Burnside High School : Te Kura o Waimairi-iri

I had to write this review on my home account, because the School students were giving it too many justified 1-2 star reviews, so the school accounts were banned from making reviews on anything on Google Maps.The school is not good, the only thing it has to claim to fame is the sports teams, the Aurora Centre, and being the biggest school in the South Island. The budget for the school is very unfairly divided, with some departments getting less than 2% of the total budget, with the sports getting at least 25% of it.The school has poor decision choices, demolishing a school block in preparation for a massive block which is open plan. However, they took it down before getting building consents to start building, so the materials were on site, workers were on site, but none of the workers could work, wasting even more of the school's budgetThe teachers at this school talk for half the lesson, not allowing you to even pick up a pen, and then proceed to yell at the class for not finishing the work in the remaining 25 minutes. Some teachers are actually very mean, my brother just about fainted in class because his English teacher went on and on about medical procedures, not stopping once to check with the class, he fell down the stairs coming out of classThe classes are either heated like a furnace or are cold enough to see your breath, it's absolutely disappointing. The school pool has recently been upgraded, but it can't be used out of school hours due to health and safety and needing a qualified lifeguard, as well as the covers taken off the pool. At least 2 terms were spent on that pool, with a rubber lining coming from Europe, as well as a heating unit and filter. But the students can't use it like a pool outside of school hours, so what was the pointThe students at this school are incredibly disrespectful, with kids just walking around the school during class, lots of yelling and swearing and running around, not to mention a lot of racist language going around as well. The discipline at this school is shocking, kids just turn up 40 minutes late and just get marked as late to class, even though a note isn't presented. Vaping and Smoking happens all the time in toilets, and even during class, but the teacher can't do anything, because it's too much of a hassle to deal with, just disgustingI know the school monitors these reviews, so hello Burnside High School, I am a student at this school who is half blind, yet I can tell there are a lot of problems here. Don't trust the 5 star reviews here, they were most likely written by try-hard Prefects, rather than from the common students- Thomas Williams, Year 13 Student, who's seen a lot of stuff happen in 4 1/2 years at this school at the time of writing this.

You're nothing but a number unless you're an academic or sports prodigy. Why don't the faculty and staff treat everyone equally? They affirm We cater for the needs of every student" then do the complete opposite."

They waste so much money on building new things that no one uses (new block, pool, new uniforms) then complains that they can’t afford basic things. Why are the heaters on when it’s a hot day? Why aren’t they on when it’s cold? Even though most teachers I’ve had were nice they get distracted a lot and sometimes either yammer for half the lesson or simply leave to yammer with another teacher and most school work given is just busy work, most of the learning I’ve done was just teaching myself how to do the homework that should’ve really been taught by the teacher. Speaking of which, I think so many teachers have given up, they’ll try to hush the class so they can teach and then say stuff like “I guess you guys just don’t want to learn” and proceed to do nothing and this isn’t just one teacher, so many teachers I’ve had do this. There is so many things wrong with this school.

Great school in music and education, amazing teachers. Very easy to get lost in. The teachers taught me so many things now I have a very nice stable job.

School isn’t the worst out there it’s just crazy big and very overwhelming. Unless you’re good at sports or music the school is basically useless to you. Because there are so many kids you get a real mixture and with my experience the mixture I got was bad and all the kids were hella rude and didn’t really care. Again the school isn’t the worst but If ur a sensitive, scared yr 9 starting high school it’s not really the greatest place and more a hive for anxiety and fear to grow till eventually u drop out. definitely more schools to consider.

I agree with Thomas.Year 9s progressively get worst each year and as a senior, it's quite annoying having to deal with 'teenagers' that act all high and mighty.I truly think that teachers ought to be firmer on the juniors, especially these year 9s. Those kids are vaping, smoking, pulling the fire alarm, and disturbing classes.In some ways it feels like a huge let down, even after coming to the school I honestly didn't think that the juniors could get that bad. But boy, was I proved wrong.I don't care if you teachers think that it's ok to let them loose, but sometimes I feel like they quite literally took a dump on what BHS was known for.Even just being around juniors is irritating.At this point, demolish every toilet in this school.By the time I graduate and leave, those year 9s are gonna sound like Marge Simpson.Regarding teachers, they're fine I guess and I don't have a grudge against any of them. It's just that some of y'all really need to stop talking. I'm being serious. It's like telling someone a joke and they turn it into a lecture.Might I also add, the uniform change was a mistake.Unnecessary changes were made to the uniform, it has no BHS essence. The colors are not BHS, the year 9s look dull and who even designed the socks. What happened to good old, plain, white SOCKS.Not all year 9s are bad, but do keep an eye open for those loud clusters of girls and boys.Everyday when I walk past a few of them, my eyes burn.I get that seniors are role models, but to be fair those year 9s this year are acting on their own.Why do they think that vaping in a toilet is cool? It's disgusting. My friend walked into the B block toilets only to find two girls vaping and asking her if she had any money.You see, I wouldn't even mind being a toilet monitor just to tell people off.What happened to Hello

Attended this school many years ago. Large co-ed school with over 2500 students. Easy to get lost in your early days of going there. Very accomplished school in music. Overall a great school to get a good education and has great teachers.

So disappointed. An exclusive and inflexible school for international students.

I'm a current student at BHS, and I would like to think of this as quite an honest and unbiased opinion. Like most other schools, burnside has a mix of teachers. Some of them are epic, and make learning fun and engaging, however, I would say about half of my current teachers are just lazy. They set work, and then just do their own thing, which is boring and frustrating as a student, as well as very unproductive for all the kids who decide to game with no teacher watching them. Yea, not great. Also, remember that most things at Burnside are in pretty poor condition - cold classrooms, peeling paint, and damaged/broken pe equipment.Also, I see vaping on a regular basis (even in the open, where teachers see them but ignore them). Fights here are super common. I know a guy who was hospitalised only a few days prior to writing this review. I would probably say that every day there is some sort of fight, and every few days there is some sort of more serious violent fight.So my take?If you can, save the money and go to St Andrew's, if that's not possible, I would recommend girls high, boys high, and cashmere over BHS from what my friends tell me. Burnside isn't necessarily a terrible school but they have a lot to improve on, and I am not happy with many of the things that go on in there, as mentioned earlier.

Makes a big school feel like a small school. Good place to study.