Sefton High School, Sefton School Reviews

Sefton High School, Sefton

School Reviews

By Parent - 02 Feb 2024, Rate: good

My son started year 7 yesterday, going in through the selective scheme. If my dealing with a lady in the front office is any indication, then may be it is not as good as I thought. I called to asked about a sport equipment. Basically, the information provided in the information booklet differed from what we were told in the assembly to welcome year 7. Right away, she said there was confusion, but instead of saying the teachers got the info wrong, it was "oh, your child must have heard it wrong". But I was there in the assembly and I heard it myself. To straightaway blame my child is quite rude. After I told her that I heard it with my own ears, then she was going to check it for me. Another thing: I mentioned that I still owed some of the school fees, but my account does not show any outstanding amount. Again, instead of checking it, she tried to blame me right away - oh, you must have indicated that you didn't want your child to go to camp. No I didn't. I'm an adult, speaking to another adult. We have equal powers and immediately she tried pointing fingers at me. Imagine if it was a kid trying to deal with her. As I said, it's very very very early days, so I'll wait and see if things will improve, but seriously, not the kind of start I was looking for.

By Parent - 25 Jan 2024, Rate: bad

Look at the school’s ranking in the last 10 years and you can see a very bleak picture. It is getting worse and worse with no future for the students. The principal and vice principals and lazy teachers are to blame for running the school reputation down to the ground. The school is being managed and run in a very old fashion, arrogant attitude toward parents and students from migrant background. The Principal should have a hard and honest good look at what overall achievements the school have gained since his arrival? NOTHING BUT FAILURE !

By Student - 10 Aug 2023, Rate: bad

the teachers all look like blobfish and have the audacity to give me detention like bro use the time to hit the treadmill

By Student - 02 Apr 2023, Rate: bad

this school is very bad i do not recommend you send your kids to this school because a friend of mine gets bullied by students and his parents have told the deputy mr Dimopoulos and he has done nothing and when the same student did one thing bad like standing up and defending for himself the teachers blamed him because he was bigger then the kids that bullies him, then i said why not fight them he said because he doesn't want to hurt them and he still didnt give them an suspension and im in year 8 so PLEASE DO NOT SEND THEM HERE

By Student - 29 Dec 2022, Rate: bad

i would never ever put my kids in this shit hole. Although i had received good education from SOME teachers the rest were honestly shit and didn't even bother teacher correctly. They spend half their teaching time getting students in trouble for the dumbest reasons like asking to go to the bathroom. I understand going to the bathroom could waste time but it's not a big deal because you can copy off the person next to you, but honestly giving a child a 20-minute detention for going to the bathroom is stupid. I hate this school with a passion because they don't even focus on the community side, they only care about the selective side and encourage those who are not in selective to drop out and they don't even bother telling the selective stream that. This school is stupid and i dont recommend your kids going there.

By Alumnus - 02 Dec 2022, Rate: poor

As a student here, trust my words when I say that this school is not the best choice to go to. My address is repeatedly written incorrectly. My friend also experienced them telling lies, saying that she was allowed to pay, then right when she was about to play, they had informed her that payments were due 2 days earlier. This school is extremely unorganised, and I urge you to not send your kids to this school.

By Student - 05 Jun 2022, Rate: bad

worst experience ever, don't send your kids here this place is a hellhole

By Parent - 01 Nov 2021, Rate: excellent

It is a hard cold school ,the admin staff are the most unfriendly unhelpful people I've ever come across .Students are made to feel like 2nd class citizens .Do not send your children there

By Student - 19 Jul 2021, Rate: good

its ok but the information is way to much to handle

By Alumnus - 21 Jun 2021, Rate: bad

Sefton is a literal craphole, with kids being suspended everyday. I understand the discipline must be put into place, but suspending a child defending another child, while the perpetrator gets to stay at school? I feel like they only look at the results of situations, rather than the actual event. This is also exactly what happens in almost every exam. The teachers fire information at students, and expect them to know all of it for exams (I know this sounds stupid but hold on). Not many teachers actually look at what needs work, and just tell the student to just 'get better'. Also, the harsh rules being instated by Humphreys are terrible. Just because a few students are a problem, it does not mean you need to punish the entire school. Being late 2 times in 2 weeks gives you a detention? Going to the toilet during class a detention? Like seriously? I've never personally gotten a detention from the deputy's but these seem super unreasonable. They don't understand people make mistakes, and expect us to be pixel perfect. They impose these harsh adult-like punishments, but then belittle us like children. They treat us one or the other when it gives them an advantage. They abuse their power to boost their own ego. There are tons upon tons of things i could go on about but it ends here for now :) DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SEFTON!

