Somerville House, South Brisbane School Reviews

Somerville House, South Brisbane

School Reviews

By Student - 30 Dec 2023, Rate: average

new this year for senior, transferred from a state high public school to here that's right across 2 streets. I'm enrolled as a boarder even though my home is literally within walking distance. I'm going to admit its not bad but they could have done better with our facilities if we are paying 50k per year as boarders. The bathroom is really clean but what's with our tuckshop? like there's barely anything to choose from, and back in my old public school there was way more choices. I feel like most of the girls here are pretty nice but boarding is such a struggle because there are barely any privacy and I'm not used to sharing bedrooms with so many people. can't wait till year 12 when I can get my own room. this school is really christian, so take it with what you will. I gotta say since it's a single sex school I feel like I am more productive and can finally spend so many time on academics, music and sport, so it's mostly beneficial.

By Alumnus - 14 Dec 2023, Rate: excellent

I’m a member of the public. Somerville was once a prestigious school with a very good name. I contacted the school in writing twice, to arrange a brief visit to view the Shakespearian windows in Combooqueepa. Receiving no reply, I followed up by phone and was passed from one area to another, it seemed no one had the time nor knowledge of the school structure to manage my query. So I attended the Foundation Office and was completed with disrespect by two office staff who were so shut down they could barely converse. While I can’t comment on the school, its management has a serious public relations issue presently. SH will certainly not be receiving any donations from me

By Parent - 28 Jul 2023, Rate: bad

This school only cares all about their uniforms and hair ties up not down focuses more more on reputation than anything else

By Student - 16 May 2023, Rate: excellent

This school is such a disappointment, parents pay 100s of thousands a year, but Ive had 6 science teachers in thr last 18 MONTHS

By Parent - 25 Mar 2023, Rate: excellent

My daughter is having a wonderful boardimg experience. The weekend recreation program is varied and enjoyable. In the past week the boarders have been able to enjoy ice-skating and support the Broncos game at Suncorp. They have lots of social events with other schools and my daugher loves the location with access to Southbank and the city close by. The boarding staff are very caring and there is great communication with parents. It's a happy place and we are glad we have made this choice.

By Parent - 24 Mar 2023, Rate: bad

My daughter is a boarder at Somerville House and we are really struggling with the environment she is living in. The head of boarding has resigned and there are only make up staff in place with limited boarding experience. Girls spend most of their time on the their phones, it's toxic. The girls have no privacy and the rec program is no existent.

By Student - 22 Mar 2023, Rate: bad

The school has horrible teachers, I am unlucky enough to have had Georgia Davey as a head of year, she was horrendous, she says she cares about your wellbeing but all she really cares about is whether or not you have a green ribbon in your hair. She is horrible and don't get me started on the other teachers, the teachers are horrible and shame students who struggle, they say that if you need help, to ask but then they get you in trouble for "not listening" to make matters worse, the head of student wellbeing Mrs Brunkhorst is a horrible, evil lady who enjoys making students suffer. The parents are all snobs and so are some of the girls. But your parents will think your being ungrateful when you complain

By Student - 22 Mar 2023, Rate: bad

i'm a student at this school, last year one of the kids in my grade tried to stab my face with a pair of scissors, i told my parents which told the school, they have done nothing. i also told the school myself, however they have still done nothing about it. this school cares more about presentation then mental health and safety. also one of the teachers put his hand down one of my friend's dress (yes, i was there and saw it, she was not lying). the one thing the school did pay attention to is when i started seeing a phycologist, they made me sign a form to not sue them for mental health.

By Parent - 15 Mar 2023, Rate: bad

This school is horrendous, I sent my daughter here in year 5, she is currently in year 8 and hates going to school. Most of the grades have a good bunch of girls in them however it is the teachers I am worried about. My daughter hates Somerville House. The constantly complains about Julie Brunkhorst, Georgie Davey, Kate Western, Eric Wise and many other disrespectful, unkind, and careless teachers.

By Parent - 06 Mar 2023, Rate: bad

Somerville House, South Brisbane is not a place for a supportive environment. Teachers include senior teachers lack emotional intelligence. That show no empathy. SH has its share of students with special needs. Instead of providing support and guidance for vulnerable children, they promote negative behaviour and them fail to protect those most vulnerable.
SH NEEDS TEACHERS TO ALIGN THEIR BEHAVIOUR TO THAT EXPECTED OF STUDENTS.
They focus on the insignificant issues while students are selling drugs at the lockers.
All round a very poor school.

By Parent - 26 Feb 2023, Rate: bad

Deeply concerned about where this school is headed. The principal has resigned, and the senior leadership team is generally substandard. Key teachers have resigned and replaced with new teachers who simply talk at PowerPoint slides.

