St Matthew Academy Review

Staff clearly go the extra mile to ensure students develop both academically and behaviourally. Different learning styles are considered to engage students.

I go to St Matthew Academy, and I believe it's a pretty good school and I don't have to travel far to get there.

I have worked here several years and this is honestly the best school in our district. Our school shows alot of potential to be the best. If it was possible to give 6 stars I would. Although we did fail our recent Ofsted inspection, I'm sure we'll recover our image. We are of course a 'caring catholic community' and Together Everyone Achieves More.

We need to work together to change our school's image. Some of you stereotype our young. You see a 'gangster', I see a brilliant black child with a future. Maybe the next Garrett Morgan. They know that they will reap what they sow in Year 11 and they work hard we see that in their mocks.

There are however some 'bad eggs' in our school they try to imitate fictional characters they see in the media and then they go to do illegal things. We at SMA care for these children and try to rehabilitate them into our Caring Catholic Society. So that others do not follow suit & most importantly so that we can prepare them to be adults in the 'real world'.

I have seen many teachers leave our school but the one that hurt me the most was our headteacher Mr. Barry whom I have known for countless years. They all wish they could stay here.

Well it's best that I leave you on a positive note.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Can t fault the school. It has definitely improved over the past few years.

This school is still trying to improve, which is a plus, the head of primary Ms Beckley needs a wake up call, she's very fake, dishonest and mean. The key is to push your children at home, so at school is extra for them. The teaching has improve though, they need to put work on Ms Beckley, she needs to go, letting the primary stage down.

As a new Deputy Head to this school, I can honestly say that I am incredibly proud to be a member of the SMA community. The many parents who toured the school today will agree that the pupils here experience a calm learning environment and have the opportunity to make excellent academic progress. Come and see for yourself!

As a member of the local community I wanted to say how polite and smart the kids are. I ve recently heard of the recent top grades too - a great school to have in our community.

It a good a school but good teachers leave the school and it shocks us that we always cry.
it was good when we had mrs quinn and mr Barry because we had enterprise and invite famous ppl 2 our school

i think this school is bad there are a lot of bullies there and secondary like to annoy the primary, especially when its home time

Sma is very bad. I have heard the teachers swear at my, friend. my old teacher smacked my bff on her face and a few minutes later, she had a rash sperading across her face. And the headteacher doesn't do anything, The window broke in the corridor and all he has done was put a wooden thingymagig on it

I went to this school for 5 years....and recently finished my gcse...I am extremely happy that I can finally leave...the education,students and teachers is horrendous and disgusting... please do not send your child here....only 50% of students leave with decent GCSE results....the teachers bully and target certain students....this school is over flowing with bullies....I witnessed a student slapped in their face by a bully and the teacher didn't do anything about it...all the good teachers leave...this school is like a prison

My son joined this school as soon as he arrived in the Uk . He didn't speak any English at that time and the experience was terrible. It looks like to be in a jungle , very bad behaved pupils. Fights almost every day and teachers cannot do that much . My son was victim of bullying and several time didn't want to go in the morning and started crying . I managed to move him from that school eventually and thank God but I absolutely do not recommend that school not even if it's five minutes walk from your house. I know there are also good children but unfortunately I speak for the majority and we know, the bad apple always spoils the brunch.

I am a parent of two twins moving to secondary school and I have four more children.When I went to look at this school I and some other parents were shocked about how the pupils acted and there lack of respect for there fellow classmates and also there teachers.I would never ever never ever send my child to a discussing school like this.I am at shock that the headteacher is doing a terrible job.Ofsted needs to look closely at this school

have seen a lot improvement in this school over the last couple of years. full credit to the teachers for trying to raise the standards. my children really enjoy it here.

You can't learn in this school. All of the Teachers are Mean, Annoying Noobs and Teachers that Ruin My Life. Me and my bro have been here for 2 years. And Still No Results for good Teachers until 2017 when I Made Friends With The Bowen-Evans Sisters, Ms. Chery and Miss Dehay. NOW I'VE GOT NO MORE TO WRITE!!!! I'M SOOOOO ANGRY!!!!

Good school but with the recent changes of head teachers and principal. The school needs to work out the various issues it'll have to face for the best interests of the pupils

Best school
ever

It s terrible school. Children don t learn anything. Look at the state of the kids when I m walking past. Could I give this school a 0??!!

Not good do not let you're children come to this school
Its bad

St Matthew Academy is a good school. Both my children went there. If I have any more I would send them there too.

I went to St Joseph's Academy as a student and moved over to St Matthew Academy when it first opened. Do not believe all the negative reviews that you may hear as this does not reflect the school at it's current state. St Matthew Academy held an open evening last night and it was very impressive. Parents and members of the local community loved seeing the pupils in action and the amazing facilities, pupils and options the academy has to offer. This school has come a long way since St Joseph's and it's recent GCSE results are the best the academy has ever seen. 5 stars out 5 for this school. Please come and see for yourself.

My sons recently just left St Matthews academy and his 5 five years were not great at all,he use to tell me how he was forced to walk up the hill by teachers standing at bus stops all the way in Lewisham Central!-a strategy to get the More

Absolutely ridiculous school, they wrote on the OFFICIAL exam time table that an exam started at 1pm when it initially started at 8am which caused many children to be extremely late to their real GCSE exam.

I studied in this school for 2 years -- from year 9 to year 11.

Teaching:

Sub-par. Maths lessons consisted of the teacher putting on maths videos on specific topics from external resources and hoping that their students will eagerly absorb the information. Needless to say, most didn't.

The coursework, especially for the science subjects was terribly-handled. My work was lost in two instances by the administration team, leading to my grades for that specific work defaulting to a 'B'.