By Student - 27 May 2021, Rate: bad

i was talking about hilson nguyen from year 10 selective

By Student - 27 May 2021, Rate: bad

My boyfriend Hilson currently attends Sefton but I find that the school environment is affecting the way he performs in bed.

By Employee - 27 May 2021, Rate: poor

This school is very bad to teach at, the kids are always bad and i dont like it

By Alumnus - 18 Dec 2020, Rate: excellent

I'm an original "SEFTONIAN" starting in 1961 and proud to be one.
While at Sefton back then as is now we had some GREAT teacher and some not so good.(well in my opinion) I was not a top student as my main interests were in Sport & Music although I did excel in Geography. At the age of 32 I graduated from University with Bachelor of Business.. At the age 58 I got my MBA and this next year 60 years after I started at Sefton I will be awarded my PHD in Sports Medicine.
Yes it has been a long journey but I have enjoyed it and remember my days at Sefton.
I would like to encourage every student at Sefton to follow your dreams, and just because you may not get the results your family or teachers thought you should go on and be the best you can, just for yourself.
No-one at Sefton from those early days would have ever expected me in 2021 to be know as Doctor R..

By Student - 09 Dec 2020, Rate: poor

hello, i am a student who has been at sefton high school for a sustained period of time. i believe that this school DOES have some good members of staff (who make going to school much more bearable), but there are the other major figures who absolutely abuse their authority. namely, school principal mr humphreys. i am aware that as a student, i may seem biased with my claims. however, it is evident that this school, for the most part, does not care about the wellbeing of the students. they would rather focus on the importance of how terrible it is to wear black socks at school, instead of properly educating the students about mental health. the only lessons that have focused upon mental health have been a few in pdhpe, but even there they have blamed it upon gaming. the final straw that had made me inclined to write this review though, was the cruel way in which mr humphreys spoke towards me (in a situation i will not name). i can speak with complete honesty, when i say i was in no position of fault. it was not in his office, or even serving a detention. it was after school,
and he had spoken to me in such a condescending, demeaning manner, as if to belittle me. this tone of voice is something i have heard him speak in multiple times before towards other students too. i recall him asking me a question along the lines of “are you deaf?” or something similar, as well as saying a few other things that are not acceptable for a person of his position to say. i am aware that discipline is important, but essentially making fun of a student and implying that they are also mentally challenged (i apologise if these words weren’t chosen well) is absolutely NOT okay. those who have the most authority in this school are the worst people to have been promoted, aside from the deputies. even the administration officer, and the office ladies are inconsiderate. from sitting in the office, i am able to hear loud and clear the office workers talking badly about other people. the administration officer has also said many questionable things. here, students have almost no voice unless it is to make the school look good.

By Alumnus - 20 Nov 2020, Rate: poor

I’ve just graduated from here in 2020. Sefton High School does have its strengths, but overall, I personally believe that the flaws outweigh the positives.
SHS is a pretty traditional school in where it tends to focus on pretty ancient methods of teaching; there is virtually little evidence of innovation in teaching. From my six years of being at this school, the school invests little into improving the education of their students, which results in disengaging teachers who do not know what and how to teach, as well as outdated textbooks. Rather, it appears that the school wants to improve their image in the community. The only thing that I believe Sefton does right is the enforcement of the school’s motto “Sincerity, Sincerity, Scholarship”, although I’ve noticed this disappearing in my later years of high school.
There’s a lot to cover, so I’m going to briefly discuss the faculties and the office:
The principal, Mr Humphreys, is in my opinion, not really that good. I remember the hype that came around when news came around that he was starting in 2018. But in all honesty, it appears that he has a bit of a lack of trust in the students, maybe even the staff. The one thing I didn’t like was the new late arrival policy they introduced, which I do see where he was trying to get, but I feel like was rushed, and because of that it did more harm than good.
There are three Deputies at Sefton. One of them is pretty new, and one is only temporary. So, I’ll talk about the last deputy, Mr Dimopoulos. Dimo, as we generally call him, may seem strict when he first meets you because he treats you as an adult, but overall, he becomes a bit of a softie as you grow older.
The office ladies are generally mean and, in some cases, rude and condescending. Literally, I think one, maybe two are nice to students and visitors, but the rest of them are merciless, and do not care about anything except for anything to do with money. I can recall countless times I have been shooed out of the office when asking for directions.
English is a mixed bag. From what I know, most of the teachers are pretty new to the profession, except for the Head Teacher, Mr Atkinson, who I’ve had for English Advanced. Generally, they mark pretty harsh. I do understand why, but it also kinda destroys the morale of the students. So, I think if they were not too harsh with marking.
Maths is very questionable. Personally, I feel like the Maths faculty, with the exception of two, maybe three teachers, do not understand what they are teaching. This is kinda where the tutoring culture of Sefton comes into play, and based on the results of our HSC, it’s very obvious most of the best students rely on tutoring because of the overall incompetence of the faculty. But the faculty have just got two new Maths teachers, so this view may be a bit outdated.
Science is also a questionable faculty. The teachers are really chill and approachable, but I feel like what they teach either is way off the mark of the syllabus or is useless. Again, there is this culture of tutoring here as well. And from what I have experienced, Science usually don’t teach their students how to answer the question, although I noted that they are slightly beginning to do that, so kudos to them. Also, my year advisor was from this faculty, and he loved puns for the sake of making us happy, and to an extent, him happy :)
Social Sciences is a pretty decent faculty. Teachers, while they may contradict what they say, generally know what to teach and how to teach. I feel like this faculty is a bit undervalued because of the overall ethnicity of the faculty, but I also think it’s just that Social Science is not held up to high regard compared to Maths and Science.
History is undeniably the best faculty at Sefton. The results speak for themselves, with Ancient being the best subject by averages in 2019, from what I heard. I did Modern History, which is also another subject that Sefton usually does good in, but again, people tend to underestimate the value of History, because they favour subjects like Maths and Science.
PE is OK. You got some good teachers that will hear you out and help you, and then you got those which make you question why you are in their class. They way they teach, from what I’ve experienced, is decent, but can be better.
Tech is also not bad. Two of the teachers are legit some of the most chill teachers at Sefton, but the rest are just meh…
Languages, Visual Arts and Music are good. Can’t really say much because I only did these subjects in Year 7 and/or 8.
In summary, although Sefton has its positives, it has more flaws than its strengths. While I’m not going to recommend parents/students to stay away from Sefton, just make sure you are ready to deal with being a Seftoner, because you will either love it or hate it.

