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Bethlehem College
Combined · State · Tauranga
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Very bad school
Very very bad school do me a favour and dont let your kid go to this school. The teachers are just very rude and all the students are stupid. Once on bus a 8 year old boy vaped. Imagine your kid vaping because someone told them to. 🤬 Over all very very bad school the teachers a stupid and touch girls. Highly dont recommend.
Love this school!
Kids love the school! Teachers are great, love the feeling around the campus. No complaints 🙂
Former Student & Parent
Excellent School. The teachers go above and beyond to encourage and allow students learn and grow as individuals. I really appreciated having the ability to explore and ask questions about Christianity while at BC. My kids love school which can't be said for all children! Highly recommend.
Good school
Good school that allowed me to learn without needing to worry about other pressures that exist much more prevalently at other schools in Tauranga.
Students are great but too much bias/racism
First with the good things. The students were generally very nice and welcoming, and making friends were quite easy and I enjoyed hanging out with them and taking classes with them.
However, with that being said, the teachers were very lacklustre in terms of their quality of teaching. Some teachers also seemed very biased and hypocritical. Also sometimes they put their beliefs/religion first over the learning that students get. For example, in biology when we are learning about evolution, teachers tend to try and avoid the topic or sometimes make the class awkward in way by saying "well thats what some people believe in but actually God created us"
Overall, my experience at this school was quite mediocre and definitely failed my expectation going into my senior years
However, with that being said, the teachers were very lacklustre in terms of their quality of teaching. Some teachers also seemed very biased and hypocritical. Also sometimes they put their beliefs/religion first over the learning that students get. For example, in biology when we are learning about evolution, teachers tend to try and avoid the topic or sometimes make the class awkward in way by saying "well thats what some people believe in but actually God created us"
Overall, my experience at this school was quite mediocre and definitely failed my expectation going into my senior years
It’s not hell
As a semi private religious school it has its benefits and downsides as do all.
My experience with Bethlehem college
I’ve experienced racism a lot throughout my years of attending Bethlehem College it is not a school for cultured kids, I’ve gotten talked down upon by teachers, students and even parents of students that attend BC the community is divided and now since they have removed the normal kgroup a that consisted of yr 10-13 you do not get to experience friendships with other kids in the different year levels
All
Bc is bad
The school it horrible. The don't care about the students.
Do NOT send your kids here
Not good. Very slow to enact any change, forces its beliefs down everyone's throats, and as if that weren't bad enough the bullying is insane. They will not do jackshit about bullies and will specifically request for students not to tell their families about it, while continuing to do nothing. If you want a sexist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, bible-thumping science-denying school then this is the place for you. There was a teacher who was caught red-handed refusing to teach the curriculum because he didn't believe the earth was more than 6,000 years old, and believed that dinosaura lived with humans and in fact still lived to this day in Africa, and he got to keep his job. I, a student, had a debate with him and got him to proudly admit none of his sources were peer-reviewed. If you value education, look elsewhere.
THE WORST SCHOOL IN MY LIFE
The worst school in my life People say is it a Christian school but some time people always say bad word like FU word and s word and so that why is not Christian school
F THIS SCHOOL THIS SCHOOL RUINED MY LIFE FOR A LONG TIME
after i come to this school i start to get depression and anxiety and the school just what to get as mash kid as they what nonmatter how bad the kid is they just what more money they don't care who the bullying is they just what the money they what to do that after one year i started geingt sad and depression and i start to say why my mum sand me to this fucking school because of the bully and the mean kid i am a dumb person that always get not achieved of every test and people say why you always get not achieved and they started bully me that why i started to get depression and THIS SCHOOL RUINED MY LIFE FOR A LONG TIME, and i started to cry allots but i don't told my mum to worry about so i not told her.
Incredible people, outstanding teachers and a lovely school!
The teachers put smiles on our faces even if your in a bad mood. Everyone is helpful,
I don’t know any bullying issues at this school. You get such a lovely welcome and it includes Christian values. There are so any outstanding opportunities at this school (e.g sports camp, BOT role, head boy, head girl and many others. The head teacher is so kind, so are the teachers. I have learnt so much from this school. Everyone is included and encouraged.