By Student - 06 Feb 2023, Rate: excellent

im a new student and when i entered this school, i felt very welcome and everyone in my y7 grade is so awesome and so nice and the teachers care so much about you and they value you more over making the school look all pristine and neat. I definetly reccommend this school and it is sooooooo much better than BGGS

By Parent - 18 Nov 2022, Rate: bad

From my daughter's information and reflection. This is her first year in Somerville, and she started to have anxiety and also depression. She cried a lot, almost 3 to 4 times per month, but the reasons were not about bullying, instead were about the teachers and the stupid school rules. She talked about how teachers doesn't hear my daughter's explanation and keep saying these are all excuses. As a parent, I am so disappointed in this school as I thought this school might be perfect for my daughter. Super disappointed in Somerville.

By Student - 18 Nov 2022, Rate: bad

This is the worst school I have ever been to, so I changed schools. This school only cares about the uniform and technology devices, not the student's well-being or grades. The teachers only care about themselves but not putting students first. People pay hundreds and thousands of dollars annually for uniforms and school fees, and students receive the same or even less focus on academics. I don't even know where the money people paid gone. School uniforms look like highlighters/toothpaste; lockers can't even fit both school bag and sport bag; people get detentions because they forgot to put badgers on or forgot to put their phone in their lockers.

By Student - 22 Oct 2022, Rate: bad

This school only cares about the uniform. They think it a big deal if you forget your badges or don't bring your sports uniform. it's all a lie, all that talk about mental health and being kinds to each other. While people are going home telling their parents that someone called them a *______* and the school doesn't do something about it. my friend was called something mean and her mother told the school and they didn't do anything. Most of the staff take classes too seriously and people get detentions for forgetting uniforms or calling out in class to much

By Parent - 11 Oct 2022, Rate: bad

This school only cares about the uniform and presentation, they say they care about mental health when really they don't, from others point of views they might say they make your mental health worse. You are only considered important if you are a popular girl, the others who are not as popular are considered as unintelligent and don't get appreciation for anything good that you do. My daughter has been going here since grade 3 and is in 7th grade now. She feels the staff treat her like she isn't able to do the year 7 work because of former injuries that she doesn't have to deal with anymore.

By Parent - 13 Jun 2022, Rate: bad

The most disappointing aspect of this school for my daughter is the horrible head of year, Simone Hartley.

By Student - 05 Jun 2022, Rate: bad

This school is elitist and toxic. Unless you are top 10, you count for nothing. The school is only interested in the girls that can make the school look good. Speech night is a great example, only award winners are allowed to attend, the rest are asked to leave school early so the award winner can prepare.

By Parent - 02 Jun 2022, Rate: poor

this school says they care lots about students mental health, when in reality, couldn’t care less about it. their first priority is the uniforms being amazingly presentable as they don’t want a bad look on their school

By Student - 02 Jun 2022, Rate: excellent

This school is the best school ever. We are nutured and protected in becoming smart and kind women. We are taught about integrity, and for the people that are complaining about Somerville House, well they are wrong.

By Student - 16 May 2022, Rate: excellent

The technology is horrible, the laptops freeze and break easily. the battery dies in half a day and then we get in trouble for charging it.

By Parent - 16 May 2022, Rate: bad

This school is not the place to send your daughter. My child had the worst experience here, the teachers worry to much about uniform but not much about the well being of the students. I sent so much on this schools education, just for my daughter to hate learning and school in general. The way the subjects are taught are useless and boring.

By Parent - 06 Dec 2021, Rate: bad

The most disappointing aspect of this school is the quality of the teachers. Lazy is one work I would use, there is very little active teaching and many are relying on videos or self directed power point presentations that the girls are asked to work through independently. I feel the school does well academically because smart girls go there, not because of any special teaching or support the girls act. Pick up your act Somerville we pay too much in fees for such substandard teachers.

By Parent - 30 Nov 2021, Rate: bad

When there is a Royal Commission on Private Schools I am going to publicly attend to name this school, in particular some teachers in the middle school. This 'institution' should be named. My two daughters were personally bullied by three particular teachers and there is a toxic culture. As I have one still attending I have chosen to not name them, as I suspect so many other parents are doing sadly.

By Parent - 28 Nov 2021, Rate: bad

My daughter was a boarder at Somerville House. It was like a high rise prison. Five girls to a room, no fresh air and they were not allowed to go outside except for attending school. Most of the staff are 18 year old uni students. It was a very controlling environment, with very little privacy, limited recreational activities and no genuine support.

By Student - 10 Nov 2021, Rate: excellent

osthanmus wine tastes the same as I remember..

By Parent - 24 Oct 2021, Rate: bad

We made the mistake of sending our daughter to SH. Huge mistake!She went absolutely backwards. Teachers show little empathy, most were simply unprofessional just going through the motions. There is no real spirit or culture at this school. Fancy buildings but nothing else. Find your voice they say, sure as like as it aligns with the school s way. Definitely no room for individuals at this school.

By Parent - 22 Oct 2021, Rate: bad

A horrendous school which shows its students very little support. Unless you are in the top 10 for your year you really don't matter. Teachers do little to actually engage the girls or encourage them.

By Student - 20 Oct 2021, Rate: good

this school is very nice, and i find it so great. everything high class and the boarding house has very very good facilities, i have a great class which i s very close together and is so inclusive. dont lisent to the karens!!!