By Student - 19 Nov 2020, Rate: bad

The teachers do not care about the students at all and it’s disgusting how the deputy principal treats students. Although there are a few good teachers, majority of teachers do not care about their students and end up impacting their student’s marks despite being a selective school.
What’s probably more disgusting is how the office ladies treat students.
- One of the office ladies was racial discriminatory due to my parents not being able to speak good english and began treating my parents poorly.
- When I fractured my thumb at school rather than aiding me or giving me ice, I was screamed at by the office staff for having long nails and accused of trying to skip class when the nurse forgot to cater to me for an entire period (80mins) despite me asking several times for atleast ice. As I waited for treatment, I overheard the office ladies making fun of my nails and telling the entire staff including the deputy principal.
If you go to sefton for academics, consider getting a tutor for your subjects because you won’t learn anything.

By Student - 29 Sep 2020, Rate: average

Hi lovely ladies and gentlemens, im coming to this school next year as a year 10 student, i can see that most comments are negative but since i cannot undo my enrolment, can anyone here tell me what to look out for so that i dont end up failing tests and becoming homesless?

By Student - 08 Sep 2020, Rate: bad

As a student within this school, there are many bones to pick.
First off is the teachers, in today’s situation of and ongoing pandemic, there have been less involvement in teaching by providing notes but not going in-depth, leaving me confused and hopeless, these teachers haven’t provided much to my learning but the point of a syllabus. The key point I am gathering here is, teachers that were able to successful inform, assist and develop with students have now left, leaving other fill in teachers without the determination to help students persuade their best marks possible.
Second of all is that food provided by the canteen. Food can range from $5.50 to $7.50 on a variety of small boxes (plastic takeaways boxes), overcharging food for what? Plus the food that can be found are not nutritionally balanced and bland. Daily specials have made its way on as items, however these items are also really unhealthy. I’ve spoken to many teachers about the canteen food and they would rather not eat then pay for overcharge food that has no flavour at all.
Lastly is the principle. The current principle of Sefton high has provided nothing but a fraction amount of sympathy towards the students of 2020, giving advise including, there are more important problems out in the world, family included, and calling the HSC test “easier than the trails exam”. This quote doesn’t help the fact that this grade has been the most disadvantaged year group of all. The principle also loves to hold late student back for no reason, telling you a story of how he came to school at 6:30 in the morning while students come late, his priority is to keep student back rather than allowing student to quickly rush back to class to collect the missing information not that long ago, I one of these students, was held back for almost 35 minutes, missing almost half of my class. Then would have the audacity to lecture me about being late and all the work I’m missing in class. This lesson was the most important lesson, yes I was late, however he did not grasp the understating that this lesion I something that goes towards out HSC results.
Alas, the school has a very negative response with students who would need help with either, work or other emotional, physical or economic issues and there has nothing being held to make these changes.

