We recently went on a tour of Empathy…
When I initially submitted this review I gave Empathy School 2 stars, BUT since then their response was sadly not to urgently review the safeguarding concerns I raised, but instead to try to have my review REMOVED! Fortunately, I was able to verify with Trustpilot that the review was genuine. I had provided enough information for the school to identify and verify my visit, but it seems their priority was to get my review removed. I think this speaks volumes about where their priorities lie, which is why I have removed a star from my original rating. We recently went on a tour of Empathy School and, afterwards, felt we'd made the right decision not to enrol our child. While the grounds are spacious and have a quirky charm, the tour left us with a number of concerns. The biggest issue for us was safeguarding. We'd booked the tour in advance, but when we arrived there was no one there to greet us and no obvious reception or check-in point. We were able to walk straight off the public road onto the school grounds and spent around 5–10 minutes wandering around before anyone approached us. During that time, we had unrestricted access to the site, and my husband even walked into an empty classroom while trying to find a member of staff. We weren't trying to go unnoticed—we were actively looking for someone—which made us question how easily someone with bad intentions could gain access to the school. Throughout the tour, we repeatedly passed a child who appeared to be wandering around the school alone, looking lost and confused. We don't know the circumstances, but this added to our concerns about supervision. When we were eventually greeted, the welcome felt rather perfunctory. The member of staff who met us wasn't particularly warm or engaging and showed little interest in us or our son. A Grade 5 teacher then gave us a brief tour. He was polite and friendly and did try to answer our questions, although he admitted he couldn't answer many of them. The tour mainly consisted of pointing out different rooms: "This is the art room", "This is the science room" etc... When he asked what Grade our son was in, I hesitated because he's homeschooled. He then commented that I seemed "nervous" and "tense", which felt like an odd thing to say and made the interaction awkward. At the end of the tour, we spoke with a member of the admin team about the school's educational approach. We wanted to understand what made the school different from a mainstream school. I mentioned that the owner refers to links with Harvard when describing the curriculum and asked whether the school was academically focused. I was told, "No, it's a nature school." I then asked how much of the children's time is spent outdoors in nature on the school grounds. The initial answer was around 20%, later revised to 30%. This didn't strike us as particularly different from many mainstream schools. I also asked what curriculum the school follows and was told that learning is project-based—for example, if the topic is "the ocean", maths, science and other subjects are taught through that theme. Again, this didn't sound especially unusual to me. I taught in mainstream schools for nearly 20 years, and thematic, cross-curricular learning is already used in many schools. We had been looking for a genuinely progressive alternative, but the school came across as rather disorganised and lacking a clear educational identity. We left impressed by the space and interesting layout, but ultimately disappointed and uninspired by the tour. We appreciate that we visited during summer camp and understand that any school can have an off day. Even so, we'd have expected a more organised experience and greater enthusiasm from staff about the school and its educational philosophy. Perhaps most telling was the lack of connection we experienced between staff and our son. Apart from the Grade 5 teacher asking his name, whether he enjoyed woodcarving and whether he liked rabbits, we didn't feel there was much genuine engagement with him as a prospective pupil—the teacher seemed rushed. The other three staff members we encountered, including the admin member, didn't acknowledge our son at all. For us, this was the most disappointing part of the visit. We had hoped to see a school culture where children are naturally noticed, welcomed and valued—something you would expect from any school, but particularly one which calls itself 'Empathy School'. In our overall experience, this was lacking. Ultimately, the combination of our safeguarding concerns, the lack of organisation, and the limited engagement with our son led us to decide not to enrol him. The subsequent attempt to have this genuine review removed, rather than directly addressing the concerns raised, was frankly disturbing.
By Mars R.