By Parent - 15 Oct 2021, Rate: bad

A revolting school full of patronizing, toffee nosed staff who treat parents and students with contempt. Most teachers are young 20 something girls with no life experience, who talk down to their students and show little genuine support. The management of the school are all cut from the same cloth they put policies and procedures before any care for their students or families. Could not be more disappointed with our experiences at SH.

By Student - 15 Jun 2021, Rate: excellent

This school is truely where i belong. I feel so connected and related to my peers! We 'hang out' on the weekends aswell as school days. Some of our favourite hobbies are stealing peoples boyfriends and bullying others who may not be as rich,pretty or sl*tty as us. Overall i look forward to coming to school each day and would definitly reccomend this school to you as long as you meet our requuirments(BLONDE. SKINNY. PRETTY. KNOW HOW TO STEAL A BOYFRIEND) dont worry though!!

By Parent - 15 Apr 2021, Rate: excellent

I’m very happy with my decision to send my daughter to somerville house. She loves the people and is a lovely girl herself, this school is also one of the most inclusive schools in QLD in fact they even had a boy who attended this school since prep then at year 10 he decided he was transgender and the school made a whole new uniform just for him! If don’t call that inclusive i don’t know what is! I would 100% recommend looking at somerville house for your daughters

By Parent - 26 Dec 2020, Rate: good

Read the comments of every school and you will see the word bullying. I don't think you should judge a school on that. My daughter went in junior school but it didn't suit her at the time but they're way of teaching and learning was far better than the school she is currently attending.

By Student - 07 Oct 2020, Rate: excellent

This is the best school ever! send your girls here and you wont regret it at all!!!! i have been to many schools and this is by far the best. Be friends with the tcs and you will thrive in social status lol! but if you aren't friends with them then you will be fine as well!! I reccommend this school to anyone who is looking for a great school with caring staff, great facilities and an amazing, inclusive community. Somerville house is any girls paradise, rich or not.

By Student - 01 Jun 2020, Rate: good

TBH it’s an alright school. New girls may get bullied. But only a little bit. And as long as you become friends with the TC’s it’s fine. Lol!

By Parent - 30 Oct 2019, Rate: bad

This school is full of bullies and they start in junior school. School does nothing about it. Even some of the admin are bullies. young girls talk about adult themes, there's stealing, lying, bullying. Child comes home crying because girls are cheating in class but no-one cares. If you have a loving, caring daughter who you want to continue to grow up with compassion, caring, loving characteristics, don't send her here...

By Parent - 27 Oct 2018, Rate: poor

My daughter went to Sommerville house and got bullied for her looks, and grew a reputation. I am pleased to say I took her out of that toxic environment.

By Parent - 12 Oct 2018, Rate: excellent

As a parent and old girl of Somerville House, I can confidently state that it is an exceptional school with excellent facilities, staff, programs and opportunities. Their is minimal bullying, if any, and watching first hand so many girls develop into confident, motivated, empowered young women is a true testament to the dedication of the school.

By Parent - 25 Apr 2018, Rate: excellent

Staff is good, students are high class as well as facilities

By Student - 23 Mar 2016, Rate: excellent

*probably won't be bullied.
There is nothing to worry about

By Student - 23 Mar 2016, Rate: excellent

Don't worry, you won't be bullied. Somerville House is a great place, it doesn't matter if you are rich or not. We are accepting to everybody. :)

By Alumnus - 30 Oct 2015, Rate: excellent

I graduated in 1996. I didn't come from a family with money and although I felt a bit left out at times (not having the money to go to the ball or any overseas trips etc), I had a nice group of friends and had a great time. I will forever be indebted to the dedicated teaching staff. I owe a lot of my university academic success to them. I like both music and sport and took full advantage of those programs.

By Student - 29 Sep 2015, Rate: good

I'm going to the school next year on a scholarship but I don't know what to expect. Many reviews from parents say that the school is amazing and exactly the type of school every girl should go to but there are also a lot of reviews about bullying. Is that true? People say that if you're not 'rich' you're bullied. I'm not rich and I'm not ashamed. Does that mean I'll be bullied?

By Parent - 19 Sep 2015, Rate: excellent

I am so glad I left the school we were at to follow Flo. This place is pure class. My girls all love it and are thriving.

By Parent - 03 May 2015, Rate: excellent

Somerville House is an exceptional school. My daughter has attended since year 2 and every year I have watched remarkable young women graduate. Proud, Confident & Ready (It's not always about getting an OP1) If you want to give your daughter the best possible opportunity - enrol them in Somerville House. It's worth every cent. I should point out though at the end of the day it's really up to your daughters happiness. Each school has it's pros and cons.

By Parent - 27 Apr 2015, Rate: excellent

It is a beautiful school, with lovely facilities. Yes, the girls are protected and naive but they are quite sweet. AS for bullying there is bullying at every school sadly. My daughter's are happy and while they are not academically amazing they are exceeding in sport, which really is there forte.

By Student - 09 Apr 2014, Rate: bad

It is elitist and horrible. I am 3 years out of school and still have nightmares attending here. Do not send your daughter to this school.