Hills Road

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Dr Mould, man. Brilliant chemistry teacher, but also has the uncanny ability to zero in on you if you don't know the answer and does not accept any form disrespect. I would vote Mrs Caldicott, just for being a fab teacher who was also really kind.
Dr McNaughton and Ms Acford for bio all the way. Also, Ms Acford has a secret double life as a wildlife photographer so, even if you don't get her, look around the department for what she's taken.

Just out of interest, did you go to Hills yourself? Because before I went I heard a lot of people perpetrating this, but I never found this to be the case for me. I did have the head of student support for my tutor, so maybe 'mental health/etc' was pushed more in my tutor class, but I always found them really supportive and never really felt any pressure that I didn't put on myself. I actually had a friend who'd come from an all girls private school, and she commented on how much less pressure & really laid back in comparison it was at Hills.

Haha so true about Mould, I remember forgetting to do the study packs and praying he wouldn't pick on me in class lol
And yeah when I was at Netherhall everyone was like omg Hills man it's gonna be so stressful but it was honestly fine. Places like St Mary's are more stressful.
That said, getting the EPQ done on time was really stressful since most people left it until the last minute lol

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 21

ForeverDay

Original post by ivybridge

No, I went to a boarding school in the area but I have about 6 or 7 friends who went there and dropped out and another 4 who stayed there for the full thing. It's simpy a warning that it can be that pressured. It doesn't mean some people won't feel that! :smile:

Some teachers at my school had kids that went there with the same problem :smile:

Oh, okay. I guess it depends on a lot of things too (like subject choice/the teachers or tutor you get/your home situation/your own personality).
I just thought I'd add my cent in so the OP isn't totally terrified lol.

Original post by yoda123

Haha so true about Mould, I remember forgetting to do the study packs and praying he wouldn't pick on me in class lol
And yeah when I was at Netherhall everyone was like Hills man it's gonna be so stressful but it was honestly fine. Places like St Mary's are more stressful.
That said, getting the EPQ done on time was really stressful since most people left it until the last minute lol

Oh man, yes. One of the boys in my class did his chem homework in EP lessons. Dr Mould heard about it, and ripped him to shreds in front of the class. There are a lot of stories like that from my two years, but it was kinda a bonding experience for the whole class. Like when someone would whisper you the answer when you're sat there without a clue or let you casually read off their study pack. Brought us all together haha.
EPQ was an experience. I mostly kept up to date with my diary and documentation but there were so many people completely making it up (one girl said just before it was due in "I'm getting tangled up in my own lies" and that pretty much summed it up for a lot of people haha.) I did have a pretty late night before mine was due in though lol.

Reply 22

lmaosian

I'm in the exact same position omg... I know actually what you mean about being daunting.. I'm travelling 45 minutes away and I'm the only one from my school!! ohh and btw I'm also taking geography and chemistry!!

Reply 23

hunamunapina

Original post by lmaosian

Omg same I'm travelling for about 45 minutes as well! And yay for geography and chemistry. Tomorrow should be interesting...

Reply 24

lmaosian

Original post by hunamunapina

Omg same I'm travelling for about 45 minutes as well! And yay for geography and chemistry. Tomorrow should be interesting...

omg coincidence much?? idk why but I'm actually really scared omg... honestly I don't even know what actually happens on the enrolment day

Reply 25

HR321

Original post by hunamunapina

I got a place at Hills Road and I'm not from Cambridge, are there any other people out there who are in the same position? It's pretty daunting XD

I'm starting hills next week as well but am from Cambridge. Cambridge is a very small town so many people do know of each other, but everyone is very friendly and there are 1000 people in the year group so everyone definitely will be making a big effort to make new friends! I'm doing biology, chemistry and maths.

Reply 26

hunamunapina

Original post by lmaosian

omg coincidence much?? idk why but I'm actually really scared omg... honestly I don't even know what actually happens on the enrolment day

Same I'm scared as well :s-smilie:

it's probably just confirming subjects and form groups and stuff I think. Still scary though :redface:

Reply 27

hunamunapina

Original post by HR321

That's good, feel slightly better. I guess I thought that people would already have pre established friend groups from previous schools - that's what usually happens anyway, but it's nice to know people make the effort. I'm really looking forward to starting biology and chemistry, they sound so interesting! :smile:

Reply 28

hunamunapina

Does anyone know if hills road has things like top and bottom sets - as in all the cleverest people are in one class etc

Reply 29

ForeverDay

Original post by hunamunapina

Does anyone know if hills road has things like top and bottom sets - as in all the cleverest people are in one class etc

Nope, everyone is mixed in all together.