By Student - 12 Jun 2020, Rate: bad

Open the library!

By Student - 11 Jun 2020, Rate: bad

I joined this school extremely proud of the Selective opportunity offered to me. However, I will now be retracting that pride based on the school situation. All the passionate teachers (Diab, Pham-Nguyen, Scott, Stafford, Cheong and Murray) have left for better career opportunities. When the students needed great teachers the most, we were left with appalling teachers who expect us to learn the syllabus on our own (Holt, Badawi, Najem, Auzins, just to name a few). We have a brand-new jungle gym that costed a fortune, just for it to collect dust, as we are left with ancient textbooks. Why is no one allowed near it? The teachers patrol with hi-vis and walkie-talkies acting like cops on a power trip. Never knew this school was a prison. What's next? Pepperspray?
Mr Humpreys deserves his own paragraph. He is unique. Uniquely trash. He has absolutely no regard for student welfare, maybe even his staff's welfare. Good students that slip up once a while have the books thrown on them, whilst long-time troublesome offenders walk free with one-day suspension.
The school's HSC ranking is decreases at an increasing rate, whilst it's NAPLAN ranks increase. Clearly, the teachers only teach NAPLAN related content. This doesn't benefit students at all. How can the school claim "Excellence in education for all our students" when it's just excellence in NAPLAN results, not even the HSC; the one that actually matters.
All our funds went towards a restricted jungle-gym, rather than purchasing modern textbooks, funding desperate clubs and extra-circular activities, air-conditioning, toilet paper, bathrooms with locks and anti-bullying and prevention.
The students and teachers that actually want a change and make the school proud, lack morale due to the school system's bias. If you want to pick up your kids depressed, by all means, the bright blue gates are wide open. Truth be told, your child deserves better. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE!

By Student - 29 May 2020, Rate: bad

Some parents send their kids to this school because it’s partially selective while others send their kids because it’s simply the closest school. The staff has openly admitted that a student’s mental well-being is no their no. 1 priority. There have been multiple cases of students leaving the school due to the mistreatment of their fellow peers with addition to the school refusing to do anything about it. Sefton has one of the worst science faculties, they never actually teach kids on how to answer the questions in exam time. The office ladies are extremely disrespectful to the students, I have an office lady publicly scream ‘So do you live with you’re mum or dad, it’s not that hard!’ I understand working in there is hard, but publicly saying things like that to a child? This is just simply unacceptable. I went into this school with high expectations, but all I saw was old buildings, small recreational areas, mean teachers, lack of correct materials to teach students and no air-cons. There are subjects where the only textbook used are from the 80s...
I personally do get along with most teachers, but I see the bias attitudes they have towards others they don’t like. There are teachers who have ‘bullied’ kids to the point they simply drop the subject when the time comes, despite them enjoying the subject or not, the mere thought of them POSSIBLY getting that same teacher has taken away their opportunity to strive in a subject.
Please take student’s mental well-being into your consideration, just simply because we’re bad doesn’t reflects on what we experience at home. Just because we’re intelligent doesn’t mean we don’t have problems. Just because we’re shy doesn’t give you the right to single us out to ‘make us confident’.
Don’t come here

By Employee - 14 May 2020, Rate: bad

Unless the school has improved drastically with the arrival of the new principal, I would highly discourage you from sending your child to this school or considering employment there. Bullying is rife throughout the staff at the school, and abuse of power is perpetual and consistent. There is no regard for student welfare, zero provisions made for disability, and no allowance for staff to cater to individual student needs. Staff were instructed to teach incorrect information to students at the start of Year 7 to ensure their NAPLAN results would reflect substantial growth in Year 9. Instead of teaching the syllabus content, we taught to the requirements of NAPLAN. Any student unlikely to receive a Band 5 or higher in their HSC were actively encouraged to leave school at the end of Year 10, whilst students who wouldn't add growth in Yr 9 NAPLAN were punished for minor behaviour to make sure they would ultimately be removed from the school. It was all about image, rather than education. Staff did not have the best interests of the students at heart; they were more focused on themselves and one-uping each other.
Long story short, do not be fooled by the reputation of the school. NAPLAN results are good at the expense of the remaining curriculum and the HSC results a reflection of tutoring. The best thing I ever did was leave this school, although I miss the students dearly - even today.