I don’t know any bullying issues at this school. You get such a lovely welcome and it includes Christian values. There are so any outstanding opportunities at this school (e.g sports camp, BOT role, head boy, head girl and many others. The head teacher is so kind, so are the teachers. I have learnt so much from this school. Everyone is included and encouraged.
Outstanding school!
Very good school, the teachers are so nice and helpful. Highly recommend it!
Great School
Some of the comments here are incredibly stupid. if you do not want to be taught christian values then do not go to a christian school. the school does have a problem with homophobia but I personally have never witnessed any and most student and teachers are quite respectful, anyone who does not agree with LGBTQIA++ does not talk about it and mostly people just keep thier personal beliefs abut it to themselves. the school is very good and the teachers are very good at teaching and helping students to strive in all aspects of learning, especially academic.
bad school
this school is the worst they do nothing and if you send your kids here they will get bullied and abused and they do nothing
Wrongs of Bethlehem College
As a student at this school, I will have to say it's not the best school. The school really does like the look of the school but not the individuality and well being of the school.
First of all, the school is sexist. For mufti days, the girls have an entire page of rules for mufti day and what we're not allowed to wear; no tight leggings, no spaghetti strap tops, no off shoulder tops etc. Meanwhile the boys have one rule, no crossdressing. They also have rules for hair colours (only natural colours), earrings (only one earring allowed and must be a normal stud), no other jewellery, no coloured nails (even natural).
Second of all, racism is sadly an existing thing at BC. Due to my Maori culture, teachers always choose me for reading any Maori passage. Also the teachers are stereotypical about the Maori and Pasifika culture.
Third of all, teachers do pick on students for not reason at all. My art design teacher in 2021 would move me all the time if i spoke one sentence while everyone else would be having fat chats.
Fourth reason, there has been sexual harassment at this school by teachers. I have been sexually harassed by one teacher but personally not by anyone else.
Fifth reason, the teachers do not care if you have other stressful assignments and put more work on you and act like they would see your work if you didn't do it just to stress you out.
Lastly, the homophobia at this school is ridiculous and disgusting. I heard a rumour that if you're apart of the LGBTQ community and the school found out, they would contact the parents and put you in counselling and try to turn you back straight. Disgusting!
First of all, the school is sexist. For mufti days, the girls have an entire page of rules for mufti day and what we're not allowed to wear; no tight leggings, no spaghetti strap tops, no off shoulder tops etc. Meanwhile the boys have one rule, no crossdressing. They also have rules for hair colours (only natural colours), earrings (only one earring allowed and must be a normal stud), no other jewellery, no coloured nails (even natural).
Second of all, racism is sadly an existing thing at BC. Due to my Maori culture, teachers always choose me for reading any Maori passage. Also the teachers are stereotypical about the Maori and Pasifika culture.
Third of all, teachers do pick on students for not reason at all. My art design teacher in 2021 would move me all the time if i spoke one sentence while everyone else would be having fat chats.
Fourth reason, there has been sexual harassment at this school by teachers. I have been sexually harassed by one teacher but personally not by anyone else.
Fifth reason, the teachers do not care if you have other stressful assignments and put more work on you and act like they would see your work if you didn't do it just to stress you out.
Lastly, the homophobia at this school is ridiculous and disgusting. I heard a rumour that if you're apart of the LGBTQ community and the school found out, they would contact the parents and put you in counselling and try to turn you back straight. Disgusting!
Racist
As a Māori student, Bethlehem College did not offer a positive, safe space for education. First and foremost, if you are considering sending your Māori kids to BC, please don't. Racism is hugely prevalent within the school amongst both the student body and staff who ignore and more often than not encourage students with their own racist views/behaviors. The world views of students and staff at Bethlehem College are very limited, producing a mass mentality that leaves Māori and non-Pākeha feeling marginalised in a white-dominated school. The overwhelming Māori experience of BC is overt racism, zero cultural competency/safety and having to take on the exhausting role of token Māori - even token brown person with zero acknowledgement.
