Seabrook Primary School

Hello, I am a past student of Seabrook Primary School, and my experience from Prep to Year 6 was quite poor due to the teaching quality and overall atmosphere.

The main issue for me was with some of the teachers. There were multiple situations throughout my schooling that made me feel uncomfortable and unsupported. While I was very young at the time and don’t remember much perfectly, there are several experiences I still remember clearly.

For example, in one class we were asked to create and perform a short acting scene within 30 minutes infront of the entire class (I was quite shy back then as I had just moved to Australia). When it was my partner’s and my turn, we struggled during the performance and didn’t speak or move much because we were nervous. The teacher stopped us mid performance and said we hadn’t put in enough effort. We were then made to stand at the back of the classroom while the rest of the class continued with games. At one point, I slightly turned my head to see what the class was doing, and the teacher told me off again. This happened when I was very young, and it felt humiliating.

Another situation happened in Year 3. I had an argument with a classmate (I don’t clearly remember what it was about), and she started crying. The teacher immediately went to comfort her. I said, “that’s not fair,” because I felt the situation wasn’t being handled equally as I didn't understand why my classmate could be comforted just because she was crying, but I was told to stop being disrespectful. I ended up crying by myself outside, and the teacher never came to check on me. There was no follow up or apology, which made me feel ignored and upset.

In Year 6, during a performing arts class, we were watching a video. I stood up briefly to fix my uniform because I was sitting on my shirt and needed to adjust it. The teacher thought I was being disruptive and told me to go sit outside in front of the entire class. When she came outside, I explained multiple times, calmly, that I was just fixing my uniform and not trying to disturb the class. However, she kept responding with things like “that doesn’t give you the right to stand up,” and didn’t seem to listen to my explanation at all.

There were also issues with bullying and how it was handled. In Year 5, a classmate would often pick on me by hitting me with her hat and making fun of my name. One time while we were lining up, she kept hitting me even after I told her to stop. I tried to move away and avoid her, but she continued, so I stepped on her foot so I could get away. When the teacher arrived (she was often late), the other student told her that I had “kicked her.” The teacher pulled me aside and scolded me, saying that physical assault was not allowed. When I explained that I had been hit multiple times with a hat, she just didn't seem to register it and just repeated that I was not allowed to kick people. Afterwards, she gave a lecture to the whole class about physical assault, saying she wouldn’t mention names but repeatedly looking directly at me, which made it obvious who she was talking about and embarrassing.

I would also like to add that I was not a disruptive student. I was generally quiet, respectful, completed my work on time, and achieved good results. I didn’t have a large friend group and mostly kept to myself. Despite this, I often felt unsupported in difficult situations.

Overall, my experience at Seabrook Primary School was disappointing, and I would not recommend it based on my time there.