St Cuthbert's College (Epsom)

There are no words to describe the immense sadness that has come from sending my daughter to this school. How do you tell your 8 year old daughter that she is enough and that she matters when you have a group of rich listers who have excluded and bullied her to the point of suicide. 8 years old! The teachers acknowledged the bullying but it has continued for so many years. I have watched my daughter change from a vibrant happy girl to a depressed introvert. The jump jam is a scam…. I was told “your daughter is so good at dance, she leads the morning jump jam sessions” yet was declined for not being good enough for the school jump jam team. Instead the social influencers kids get the dance parts. Absolute crap!

Awful, toxic, over competitive environment! Bullying is rife & the school does nothing about it as the parent's run the school. Full of spoilt, entitled disrespectful students. No respect of elders. Do not send your girls there!

Amazing culture. Top girls school in NZ.

As a former student of stcuthberts this school is really toxix, racist, homophobic, the bullying is really terrible the teachers don't care at all about your mental health. teachers assume you're bad at math is you're white and if you're asian they will just assume you struggle in english, if you're maori or any other skin tone they will assume you're poor. most of snobby and bratty

DON’T COME The school doesn’t respect the students at all

The school manages its academic results by selectively enrolling students, and encouraging those who won’t achieve to leave early and not to compete year 13. Teachers are great and care about their students, but the school has champagne tastes on a beer budget. The state of many buildings is not at the same level as its competitors.

this school is downright awful, horrible students and the teachers are either insanely strict or don't care at all and just let you fail. i absolutely would not recommend you send your kids here because its a terrible environment for social interaction especially for people who are out of the norm in any way, not to mention the ridiculous fees and uniform prices.

St Cuthbert’s has many flaws, but they mainly lie with the way senior management handles things. The teachers are incredible and put huge amounts of effort and energy into giving their students the best education and school experience possible. There is a lot of pressure to succeed academically, which has terrible impacts on mental health, but the majority of this pressure comes from other students and senior management, not the teachers. Bullying is fairly common at St Cuthbert’s and the way that this is dealt with is usually pretty ineffective. Especially the way that reports of homophobia, racism, etc are dealt with. I think that’s partly just luck though because I know many people who loved St Cuthbert’s and had an amazing experience throughout. There are so many amazing students and people make lifelong friends at this school. The education is very good. The school just falls short when it comes to inclusivity and taking care of the students.

unbelievably discriminatory against everyone who’s not cis straight and white. breeds mental illness and neglects to even pretend to care about their students. disgusting uptight school. nobody who goes to cuths enjoys going to cuths. please do not go here ?

I attended in the 80's and felt forced to leave just before starting 5th form due to needing to escape the on-going bullying by Beryl Skeen, the music teacher. A few years earlier I was inappropriately touched by one of the dad's invited to a father/daughter sports day but didn't report it due to the lack of support between students and the senior teachers. The school has likely changed since then but after that episode I was never the same and disconnected.

St Cuthbert's College has a great reputation and has just been named top high school in the country for 2021 but to be completely honest the only positive thing I have to say about this school is about its academic rating. Most girls succeed to a high level academically and there is a high percentage of UE Entrance and course endorsements. As a former student of the college I can confidently say I have never talked to a single girl, current or past, who has loved it and most don’t even like it. For starters it is extremely racist. The teachers, senior management, the principal, everyone. Multiple teachers have used slurs such as the n word and so has the principal with only one forced apology and no consequences. There is an assumption that all Asians have difficulty with english, that all Māori and Pacific Island students are poor, and that basically anyone who isn’t white is less than. For the first 3 and a half years that I was at the college, the Te Reo Māori room was in a closet with tiny windows that were unreachable, holes in the ceiling and an electrical cupboard that was definitely not safe. All of the students could not fit at the desks and there were sometimes students sitting on the floor in the hallway outside. To shove the indigenous language of this country into a closet is testament to what the college is truly about despite what they will tell you. Secondly, it is an extremely toxic environment for anyone to exist in. The amount of bullying that goes on in that school is almost shocking considering how much they promote their motto ‘By Love Serve’. I know so many girls who have left the college with body image issues as a result of the bullying they endure and the pushed ideal body type. It is a damaging way for a girl to grow up especially those who have been there since age 5 and from my knowledge the school does nothing about it. Thirdly the homophobia. This is something that I found was never discussed. If you want to take a girl to ball, regardless of your relationship with them, you have to go to the school counsellor and your parents have to sign a form. There is no reason for this to happen other than homophobia which is disgusting considering how many girls identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, publicly or not. This can be detrimental to a students mental and emotional well-being. I would also not recommend boarding as all of the girls have said that often the food is inedible and they’ve had to order food and sneak it in to avoid going hungry. There is no freedom of expression. Girls are allowed to wear one stud earring per ear, no other jewellery, no dyed hair in any unnatural colours. None of these things impact education and only stop people from being who they are and expressing that externally. Everyone is made to look the same, do the same and be the same like robots. Honestly that’s just the beginning. I wouldn’t want any student to go to this school as I know the impact it will have on their mental, emotional and even physical health. Especially if the student is a POC or a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. They are unsafe there and it is so wrong to make them feel that way. Keep your kids safe.

people often send their kids to this school because of its academic rating and the schools's overall "good reputation" however as a student there, i can assure you its really not what it seems: -racist isn't unheard of here, multiple teachers have used slurs and such without any consequences to doing so. no apology, nothing. -again, racism. you would think that a school which receives so much support and half it's money from asian families wouldn't have any issues with racism against asians (especially Chinese) but there has been many instances of racism against Chinese students coming from school staffs. (assuming that their English is poor because of their race, telling students to 'take their Chinese ways back to china' -self expression. the school itself is very traditional, almost to a point where its absurd and completely ridiculous. no nail varnish, no more than one piercing per ear, no bracelts, necklaces etc. hair must be tied up and no obvious dyed colors. How does all that affect anyone's education? it doesn't. schools will tell you to "be yourself. express yourself the way you want to" but then list more than a FEW of the things you're not able to do. -money hungry. this school has beyond enough money yet they try to make a profit off everything.