Fitzroy Community School

IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING THIS SCHOOL READ THIS!

Look, I went to this school for 6 years before moving to Sydney. It was great. I got a lot out of this school. I did have a few problems with particular teacher and their patience but I am so happy that I went to this school.

This schools have TWO CAMPUSES right. Normandy and Brunswick. Brunswick I went to for 5 years and yes I got a lot out of it but I was bullied and made fun of for being me throughout the whole time. After moving to Normandy for the last year I was there I realized that that was the place that I was meant to be at. Everyone knows everyone because of how small it is and yes there the occasional drama but nothing people can't deal with.

The TEACHERS ARE INCREDIBLE and so kind and make sure that you feel welcome and that you know and understand what you are doing. They teach in a way that makes you feel good and you get to work at your own pace so you can't really fall behind. This school challenges you to be who you want to be.

There is a LOT OF FREEDOM given here. Not only is there NO UNIFORM but they make you lunch and recess and snacks through the whole day. There is woodwork and lots of arts and activates you can do throughout lunch, recess and FREE PERIODS. This school have an amazing, supportive community

Overall this school is amazing if you look past its few flaws and focus on all the good. I hope you consider this school and turn your kids into open minded, brilliant, intelligent and straight up incredible people xx

Grace - Former student of Fitzroy Community School for 6 years.

We were originally sold on this school as being a very caring school that taught kids how to learn rather than how to pass and took our child’s emotional state into consideration. Turns out they are far from that. They are extremely rigid and quite traditional in their teaching style. There is little room for personal interests in class. I had 2 kids who completed their primary school there. While both made great friends and have some good memories they both are also distraught by the bullying from teachers and other kids. Rarley was the bullying from teachers directed at them but they were still affected by seeing others being yelled at and singled out. This seemed to mostly be directed at boys.

For those kids who are bullied by other kids the trend at the school seems to be victim blaming. As a child you should work out how to deal with that bullying instead of the bully being taught that it's not ok. They will even keep your child back a level if they haven't been doing well due to the bullying instead of giving them the support they actually need.

The school rates very highly academically but that is mostly because they move kids up or down levels around naplan and tend to not keep kids until grade 6 that are a bit hard to handle. If you don’t fit into their idea of a good student they tend to move you on for one reason or another. Basically the kids that will do well and thrive at this school will probably do so anywhere.

There are some fantastic aspects about the school, like the amount of sport they play and the many camps the kids go on, but in the end the psychological damage inflicted on the child is too great. A decision I have to live with for the rest of my life and am constantly apologising to my children for sending the there.

The school is run by the same family, the founders kids are the principal and most of the teachers, whenever a parent complains about how their child has been treated, the school closes ranks and that family are basically asked to leave. This school seems to have no capacity to learn and grow from their own mistakes. And as a parent who sees their own children apparently happy you learn to keep your mouth shut for fear of being asked to leave yourself. Yes it’s like being in a cult.

At the beginning of very term the principal will send out a newsletter with a little sermon. One of them described how proud he was that a friend of his felt comfortable enough to hit his child, being the principals child, in order to discipline them. I have no doubt if it was permitted to strike a child in a school they would be doing it.

It’s funny to hear the school currently defend themselves during the COVID outbreak at the school, that they couldn’t in all good conscience allow the students live in a world of fear by having to be homeschooled but the fact is this school thrives on keeping the children, and parents, fearful. In fact they teach the children to not tell their parents about how they have behaved or been treated at school because as parents we, apparently, don’t want to know about that. Pretty much a grooming technique that our children may carry with them into high school and beyond. And if there is something they feel they can't 'fix' in the child they then blame the parents for how they are brining the children up at home.

Since the COVID outbreak at the school there was an influx of bad reviews for FCS. Granted most seemed to be by outraged locals but there were some from parents and students that attended the school and all the reviews since then have been taken down. Not sure how that occurred. Hope this one makes it and remains up.

Helped me learn to read but lots of the teachers where terrible especially at the brunswick street campus. With the principal being a right wing manipulative regressive man who removed some of our most important and progressive classes like
Computer programming and media. Although they are very good with teaching responsibility and english but not individually. As a former student this school has helped me and mentally destroyed other people. As their support system does not exist.