Paeroa College

During my time here I havent had a very good experience with this place and from what Ive heard others havent either. This school is very sports focused, and while thats a good thing there are a number of students that dont enjoy sports that are guilty of tripped/forced into doing it just for house points.

The teachers here…well. A lot of them are lovely I cant deny that but…a lot of them are teachers are…intresting. Ive heard the students send multiple complaints about one of the teachers getting close with the kids and theyve gone unheard. The lack of control a lot of them teachers have over the students is really bad. The classrooms can get very noisy and ive heard kids yelling slurs and other disgusting stuff across the classroom and the teacher looks done with trying.

With the excellence and everything motto. Not everyone is able to reach this and still do well in life. Saying that its everything puts even more pressure on the students when I already know a lot of kids are struggling with the high expectations that are set. Everywhere I look I see kids who are physically and mentally exhausted with the expectations.

While it is good that we have free food I do have to talk about how unnapealing it is to the point me and other students have gotten sick from it and have just starved ourselves. While I do think its good to have healthy food if students arnt eating it anyway… I also do know that most stufents throw away their food because its not appealing. What has the school responded to this? Its better than the other schools…

This isnt the schools fault but I think I should mention the bullying. Me and others have been victim to this and while its not physical which the school seems to focus about its still very draining. This mostly happens in class as well but the teachers just dont seem to notice or dont care. Whenever we walk into school we get judged at and its not a safe place for a lot of students.

School is stressful yes but the high expectation and everyone judging every move sets a very heavy weight that students at our age shouldnt have to carry. Mental health is declining and the standards are insane.

The uniform rules are strict, the teachers are strict and this school is a place I would never want to send my kids. I would thank you for a horrible experience bsadly im still stuck here

It has good staff, but some lack control over the students, which cause the classes to get too loud and overwhelming for some people who have issues with loud noises.

Paeroa College does not live up to its motto of 'Excellence in everything' as they are overly sports focused and some even try to guilt trip students into attending sports events for house points/make students feel guilty that they missed the event.

Some of the classes are also way too online focused and SOME of the teachers get annoyed at students when their Chromebook goes flat and they don't have a charger.

Again SOME of the teachers are unfair when giving out punishments, i.e. making the whole class stay in when they could've easily kept the people who were disrupting the class in without having to unfairly punish the whole class.

In conclusion, Paeroa College can do better.

This tends to be a school where the kids who really need help struggle to get it and the kids doing well get a lot of attention.
There are few teachers who probably need a nice long break however a lot of the teachers are absolutely lovely and need a raise.
Bullying isn't much of a problem here but when it does happen kids are often just given a warning which can feel belittling to the person being bullied.
The school grounds are very well taken care of.
Just last year 2 students, one who was currently attending and one who had left had commit suicide, whether or not this has anything to do with the school Im not sure.
The school features no suicide prevention posters besides in the nurses office.
The uniform policy is very strict and you are made to feel guilty even when the option to come in full uniform wasn't there (ie: dirty uniform, shoes broken.)
There is a lack of counselling availability.
Food is free however only at lunchtime, at morning tea you are given a fruit cup or small muesli bar which doesnt help with the morning hunger, there's a breakfast club before school however this is hard to attend for students on buses or living a distance away from school.
The lunch is filling however not always appealing or yum as at our school it needs to be a certain percentage of vegetables to be allowed to be served,, healthy macaroni.
They do cater to diets however not all of the meals are able to be catered to and therefore they provide something else or just fruit.
The moto for this school is "excellence in everything" which I personally disagree with as not every student is capable of reaching the excellence standard.
It is very hard to be recognised at this school for your best work and your best working due to the standards they believe in (NZ education standards), the unrealistic standards that are given to all children are expected to be achievable for students who find it tricky to achieve.

The college is a inviting area where when you enter you feel relieved and not stressed about anything, you can be yourself and almost no one would judge you. The school isn't just good at sports but the academic achievements raise the roof aswell, this college is the place you would want to send your kids to. Making friends isn't that hard here, everyone has their own group. Their own personality of friends!
This college is amazing the teachers, the students and everything and everyone in and about it.