By Student - 12 May 2020, Rate: bad

This school is absolute garbage, they send lack of apps for the littlest of things. We have google classroom lessons due to covid-19 and they sent me 2 lack of apps for not engaging in google classroom when i had done nothing wrong. Furthermore the teachers in the school are horrible there are very few teachers who actually have experience and are good at teaching. There is little to no air conditioning and most of the office ladies are pricks

By Student - 12 May 2020, Rate: bad

This school sucks as it gives such bad reasons, I had Google classroom this year and you almost had 1 HOUR TO SUBMIT OR ELSE A LACK OF APP.Like i was doing other work. The office is horrible as on cold days they make kids stand outside until its your turn and they shoo kids away. Once my friend was bullied there and his mum told the principle And he said okay, ALL HE SAID WAS OKAY AND HE NEVER DID ANYTHING. The school literally says they do not tolerate bullying.

By Student - 24 Jan 2020, Rate: bad

Worse school ever. Had a maths teacher that almost made me drop out.

By Student - 20 Jan 2020, Rate: average

Hi I would like to know if the school has stepped up its game is it a good school because I might be attending this school this yr and would also like to know what sports does this school do like what type of grade sports or if there any other sporting activity’s. I will be in yr 10 this yr

By Student - 28 Nov 2019, Rate: bad

Staff is bad minimal to no aircon, office staff also bad

By Student - 26 Nov 2019, Rate: average

the school is not all bad but be aware of the following
1.the midyear exams are based on something they never taught you
2. the kids are bad and get suspended every day
3. All science teachers are bad and mean
4. they are poor and can not afford any are cons
5. you can get detention very easily.
ALL THE ABOVE COMES FROM DEEP DOWN IN MY HEART TRUELY AND HONESTLY. BYE

By Student - 14 Nov 2019, Rate: poor

the level of order in Sefton High School is extremely poor. the teaching system is by far outdated, as well as the textbooks used. a particular teacher in the science faculty who somehow got promoted to a higher position (not naming anyone) is by far the most horrible teacher i have ever come across. i believe that in order for students to have proper motivation to strive hard in school is to encourage them- the exact opposite of this teacher. she picks on students and even talks about her vain personal information! only one teacher in the pdhpe faculty is able to teach properly, and he actually has common sense in comparison to the actual head of that department. teachers mark with different levels of harshness on their students, deeming the final results biased and unreliable.
the community students in our grade is extremely unruly, so there should be more of a disciplinary approach to proper behaviour rather than threatening letters or creating unfair rules which apply to the selective students too.
the current principal childishly refused to have a meeting about the waste of paper occurring at the school, because "you are too young to understand". rather than making a potentially positive influence on the rest of the student body to be encouraged to be sustainable and eco friendly, he made the irrational decision to suit his lazy behaviour. stop telling us to act like adults but treat us like children!
the office is completely a mess, with the staff there being inconsiderate and irritable. they are rude to parents and students, and only really care about chocolate and their pay check. they are definitely not ethically qualified to even be interacting with the student body with such toxic behaviour. they act extremely unprofessional and shoo students away when they have an issue that is not to do with any form of legal tender.
teachers continuously send lack of application letters, as well as homework letters which pressure students to not even enjoy any school subjects at all. many students at this school live extremely far and must travel for an hour or more to even get to this school, so if they forgot something they can't really go back to get it. forgetting an item is understandable due to waking up early and being pressured to study until late at night, as well as forgetting things are just part of human nature. they tell us to be more organised like utter hypocrites and can't be corrected without whining like toddlers. admitting mistakes doesn't make you less of an authoritative figure, but being mature and owning up to them makes you a better role model.
this school is extremely problematic and the behaviour here is unacceptable by both the employees and a large portion of the students.
-selective student

By Student - 05 Oct 2019, Rate: average

THIS IS THE SAME REVIEWER AS BELOW I would like to add one more thing I was wanting to join this school next yr to do yr (10-12) her so like I said can anyone tell me how the school is going and where is it at now

By Student - 05 Oct 2019, Rate: average

Hi I would like an honest review on this school because I have now moved in to the local area and was planning on coming to this school from a private school so can someone please tell me an Honest review on the school and do they have outside school activities such as sports or gala days

By Student - 19 Aug 2019, Rate: poor

I have recently made it into Sefton High School and to be honest it isn't all that great. Firstly the teaching staff of this school is absolutely disgraceful. Secondly there is not nearly enough outside school activities to participate in.

By Student - 04 Jun 2019, Rate: average

hey guys I have been looking at some of the reviews and because the last review was in 2018 august i need to know if the school has improve. I want to go there but I honestly have no clue on what type of environment it is since its a public school and want to do yr 11 and 12 there (coming from a private school) please whatever it is I need to know I am not getting myself into a public where i waste 2 years of my life which is yr 11 ans 12 being there and not learning anything. And it doesn't have to be from yr 11 and 12 yr 10 would be useful

By Student - 29 Aug 2018, Rate: poor

I am going to be honest when I say that this school isn't that great. There is so much hype around Sefton High School, but really, it isn't that great. The only thing that makes this experience bearable is being able to sit next to Daniel Tran every single day, and watching him do his thing. I am so thankful for having him in my life, and it is the only reason why this school can be considered borderline poor, and not garbage. Daniel Tran in YR 11, I love you.