BC teaches students to be the best they can be!
BC is a christian school! reading some of the other responses to this are silly, why go to a christian school if you don't want to at least be respectful during any christian parts of the education at BC.
Secondly, yes bullying is a problem, but that is not so much to do with the school itself (although it could help out more in certain situations) its is mainly based on the students who could be attending any school, bullying kids anywhere at any school but just happen to be at BC.
Yes, BC is expensive, but it is also a semi private schools it is not fully government funded, and therefor must cost a little more than your average school. However that doesn't mean that rich kids are automatically going to do good and get the highest grades, grades are not based on wealth, only the pure intelligence of a student.
Now I cannot deny that I have had my fair share of creeps as teachers at BC, but i'm sure that is bound to happen anywhere (and if you were truly taken advantage of, molested, or touched inappropriately in any way, I am very sorry that this happened to you, and this is not something BC stands for and definitely something they should be taking as a more serious issue, instead of just moving teachers around.)
Overall, BC is full of mostly amazing students who are there to be friendly and help everyone to be their best, as well as teachers that surround you trying to help you thrive in this environment. The teachers don't care and most don't show favouritism towards the more academic students, they're all just there to see you succeed in whatever you choose to do.
BC has been such an important part of my learning and growing into the young person I am today. It has helped me learn, fully supporting me, and help my journey with faith and God grow continuously. I wish that anyone coming to this school after me will have an experience as good as, or even better than mine, and I truly pray for anyone who may not have had the same experience as me <3
Secondly, yes bullying is a problem, but that is not so much to do with the school itself (although it could help out more in certain situations) its is mainly based on the students who could be attending any school, bullying kids anywhere at any school but just happen to be at BC.
Yes, BC is expensive, but it is also a semi private schools it is not fully government funded, and therefor must cost a little more than your average school. However that doesn't mean that rich kids are automatically going to do good and get the highest grades, grades are not based on wealth, only the pure intelligence of a student.
Now I cannot deny that I have had my fair share of creeps as teachers at BC, but i'm sure that is bound to happen anywhere (and if you were truly taken advantage of, molested, or touched inappropriately in any way, I am very sorry that this happened to you, and this is not something BC stands for and definitely something they should be taking as a more serious issue, instead of just moving teachers around.)
Overall, BC is full of mostly amazing students who are there to be friendly and help everyone to be their best, as well as teachers that surround you trying to help you thrive in this environment. The teachers don't care and most don't show favouritism towards the more academic students, they're all just there to see you succeed in whatever you choose to do.
BC has been such an important part of my learning and growing into the young person I am today. It has helped me learn, fully supporting me, and help my journey with faith and God grow continuously. I wish that anyone coming to this school after me will have an experience as good as, or even better than mine, and I truly pray for anyone who may not have had the same experience as me <3
homophobia
good school but too homophobic
this school is so bad
this school has given me depression and anxiety. everyone is so mean to each other even if they are friends, and talk about people behind their back. the teachers are so rude and homophobic, racist, sexist, etc. they shove religion down your throat and the teachers show such disrespect to the students. everyone who leaves this school that i know have been feeling much better then they did at bethlehem college. do not attend your child to this school.
Time for BC to catch up with the times
As much as I enjoyed this school in years 7-11, I soon realised it was not as good as it seemed. The complete lack of sex-education left me totally unprepared for the REAL world. The school’s naive assumption that pre-marital inter course isn’t rife among their students mean they are greatly increasing the chances of their students contracting an STI or having a teen pregnancy, and for a school that is so adamantly pro-life, it seems rather ironic. BC is stuck at least a few decades in the past, and unfortunately, they seem unwilling to change. My favourite example of this is in our last week as year 13s, we were called in for a year group assembly for what we soon realised was about rape. In this assembly, one of the senior councillors (who is female) proceeded to tell us that girls should “dress right for the night” at University, then adding that “boys can’t help themselves”. If victim blaming is BC’s response to sexual assault and rape, that pretty much sums up the time-warp that this school seems to be trapped in.