As with any school, there are some teachers who excel in their teaching methods and overall competence. I found that for the essay-based subjects -- specifically English, business studies and religious education, the teaching was much more encapsulating, which was often achieved by the staff enforcing dynamic teaching methods to retain their students' attention and ensuring that the information being taught wasn't forgotten. I found that the more science-based lessons were far less interactive and interesting, however. Whether this is a coincidence or not -- I am in to position to state.

I found that the administration within the school were below acceptable. In tandem with the missing coursework, there was an instance where I was placed in a 'foundation' tier paper for a subject that I excelled at. Keep in mind, the foundation tier papers only entitle you to achieve a maximum 'C' grade, whereas the higher-tier papers allow students to achieve the upper end of the marking spectrum -- the Bs, As and A*. To find an interest in a a subject, work hard in it and develop an intrigue, only for something like that to happen -- it's unacceptable, and it goes against whatever values the school may hold in terms of 'letting my light shine'.

When confronted with the issue, the school realized that their incompetence was irreversible, and that I simply had no choice but to take the foundation paper and be happy with a 'C'. Fun times.

Resources:

Inherent to the school's 'academy' status, it is naturally quite well-equipped. Printing resources are extremely limited for students, but that's somewhat ameliorated up by the fact that teachers often have the budget to provide their students with worksheets and revision notes. Whether they do provide the resources is completely up to them, so don't expect a handful of useful notes and revision guides each day. In reality, the tangible resources are much more uncommon.

The classroom sizes and student:teacher ratio are both average from what I can tell. The thing that really angered me were the chairs -- they're very similar to the ones primary-school students are offered; plastic, cheap, flimsy and unsupportive. We're adolescents, not toddlers!

Extra-curricular opportunities:

A good mix of after-school clubs: football, cricket, basketball. A debate team would've been nice, however. Nothing to ride home about in terms of variety, but nothing to really nit-pick excluding the lack of a debate team. Keep in mind, this may have changed since then.

My experience at St. Matthew was lackluster to say the least. I didn't feel motivated to learn about my subjects; something inherently due to the fact that the school does literally nothing in an effort to cultivate an interest for subjects. We're all just expected to learn by watching monotonous videos and reading textbooks.

I achieved 3As and 7C in my GCSEs. Coincidently, the subjects I achieved 'A' grades in were all essay-based subjects; a true testimony to how important the quality of teaching is. Unhappy with these results, I spent the next academic year self-teaching myself 4 subjects (maths, biology, chemistry and biology), eventually earning A*s in each one.

I have myself to blame for the initial set of results, but I strongly believe that if the school had done more to cultivate interests, practise high teaching standards and review their current administration team, then I would've done orders of magnitude better.

This school has gone downhill. I do not agree with some of the policies, they do not reflect real life and they do not always help the children better themselves. Most of the punishments do not fit the crime and make children feel small and inadequate.

I came to SMA as a visitor Feb 2018. The place had a really calm atmosphere, and the displays and facilities throughout the school looked great. The pupils we met were lovely too; they were very polite and all seemed to be engaged and working hard in the classrooms we passed.

I go to this school and everything is amazing and the school is welcoming and kind. They help a lot and i strongly disagree with all of the hate comments because St Matthews is great

I used to go sma and in year 7-9 the school was ok but as I moved up in the school the school started to lose their good repetition the students started getting out of control then when I got to the middle of year 9 and I hated the school and asked to move because the teachers were rude and students just do what they want and the teachers don't stop it and then mr Barry the headteacher left and foster classed st Matthew academy the worst school in lewisham so I moved school and I made the right choice by moving because I'm getting better grades

I've been waiting about 4 years to write this review. St Matthew Academy is a terrible school and if reading this means just one parent stops their child from attending the Academy then it would mean a lot.

This school is led by rigid, robotic morons who can't competently manage finances, let alone the school itself. Recent figures revealed that at least 80% of school money is spent on wages rather than being sensibly spent on improving facilities, with students often being restricted on simple materials such as exercise and text books. Teachers and students have become disillusioned with the situation they face on a daily basis, sometimes leading to a depressing atmosphere.

Although, many, if not most of the pupils must also take responsibility for the continued failure of the school. A lot of people I had to share 5 important years of my life with were very rude, disruptive and disrespectful and I have to admit that this has negatively impacted on my confidence as it has many others for a fact. I have watched happy people become depressed in the space of 5 years!

I was a member of the most successful cohort St Matthew Academy has ever had, yet I feel as though we've been the most badly treated. It's no surprise we were rated 'Poor' by Ofsted just a matter of months ago. The best teachers will continue to come and go, while history will continue to repeat itself. In a nutshell: Don't let your kids go to St Matthew Academy. Ever.

I've got nothing but good things to say about this school, a great place to learn.

I'm just going to give it a 3 stars rating xD My best friend's going here, and I hope for her sake that this school isn't that bad.

You cannot learn at this school. Teachers shut you up even when you're right. Students that disrespect other students are given privileges. Especially in the Years 10 and 9. Teachers don't actually see which people deserve what. People are constantly picked on for no necessary reason. They teach you that it is pupils that are making the school look bad. I can't lie the older years do make the community look bad but they start to pin it on all of us. If you cough, sneeze or make any type of noise accidentally it ends up as a behaviour point. All this school have done is copy schools like Sacred Heart which is now why we have the Saturday Detentions and recently added Friday Detentions. Sacred Heart should discipline in their way and we should discipline in ours. But again the community can't be original. They have had several boys and girls arrested for things. They have around 5 SLT members that are doing the same job which is honestly pointless. This school has to make a change. And it has to be quick.