Reply 30

hunamunapina

Original post by ForeverDay

Nope, everyone is mixed in all together.

Thanks

Reply 31

studenty99

Original post by hunamunapina

Thanks so much, it sounds good :biggrin:

one more question - is there any sort of dress code restrictions? It's pretty obvious it's casual clothes but is there any guidelines? :smile:

Not that I'm aware of, just as long as you don't dress obscenely or anything you can pretty much wear what you like :smile:

Reply 32

hypercolius

Worst school/college I have ever been to. And I am not kidding.
As someone who was in the top-20 students nationwide in the UK by GCSE grades, I feel like I can convey my thoughts about the school.

The 'immense workload' at Hills Road is a complete myth, provided you have a passion in the subjects you choose. I didn't find it challenging enough, and got dissapointed as a result multiple times. For example in Chemistry I found only a single topic interesting (NMR), whereas in physics there actually was none. I would have found particle and quantum physics interesting had I not been constantly reading the topic for the past 4 years prior to that. Further Maths was a different story, of course, but I was dissapointed there too at times.

The first minus of Hills Road is the mandatory EPQ project. Whilst this was personally no problem for me (I wrote an entire book on killer waves in the ocean), I think most people are unaware of this when they go, or if they are they forget about it. And this project takes a year of lessons in school, so unless you truly are interested you are not going to enjoy this. The biggest letdown of the project was that they barely even cared about the product- they wanted only to see the 'research process'. Whereas the Perse had an internal project qualification offering a Rouse award for an outstanding product, I firmly believe that even if you built an entire robot from scratch, but didn't write enough on the process, you could well get a D or below for your effort in Hills Road. Whereas actually completing my project was fun, I think if I had to choose again I would not have bothered with Hills Road for this reason alone.

The second minus of the school for me was enrichment. Whilst I understand that some or perhaps even most people will disagree with me here, I personally didn't enjoy being forced to do something I didn't really enjoy. The school did have a lot of clubs and societies on offer, but none really appealed to me. Hills Road should have at least made it recommended to prevent people like me from feeling that their time was wasted, that they were being forced to do it and so on.

The third minus is Hills Road in 2019 for some reason had the autumn half-term a week before everyone else did, which decimated my plans to see relatives. Not sure why Hills Road did this.

A massive fourth minus is the way I got treated by a maths teacher. As someone who took the Cambridge maths interview seriously (and ultimately passed it) I started preparing in Autumn 2019. I barely talked to anyone, had no friends and spent my time reading textbooks during the lunch break. I was sending emails to my teachers asking for clarification in a few places. Even asked them a few interview questions I couldn't understand. This ended with one of my teachers standing me up and literally saying in front of the entire class that I would never pass the interview. I never did get to look him in the eyes when I passed.

When the first lockdown happened I got a grade C predicted for me in chemistry. Not matching my abilities at all. One of the tests I was forced to do in the same area where a friendship group was screaming and playing something (note that this was 'chemistry surgery'). When I asked why that was included, I was told rather smugly that 'as scientists we must use all available data' despite the same teacher telling me not to worry about it when I raised my concerns before the lockdown happened, which is when the test was. I was also told that 'it was just a mark' and that 'my teachers are very experienced'. I couldn't tolerate this, and raised it with the head of the department because if this injustice stuck I would miss my chance to go to Cambridge university.
This ridiculous story ended with 3 different teachers apologising to me for this and my predicted grade going up. It was still very bad (I treat an A as a failure for me), but at least it wasn't a C. The next year my maths grade crashed after my teachers included a mark I got from a test I sat very shortly after a family member died, and I wrote more than 3 emails asking for that not to be included for this reason, and each time got a positive response in reply! The same thing happened with onward grades too.

During the coronavirus pandemic I was forced to come back to the school in Autumn 2020. I had to wear an N95 every single day of my time there because I was afraid for my health (I have asthma with landed me in hospital a lot of times, but my concerns were brushed aside). I had regular nightmares too.

Based on the above, I think people should stay clear of this school if they are capable of things like this. It's not worth it.