You may well remember that I recently published an article featuring a local mum’s thoughts on the Secondary School situation in and around Bishopston. The post provoked some strong opinions on local secondary schools, both positive and negative.

Today’s post on Bishopston Mum is one local mum’s perspective on Fairfield High School, a Performing & Visual Arts Specialism College with an OFSTED grade of 2: Good “with outstanding features”.

Here are this mum’s thoughts and opinions of Fairfield High School…

How did you decide on Fairfield as a secondary school for your child?

We found that Fairfield was the warmest, it had much more of a family feel, it had a real buzz about it, a nice, excited atmosphere and a calmness about it too. It certainly didn’t feel intimidating or scary. It had really positive staff, a strong team of people working there who were very enthusiastic.

My daughter was really keen to go. She went to Ashley Down Primary School and 22 children from her school went with her. We knew of no other kids who weren’t doing well or who weren’t happy. It’s also 10 minutes walk from our house. We have a lovely community around us. That was a strong reason to send her there.

There was a 2-week Summer camp held prior to my daughter starting in September which was completely free so that all the kids could get to know each other before they started. They did a Gromit hunt, decorated a Gromit, went to Oasis, composed music.

On the second week they did an Outward Bounds course and all the kids camped out on the school grounds, cooked their own breakfast, all with an Outwards Bounds team.

There were no other schools that grabbed us as much as Fairfield.

Does Fairfield involve parents regarding their child’s education?

Very much so. They are brilliant. My daughter has 2 tutors who I have got to know quite well and they send emails back and forth and have emailed when they thought my daughter was not very well.

Fairfield also do a Parents Tea, every Friday after school for the first term, just for the parents of year  7 students. So we met the tutors the first week, maths teachers on the second week, English teachers the third week etc.

The staff are brilliant, you can’t fault them.

Are YOU a parent who would be willing to give your personal experiences of a local primary or secondary school? If so, I would love to hear from you!

Please email bishopstonmum@hotmail.co.uk. Thanks!