Bellingen High School

I went here from grade 7-11(2018-2022) and those were some of the worst years of my life. The bullying problem at this school is so intense and the higher ups in the school will not even bat an eye. You will have to beg for help at this school and you will be incredibly lucky if you get it. The teachers here are 50/50, some of the most amazing teachers work at this school, whole other teachers are just plain awful. But the good teachers were amazing and great role models. Racism is especially prevalent at this school, along with intense homophobia in the kids that go there and some of the teachers (staff don't care). There are some good things about the school, like the school grounds are pretty big so there's lots of rooms for running around, playing sports, ect. The electives that I took were very good (art, ceramics, photography) Ceramics being my favourite, it was amazing and fueled my love for pottery. I did have beef with my art and pho teacher but regardless of that the learning material was pretty good, they also have great agriculture classes were you can interact with chickens and chicks, cows, sheep, alpacas. This school is also great for kids that play sports, it's really accommodating and serious about sports. The library is also very nice, great librarians, chess, lots of good books. For me personally although was all this good education material I would still not recommend sending your kids here. It can truly break your kids, I've seen it in my friends and others. Even alot of the kids on-top of the social hierarchy that cause so much pain to others themselves can't handle it there let alone everyone else that's not in that position. most people I know jumped at the opportunity to leave early (apprenticeships, dropped out, went to chec 11-12) no body wanted to stay there and the ones that did only stayed for their friends. Alot of my friends also go bullied out of the school. Another thing is the school is not accommodating to autistic people. I've had friends tell me how poorly they accommodate to autistic people, the silent rooms are pretty bad apparently. Kids there are also very violent and there is a 9/10 chance you will be verbally harassed every single day of your waking life. Did I mention bullying? This school has ruined peoples lives. Please I recommend sending your kids to another school.