It’s a school, just that, and a pretty good one
The other reviews on here are ridiculous. Nobody pays for grades, nobody is molested.
The only true thing is bullying. It can be an issue, as with every other school.
The Christian aspect of the school is what I struggled with the most. They do somewhat force the Christian practices onto you (being forced to pray, religious education is mandatory etc).
The teachers are some of the best you will ever meet. They are caring and accomodating to everybody, low grades or high grades, they are constantly going to try help you.
Some kids are a bit snobby due to their wealth, but not overwhelmingly so.
Overall, a good school.
The only true thing is bullying. It can be an issue, as with every other school.
The Christian aspect of the school is what I struggled with the most. They do somewhat force the Christian practices onto you (being forced to pray, religious education is mandatory etc).
The teachers are some of the best you will ever meet. They are caring and accomodating to everybody, low grades or high grades, they are constantly going to try help you.
Some kids are a bit snobby due to their wealth, but not overwhelmingly so.
Overall, a good school.
50/50
Some people like it others hate it with passion. But I think it's a pretty avergely good school. I enjoyed my time there. It has its faults, but overall mostly good school.
DO NOT ATTEND BETHLEHEM COLLEGE!
Bunch of rich kids. I’ve been to a lot of schools in my life time, none of which has ever been so terrible as Bethlehem college. The parents pay for grades. If you have a parent on the board or a parent that has given money to the school, you will always get an award. They have an award called Christian character, doesn’t matter how nice you are, you must have wealthy parents in order to get it. They are corrupt and less Christian then most non-Christian schools. The kids are nice, but with wealth comes a lot of arrogance and snobs, so don’t expect many nice people. The teachers are under qualified, they hire them more for being a Christian then their actually skill in teaching. I had to sit with many teachers for multiple years who just had no idea what they were doing. They didn’t even know the topic they were teaching. I’ve been to six schools, none of which had the guts to not only be corrupt, but to not even bother hiding the fact. I guess this is the reason why so many students and teachers are leaving every year. It claims to be a Christian school when less than 30% of students are actually Christian and many lie about their religion just to get into the school. Don’t get me wrong, I had some great camps there and some very rare and special teachers, but all together it is an awful school. If you are a boy go to boys high, if you are a girl consider all schools. In conclusion, Bethlehem College I will forever remember as the worst school I have ever had the misfortune of attending in my entire lifetime.
Bethlehem College
It is an ok school most of the time.
FUCK BC
this horrible school ruined my life forever, the teachers treat me with so much disrespect and say im going no where in life. they have also touched me inappropriately on my gentals, lester whenuaroa has traumatised many children by grabbing and flirting with young children. do not go to this horrible school please, and dont get sucked into their shit
this school ruined my life
On the outside it looks like the perfect school, but what people don’t see is the horrible bullying that goes on inside and no one nose before it’s to late. I was bullied by majority of my year and by the time I left I was depressed and then later that year I had an eating disorder. I had always been a happy kid nothing bad ever happens to me till I went to that school. Also if you haven’t been going to that school since year 1 people will gang up on you. I had a racist teacher , another teacher that bullied students, even some parents bullying in sports teams. I would never recommend this school to anyone! I know I am not alone in this view of this school , I know off many other students leaving for the same reason as I did , and now I’m at a new school that was rated worse that Bethlehem collage everyone has been nothing but kind to me , such a big difference between these to school and there is such a better vibe at this school than that one. Send you child here if you want there life to be ruined.
Bethlehem collage
Good, fun , great learning experience and camps . But expensive .
Very good. 6 years have been fun.
Its a good school with good atmosphere.
Don’t be deterred
Despite what most ungrateful teenagers might say, they don’t truly appreciate how lucky they are to go to this school.
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24 Elder Lane, 3110, Tauranga
Larne Edmeades
07 576 6769
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