good things... Ballakermeen is an excellent school and I'd recommend it to anyone wishing to join Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkly things make me smile Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I go to Ballakermeen and to be honest like girl89 said that is only the stereotypical view of ALL secondary schools inc the ones on the island. since ive been there i havent heard of any of the things that you mentioned.Of course some people will be disruptive but they are teenagers and there will be people like that in all schools. I would reccomend Ballakermeen as it does have the best facilities and the best academic record (i think). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desperate Dan Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Re-vist the School during a normal day & observe the children during breaks; Are there any staff supervising or are they all hiding in the staff room? Take a look at the pupils toilets; Are they clean without kids hanging around in them or are they full of graffiti with the bullies lying in wait for the next victim? Don't just judge a School from the open evening when everything is not as per normal. It would be quite hard to wander round Ballakermeen during break time. The school is pretty secure these days. My brother in-law was telling me about timed locks and tons of CCTV everywhere. if you want in you would have to book an appointment and go through the main entrance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knoxville Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I go to Ballakermeen and to be honest like girl89 said that is only the stereotypical view of ALL secondary schools inc the ones on the island. since ive been there i havent heard of any of the things that you mentioned.Of course some people will be disruptive but they are teenagers and there will be people like that in all schools. I would reccomend Ballakermeen as it does have the best facilities and the best academic record (i think). King Williams College has the best academic record to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minxie Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 My friend has her three boys all at Ballakermeen (I think the oldest might be in your year Girl89) and they are very happy there, and are doing very well academically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkly things make me smile Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 King Williams College has the best academic record to date. I mean out of all the non-public schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haX0red_Account Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 is that verifiable anyway that KWC has the 'best' academic record 'to date' - by what yardstick/criteria? 'Best' is a pretty vague statement...pupil:teacher ratio? GSCE 'pass' rate, most students with 4 A grades at a level etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FCMR Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I have recently completed some works at the school and was a little shocked at the amount of kids that were smoking and at times not far from the teachers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girl89 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Re-vist the School during a normal day & observe the children during breaks; Are there any staff supervising or are they all hiding in the staff room? Take a look at the pupils toilets; Are they clean without kids hanging around in them or are they full of graffiti with the bullies lying in wait for the next victim? Don't just judge a School from the open evening when everything is not as per normal. It would be quite hard to wander round Ballakermeen during break time. The school is pretty secure these days. My brother in-law was telling me about timed locks and tons of CCTV everywhere. if you want in you would have to book an appointment and go through the main entrance. Haha timed locks? Not seen those about! Yeah there are security cameras around but that's just one of the new methods of dealing with trouble in the school. There are also staff and students on duty making sure there isn't any trouble at both break time and lunch, all around the school. It's a very effective system because if a child has a problem they don't have far to go to find a teacher/responsible student Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girl89 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I have recently completed some works at the school and was a little shocked at the amount of kids that were smoking and at times not far from the teachers Go to every other school, you'll find the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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