By Student - 24 May 2018, Rate: average

I don't really know what this school is about. I have to wait until my selective test come out to see if i can get into Sefton high school. If its bad then sefton bye bye because i don't live there so i can't go to that school then.

By Parent - 11 Apr 2018, Rate: excellent

THIS SCHOOL IS TRASH!!! Especially one particular maths teacher, Mr Deo. He teaches us limited things in class and makes us do tonnes of homework to compensate for his failure as a teacher. I just had a homework task right now where i had to learn a completely new concept by myself. 90% of the work in my book is homework, and my book is thicc. I believe that this school is where its at due to external factors such as tutoring. Almost all the kids in selective go to tutors. If you are thinking of going to this school. DON'T!

By Student - 29 Nov 2017, Rate: bad

In my honest opinion, parents who are looking for a good school (especially academic) should not even consider going to this school as it is extremely poor in all areas.
First of all, I spent two years of my life in Sefton not having enough knowledge for the minimum standard of an average school. After a while, I also learnt that majority of the students in Sefton depended on their tutors greatly to get a successful mark in tests overall. This is probably why Sefton was ranked 52 in HSC results last year.
In the time I wasted at this school, I found teachers who ignore our classes, who do not know how to control classes, who don't come prepared or who even mistake where students' learning were up to. Some teachers can't even recognise the year group they are teaching! Of courses there are some exceptions such as my Maths and Geography teachers.
The worst subject is Science. There is this Science teacher, who does not come to classes majority of the time, cannot control the class when she is in class, never remembers where her students have learnt up to and even gave false knowledge! A lot of us were affected by her teaching methods, and it is reflected in the mid-year test result.
The principal wasn't great as well. For example, the principal does not like air-conditioners, thus there is none in the classrooms. In this day and age where temperatures can climb to the high 30s, air conditioners are extremely vital because how can a student study well in a hot, sweaty and stuffy environment? Initially I thought it was the cost but at the beginning of this year, a gym was constructed at a corner of the school, which I believed was pretty expensive. So the lack of air conditioners was just the preference of one staff member.
The office ladies were terrible too. For example, when my friend and another boy got injured, the office ladies were very concerned about the boy because his injuries was more severe. However, when they returned and saw my friend, they simply just told my friend, "Oh, you're still here?" and told her to return to class with only an ice pack to 'numb' her injuries! Not only that, whenever I was absent from school, my parents not only called the school office, they also provided me with a letter or a doctor's certificate stating the reasons of my absence. However, there was always a letter posted to my home asking for the reason why I was away. Don't they understand that the reason has already been provided? Do the office staff even communicate with each other?
Hygiene is also a major issue in our school. The girls' toilets are unclean and sometimes there were no toilet paper. There were two occasions where there was faeces on the ground and vomit in the sink. Just this morning, there was a disgusting smell in the handball courts. It smelled like the sewerages and dumps combined. It was putrid! The school did not even go and find out what the cause was, even though it was reported.
The canteen could also do better. Many things it is selling are frozen stuff that just needs to be microwaved, instead of being freshly prepared. So having such food at expensive prices is not worth it. There had been a few occasions where the canteen staff misplaced orders - I remember the time when they forgot my order and I had to go foodless and hungry. The only good thing was they did pay me back once they discovered I did order, but I still had to go hungry on the day they made the mistake!
So yeah, I'll be frank, I do not recommend anyone to come to this school at all. If you do not trust in a current student's experience, mark my words, your child will experience hell.

