Sacred Heart Girls' College (Ham)

I've noticed that nearly most of the school buildings have been demolished or changed over the years alongside the Euphrasie house, and have been replaced with unsightly buildings built with poor materials as opposed to brick which used to be apart of the older buildings. I've also been told that multiple classes and lockers were taken away during the recent construction and replaced with a large staff room, a cafeteria (when there was already a canteen elsewhere), and empty rooms for meetings. Unfortunately now this school alongside Marian across the road, looks nearly public rather than integrated and has lost nearly all their historical features. Other than that the school is great I've heard, although not as fun as it was.

I started at this school in 2022 and still attend, I believe this school has given me a lot of different opportunities, mainly with sports and academics. Most of the teachers are very experienced and they know what they're talking about. They cater to your needs and will often use extra time (Their lunch breaks) to run a tutorial if you need one. There are the odd teachers who have some questionable ways of teaching but you just have to adapt to them. The NCEA system seems scary when you first go into year 11, but the staff make it 10x easier for you by sending out heaps of emails to keep parents informed and up to date. I don't usually notice any bullying, there are definitely some students who will make fun of other students just to have a laugh, but that's going to happen regardless of what school you choose to go to. The best this to do is ignore them. The only thing to complain about is the 'appearance rules' , for example - one 1 small earring per ear, no other jewelry besides a Taonga, no dyed hair, no nail polish?? , hair must be tied up, no MAKEUP?? . A lot of other students and I disagree with almost all of the appearance rules.

Lots and lots of bullying, Teachers are racist, and the school cares more about their image rather than their own students.

The school cares more about controlling the students than allowing them to thrive. Many of the teachers are culturally insensitive or just plain racists, rumours about the principal telling multiple black students to take out their braids, once even at a cultural event. The teachers do not work together and we always have no idea what is going on, including my ccm teacher who is supposed help us out. It is week three of term one and timetables still aren’t finalised, this school is useless. Bullying is a big problem here aswell and instead of punishing the perpetrators, they punish the whole school.

I went to sacred heart and it was not the vibe. The school seems to solely focus on sports and doesn't care about the arts. We never got to have a school production, yet we had a sports assembly every other week. No one seems to be on the same page and most of the teachers are very harsh. The languages are not taken very seriously either. Also, the principal once suspended a student who was being bullied and not the students who were the bullies. If that doesn't give you an insight to the sh*ttiness of the school, I don't know what will.

After transferring here I can say that this school is pretty average. There are a handful of good teachers who are great at their craft, however the gap between expectations from the teaching staff, deans and the principal are astronomically different. The subjects are pretty standard. I personally dislike the lack of discipline and detention at this school, and the lack of encouragement towards nonsporting activities. Overall, it's ok.