Westbrook School

I’m writing this as a Grandparent with direct experience of Westbrook School. Over the past three years, eight of our Grandchildren have attended Westbrook, and all but one, have since moved to other schools due to a range of concerns. I feel it’s important to share our whānau’s experience, as it has not always been positive.

From our experience, we found that some school policies—particularly those relating to vaccination status—were not applied consistently across classrooms. At times, our Grandchildren were excluded from certain activities due to not being fully vaccinated. The way this was handled varied between teachers, and communication around these decisions often felt unclear and, at times, exclusionary and unfair.

We also had ongoing concerns about safety, which is not something any parent or Grandparent should feel uneasy about. We became aware of incidents involving prohibited items reportedly being brought onto school grounds - including knives and according to reports at the time, a sawn-off shotgun. These situations raised questions for us about supervision, enforcement of rules, and overall student safety.
We also noticed what we felt was a rise in attendance of gang related pupils, with some associated concerning behaviour, including bullying.

In addition, there have been publicly reported concerns regarding staff misconduct involving a student in 2025. While we understand that such situations can be complex, this has impacted our confidence in the school’s safeguarding processes. Based on what has been reported publicly, it appears there may have been earlier warning signs, which adds to our concern.

Overall, we expect a primary school to provide a safe, inclusive environment, supported by clear communication and consistently applied policies. As we approach mid 2026, with only one Grandchild remaining at the school, we feel these expectations remain to be consistently met. Unfortunately, as a family, we have made the decision to move our last Grandchild elsewhere.

We believe stronger communication, clearer safety measures, and greater reassurance around student wellbeing are needed. Every family will have their own experience, but for us, it has not felt like a safe or inclusive environment. Until these concerns are clearly addressed, we would hesitate to recommend Westbrook to others.