Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School

It's time for my opinion about this place, a school I had attended for a long time but have since left. I'm gonna state the good, the bad and the ugly side of this place and what needs to be done. Good positive things, work here still remains at a top priority and outside of the classroom I was in, the atmosphere towards staff and students overall is lovely and usually teachers and students build good relationships with one another. The bad side of things, whilst I was here corridors were far to narrow which is a bit of a mess considering this is a wheelchair accessible school, for those who need the extra width. Plus the building is just old and some areas are crumbling apart after over 60 odd years of use. Yes there are new parts to the building that are much more modern but the older sides of school need a refurbishment in my honest opinion. Now getting onto the ugly side of things and this is where my heart breaks, some students I'm friends or best friends with have been getting bullied and nothing has been done, and mobile devices aren't even allowed to be used at break/lunch. Yeah while mobile network coverage in Birmingham isn't amazing, it would be a good idea to allow the students to contact their loved ones in an emergency, which isn't allowed here and I find that a joke. School meals are also worse according to some people I've heard from, and that's a shame considering I was here for over 16 years and when I started they were lovely. Other things, bathroom use is now restricted to just 5 minutes which I think is absolutely rediculous. Love and affection also isn't allowed here, in a strange manner. Some students are allowed to show it but some apparently aren't, which I also find absolutely mad considering a human connects with one another through physical or verbal affection, whether they need some emotional support or just want some friendship love. It breaks my heart I've had to write a lot negative things about the place I was at for so long, but the good positive things I said at the beginning was the work and general atmosphere is lovely. You will be greeted with a warm welcome from reception, and generally overall you'll have a positive experience in other segments of the school. The school also does fundraising events as well, which have a warm welcome from everyone and the selection of choices is decent. Just recently there was a Santa Grotto special that a lot of ex students, and other family members had attended. Nurses are also really nice, as they are NHS funded and they are really friendly towards students and staff. I'm giving this a 3 out of 5, good rating for the work and overall atmosphere but also a negative rating because of the bullying some of my best friends have experienced for a while, the no mobile devices rule, school meals not being amazing, etc.

My daughter has gone to this amazing school from the age of 2, she's 16 now and loves every minute of every day. This is an amazing school with amazing staff.

I have been at Victoria Special School since May 2006 and the place has changed a lot over the year in our 14 - 19 Department new build . If you are in year 12 you get to choose were you would like to do your Internal Work Experience Placement but it has to be in school and when you are in year 13 you get to choose were you would like to do your External Work Experience Placement. If you have any queries about work Experience placements you will need to phone up and speak to our friendly admin team and they will try and transfer you via phone to speak to Andrew Middleton - Assistant Head teacher. I like being at Victoria Special School the teachers and teaching assistants are very good at doing their job. If you are a visitor you would have to sign in at the reception desk and our friendly admin team will be keen to help you if you need it.