By Student - 25 Sep 2017, Rate: good

I really do like Sefton High school, but just like any other school, it has its negatives and its positives. When i first got accepted i had thought that students in the selective stream would look down on students in the community/local stream, but I was pleasantly surprised to see no such 'discrimination'. As someone who transferred high schools, I can say the curriculum is definitely more advanced than other high schools, as it is partially selective. Teachers are quite diverse in the way they treat their students. Some have the more professional approach which I don't mind. However, the teachers I really love are the ones who relate to us students, them usually being the younger ones. But again there is a good and bad side to everything. There are obviously going to be some teachers who either mistreat their students or ignore them completely. I like the subjects and selection for electives. However - and I'm sorry, I must express my opinion in this - parents get TOO involved in the selection of electives. I understand that parents should have a say in the subjects their kids choose for future years, but some completely choose, without discussing it with them first. The students should take time to explain and talk to their parents about why they want those subjects. Especially in years 9 and 10, because its a time of 'experimenting' with what they like to do. Now going on, something my parents definitely tend to complain about is the school's lack of communication with parents. My mother said that all she's seen from this school is the hall and uniform shop. Even the office has a completely different side for students and parents to enter on, almost like they're trying to keep us apart. Another thing I hate but might just be because I'm very lazy, is the fact that we have to pay for excursions or any notes we get, at the office, and then have to go back to find the teacher and give it to them. I wouldn't mind if we have to put it in a box, like we have to more often now. But sometimes, we have to give the note directly to a specific teacher and it's nearly impossible to find them. Whether they're in the office, in their staffroom, on duty in the playground somewhere, I'll never know... Personally, it's very inconvenient and leaves little time to talk with friends and eat, even though that is the original purpose of lunchtime and recess. Another thing they have implemented recently is the new toilet policy. They have about six chairs in the office and if you need to go to the toilet, but there aren't enough chairs for you to sit on, you have to go back to your classroom. I don't quite understand why they can't just open up the main toilets instead of making us go to the office.
There are many more things on both the positive and negative sides, but this will be too long if I continue.
Thank you.

By Student - 31 Aug 2017, Rate: average

(THIS IS ONLY PART 1! THIS REVIEW IS ALSO BE UPDATED ONCE IN A WHILE IN PART 2)
I'll admit. Many parents I've heard had always admired Sefton High School as their priority. Their are some good sides but in this case, downsides occur too! Don't get me wrong, I'm a Year 8 student and may have not much experience as other people here.
I'm going to point out the negatives first. First of all, I clearly hate that this school isn't encouraging me enough, then I think I would be. It doesn't have the potential to just make someone dedicated to their learning. Adding on, this adds to their behaviour. In Year 8, there are way too much people who are just mindless. They disobey teacher's instructions, they get on their phones when they are not supposed to, it's just ridiculous. Secondly teachers. Why do I point out to teachers may I ask? Some teachers can be SUPER engaging, which I will always love but many teachers actually don't fulfil their roles as a teacher. I won't say their names out but anyways, here's an example. One of my teachers come EXTREMELY under prepared, and not knowing what to teach us. She then writes the lamest Learning Intentions and Success Criteria and asks us to read a textbook. 20 minutes later, she asks us to just do one task and to discuss with the entire class. She said absolutely nothing after that, the boys threw scissors everywhere, it was just a nightmare! Some made some weird noises. And the teacher couldn't even care less! And at the end, we don't learn anything.
And now to point out the positives. Some teachers are dedicated to their students. They are happy to explain like a billion times when you need to, some are super engaging and makes the whole lesson more interesting! This school actually have some amazing subjects, such as Wood Technology and Metal Technology that happens to be fun even for girls like me!
Some things I would really suggest for this school:
- Better teachers (just don't remove the best ones)
- Better learning environment. Let me just add on to this but the learning environment is HORRIBLE and appalling, with many students distracting the class. It is legitimately IMPOSSIBLE to hear the teacher
- Better environment. What I mean in this case, is the school's playgrounds can be easily dumped in rubbish.
OVERALL, it seems that many people in Sefton High School come from tutor, and they learn the most fundamental basics there. Sefton to them is their achiever, trying to build up on the basics. For me it does seem to actually help but really it can help at the same time, especially in English where you can learn something new over topics.
THE FOLLOWING PART WILL BE HARDLY USEFUL TO THE REVIEW BUT IT IS JUST FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN SEFTON HIGH SCHOOL, THANK YOU!
Now I won't be biased when it comes to learning topics. I can tell you what topics you will be doing for Year 7 and Year 8. This is dedicated for people who are actually curious on the subjects, especially to parents.
English
Maths
Science
History
Geography
Visual Arts
Music
PDHPE
Technology (Metal (in Year 8), Wood (in Year 7), Textiles [Sewing] and Food)
French (in Year 8)
This is the list. Note that in Technology you are definitely doing Wood Technology (if you are in Year 7) and Metal Technology (in Year 8). You will then either get Food Technology or Textiles. These technology classes are in one semester. This also applies to Visual Arts and Music. You get a semester each. The rest of the courses are compulsory (unless you are in Year 7, you won't do French).
Do note, even though you are either selective or not, you will do the same assessments BUT in Mathematics, there are 2 different assessment questions. It does sound confusing but let me get this straight. There are 2 categories. One called "Standard and Fundamental", the other "Standard and Extension". People who are selective do the S+E but people in the locals do S+F. HOWEVER there is one class in local, who does S+E, because of their amazing Maths skills.
I'd hoped that this review can help decide some parents, but always note that this is biased! This is not to be in any way, extremely offensive and rude. This is my total opinion.
From the Year 8 student.
P.S. Even though I see to be a Year 8 student, I'm going to be Year 9 next year soon so yeah XD And I know my English is horrible but I tried.

