New College Doncaster - Doncaster

Rhiannan C.

I attended this college for 3 months in 2022, and to say that my experience here was below average would be an understatement.

You attend the open days under the false impression that the college gives you freedom, a fun and engaging learning experience as well as a tight knitted community and this is wrong.
The college is extremely expensive and if you want to use the private buses run by the college expect to pay a £300 fee.

The workload that they give you is unattainable, at least 4 hours per subject per week, on top of attending daily classes, most being 7-8 hours a day. I think that this college fails to recognise that most of its students do not come from wealthy backgrounds and most will need a job to pay for the things that the college expects you to provide and pay for, such as transport fees, work books, and expensive school trips (one was named as mandatory and nearly came to £1000). Typical people do not have that type of money lying around to throw at a school trip that most of the class did not want to attend anyways.

The warning signs that this college was bad came from the off, upon receiving GCSE results and enrolling on the course, many students were told that the course that they had applied to and got the grades to secure their place, was too full to accommodate them and therefore had to search for another course, that they might not necessarily want to do. This is damning for things such as university, where you need to complete certain courses to even be considered.

The college claims to advocate and this is so far from the truth. There is no diversity or celebrating of differences. This college has made me and other students suffer with poor mental health as a result of their unrealistic expectations of literal children. When I attempted to speak to my tutor about said issues that were causing a deterioration in my mental health, I was advised to leave the college and unenroll myself. However, because of how long they had left it to give me such advice, the school year was already past the deadline of me being accepted into another course elsewhere meaning that I had to waste a year in order for me to get a decent education somewhere that wouldn’t be detrimental to my mental health.

This college does not care about its students and their mental health because all you see is a statistic to them. They boast their high pass rates but no proper help is given to students who need it the most.

ASDA T.

This school is run by a bunch of people who only care about the appearance of their school, they prioritize their '100% pass rate' over the mental health of their students which they apparently advocate for so much while giving them up to 30 hours of work a week, so they can keep up appearances, not understanding some of their teens are working class need a job to survive college, and respond by making everything extremely expensive. not only that, they advocate to be a diverse and inclusive college but deleting any of evidence of students speaking out about issues and conflict brought up in teams groups, such as deleting sexist comments towards women on international women's day by their male students, and telling their students to not talk about it, rather than condemning said sexist actions.
The principal is actively speaking about the genocide happening in Gaza in a misinforming/misleading way, which is very dangerous as it will present students with an inaccurate view of the genocide, not emphasizing the millions of deaths of Palestinian people.
Being a student at this college is stressful, tiring and overall deepingly saddening upon realizing that i am not really important to them other than what i can do to make them look better.
That being said the majority of staff are genuinely nice and wonderful human beings, but myself as well as a of other people's issues stem from the college's lack of compassion for students and their lives outside and within college. I understand its esteemed as one of the best colleges but there is no shame in going to another college especially if you are looking for more practical courses such as engineering for example, and better support for your mental well-being, I would highly recommend it.

George

As a student of New College Doncaster I strongly recommend you do not send your child here unless you have no better option.

New college doncaster is undoubtedly a factory machine aimed to get good grades with little to no regard for student welfare whatsoever.
The “community” atmosphere is nonexistent and teachers talk about students with the vagueness of a fortune cookie. Compared to the “family” aspect of other schools, New College operates entirely as a business with no regard for the students. The entire system is empty and passionless. As a student with diagnosed clinical depression, I can say the support I’ve received from the Schools SLT and tutor system has been the definition of minimal and ineffective.

The school has the illusion of being aware of mental health whilst in actuality worsening students wellbeing. The sheer amount of pressure and workload placed on students is demonstrative of this and their inability to shift this for a life threatening mental illness is appalling. even if I was literally working 24/7 it would still never be enough for this School, nothing is enough there is always more work to be done.

Some of my darkest days have been here, which obviously cannot be blamed entirely on the school but the toxic environment they create does not help. The school is praised for its inclusivity especially in celebrating LGBTQ pupils but the phrase “bare minimum” comes to mind.
It is excellent that a school is accepting of any gender identity or sexuality but this should absolutely be the standard and not the exception.

Other than the lack of a uniform, I struggle to find any benefits for attending this school and I would recommend anywhere else before here as it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Amber O.

I go to this college its my second year this year. When I first started all the staff were so lovely they were all so inviting. Also they did a thing where you could meet new people Incase you didn't know anyone at college. It's a great atmosphere to work in and the teachers treat you with so much respect and treat you like an adult Wich it's so nice to be treated like that especially when you have been treated like a child through high school. One issue that I find is that parking is a nightmare as it's too small and in college there isn't enough seating areas but apart from that it is a really good college highly recommend

Michael W.

I go here and I really enjoy, the freedom is great and they treat you like an adult which has never really happened to me before! The new building as a range of resources available to students which highlights just the smallest part of what makes this colge great

Asma M.

Yesterday we went for my brothers admission. He met all the entry requirements for his A levels with GCSE grade 6 and still wasn't excepted. Their 2019 prospect is very misleading.

Paul E. (.

A fantastic new educational hub, already achieving Ofsted outstanding!

Dennis B.

Good for learning, modern and clean. Covid safety
Parking and drop off a nightmare