By Parent - 18 Jun 2017, Rate: average

Wishing the teachers will do better at their jobs

By Student - 20 May 2017, Rate: bad

***Correction of the post below:
"Secondly, when a majority of students obtain outside tutoring, it leaves the other students (who could not afford tutoring) highly disadvantaged. As a majority of students get tutored outside Sefton, the Sefton teachers tend to minimise their teaching efforts and they fall into the mentality that 'students will get tutored anyway' and do not bother giving all the required education to their students. This is extremely unfair."

By Parent - 20 Jun 2016, Rate: average

Not tight communication between school and parent. Very surprised with school's culture as all the informations, news, reports or parent meeting days and enqueries had to be via mail not email.
The staffs seem to be very self-protects and seem reluctant to help via phone.

By Student - 20 Jun 2016, Rate: poor

I question the professional capacity of the school staff at Sefton.
Information is always sent to the parents via a very subpar mailing system and the teaching staff appear to be very irresponsible, as any direct enquiries are immediately redirected towards an aggressive administration, who always seem to be incredibly reluctant to cooperate let alone discuss matters with me or my parents. They immediately assume a degradative, accusatory stance towards any enquiries and maintain a very childish and unprofessional manner of speech that is inappropriate considering their occupation.
It is almost as if the school staff have a persistent, almost compulsive distrust of any student, going as far as to belittle anyone that even sets foot in the school and abusing their power to justify their prejudiced perspectives.
The school staff of Sefton High are disillusioned in the purpose of their occupation and should either review why they have chosen this line of work or seek employment on the process working line, because from what I have observed, these immature and irresponsible excuses of educational staff have no place in the educational industry.
Keep in mind, there is half a reason I chose to transfer to Hurston, as Sefton's unprofessionalism is incredibly detrimental for the mental state of any high school student.
I hope someone takes value in my feedback and reconsiders their children's future or career prior to enrolment.

By Alumnus - 16 Dec 2015, Rate: excellent

Be very active and unite with your mates

By Student - 27 Nov 2015, Rate: excellent

My sister comes here, gonna come next year

By Student - 20 Nov 2015, Rate: excellent

I love Sefton high school. If my parents move houses I will 100% come at Sefton high schoo

By Student - 20 Nov 2015, Rate: excellent

I mean school not schoo

By Parent - 19 Jun 2015, Rate: excellent

Lol get rekt

By Parent - 22 May 2015, Rate: excellent

My son is in Year 10 selective student in this school. I think it is a very good school because my son told me that the teachers are good and helpful to the students. The way of teaching is nice . I like one of their school's rule which is the emphasis of attendance If the student is late or absent from the class they will send a letter to the parents to let them know .

By Parent - 05 Mar 2015, Rate: excellent

any advise please my son will be going there in 2016 coming from private school not sure if its a good decision any advice??

By Student - 20 Aug 2014, Rate: good

whoops, typos....
In case youre wondering i'm in year 11 and i did the review below :)

By Student - 20 Aug 2014, Rate: good

The science faculty is really good, especially the chemistry and physics subjects. In my opinion biology is quite average. The maths department is also really good and the teachers really care about the students. Although there are some English teachers that are a bit iffy, there are also some that are excellent as well. If youre in the selective stream, the classes arent as disruptive, but i find that selective students will tend to stick with the selective group and vise versa for community. Even though the streams of selective and community are mixed at year 11 and 12, community isnt bad. Although, there are a few exceptions, it is only a FEW. Iknow some community people who are really intelligent and try there best. Overall, this school is pretty good. Its got such a close environment and the teachers are ultimately good at what they do; TEACH. I see lots of people get along, the grade grows together.

By Parent - 19 Jun 2014, Rate: excellent

bad school the community students are very rude and interfere with the selective students

By Student - 23 Apr 2014, Rate: average

the classes need to be graded more because i find it very hard to study in class with other classmates disrupting the lesson. the school grounds are small compared to other high schools.
-non-selective student, year 9-2014

By Parent - 17 Mar 2014, Rate: excellent

I am one of selective student's parent , I also heard that this school become fully selective soon?

By Parent - 03 Oct 2013, Rate: average

not very bad

By Student - 12 Jul 2012, Rate: excellent

I will be going to this school next year as a selective student and i heard that this school's was really good for a non partially selective. I've heard that this school would be fully selective in 2013! Love sefton