St. David's Catholic College - Cardiff

Matthew T.

Things are going good so far as an AS first-year student, although the difference between expectations and reality has been greater than I thought.

Staff are great, although generally independence is relied on and therefore there can be a lack of support sometimes.

Particularly like the LRC (Learning Resource Centre) and the librarians are such nice people. However it seems I'm not the only one who likes the LRC because it can get extremely busy.

Subjects taken: Media Studies, Mathematics, Computer Science, Welsh Baccalaurate.

Aadhi

Very bad, the toilets are so unclean and unusable. But the education is fabulous and this should be recommended. If you don't like unclean toilets, this is not for you.

Mel T.

Good reputable College.. easy access and parking within Cardiff..

Katie

Teaching online was horrendous this year, the teachers went too fast, didnt let anyone understand, and they never ever given anyone notes for the class so than we all we're lost and did not understand. It's, just, not good, you would be better else anywhere except this college. You will find yourself struggling, a lot. Also, very very poor management, emails to all students every other day changing something and everything went into a mess again. Also, these "pastoral tutors" who are "here to help you" just dont even respond to you. Making you go down a tedious chain to find the right person. Like, why even put them on a salary if they arent going to do the job you pay for?

Bronnie

I went here after leaving high school last year and I can honestly say that it was the worst place of learning I have ever attended. Shortly after beginning my AS year I became homeless for various reasons, I made this VERY clear to my form tutor and they gave me zero help; every tutour (bar two) completely disregarded my situation. I was studying media as one of my subjects and I physically couldn't cope with the work load. I lived with a friend and their parents and I was already a burden enough without making poxy 'films' in their home. I remember once i went into media less than 15 minutes late one morning and my tutor had a masive pop at me, I'd walked from the bay to st Davids and it took me about 40 minutes and he told me that I wasn't making any effort and that I should drop out of college all together because I wasn't going anywhere and if I acted like that in all my subjects I'd fail, he said all of this in front of the entire class and it was humiliating. I went to my tutor and asked to drop media. I was perfectly happy to continue going to every other subject I was studding, as those went the problem, I was told that I had to keep attending four subjects or I'd have to leave.

After about a month of struggling through the late deadlines and sloppy essays I stopped going to ICT and media all together as they were the main cause of stress and I just wanted to focus on film and English because I was falling behind so far on those and they were the only two subjects I'd actually chosen to take, the rest were just forced upon me. I continued with film, english, polish, re, and welsh bacc for several months after that and I like to think I was on the right track, I'd finally found a place to live a d I was back on my feet, I started to make friends in college and I was actually staring to enjoy it. I decided to tell my form tutor of my good fortune, and she booked me an appointment to see someone who could help me (this included free food from the college and counseling, things I needed about four months prior) and they informed me that they wouldn't help me as my attendance was under 90% (I'd stopped going to two lessons and would often miss entire days as I didn't see the point in WALKING from the bay to pen-y-lan everyday for 2 hour lessons) and they basically told me that I couldn't keep attending the college and I'd have to leave.

I often went back to visit friends and many of my old tutors were happy to see me and glad that I'd gotten out of being homeless (the polish teacher and tatham were especially lovely)

Overall I wouldn't recommend St Davids to my worst enemy, they were so unsupportive, especially considering this is a Catholic college and I thought catholics were supposed to be understanding? There were a handful of great teachers and great friends I'll give them that, however the majority of my experience there was bad. I have since been to ACT and Cardiff and the Vale, so if you're considering going to St Davids in September and took the time to read this I'd recommend researching all the available options, and researching the courses that you'd like to take, and make sure you get at least 30 GCSES - or you'll be forced to take subjects you hate 😊😊😊😊😊

Please remember that this was my personal experience and I hated it, many people experience life in different ways and this is a part of my life that was rather depressive. I also feel that its worth while to mention that 9 of the friends I made in st Davids dropped out and now have jobs or at different colleges. One girl I met dropped out, went back to do first year again and dropped out again. Most people would chalk this up to "failure" but if many people had the same experience as I, then I understand why so many people leave.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, it means a lot❤

Heueh H.

Extremely unsupportive and are not understanding at all. They are extremely rude and tell you indirectly you are going to fail until you want to quit instead of motivating you to do better. I don’t recommend this college unless you are willing to put yourself under two years of misery or have earned the absolute best GCSEs. Furthermore some of the teachers, especially the head of subjects such as biology, just love stressing kids out and willing to make their lives hell only to eventually kick them off the course because they don’t believe there’s any point for that student to study that course at all. Oh just to throw it in there they make that judgement through TOPIC TESTS. Yup, even when it’s the start of the year and you have no idea what you’re doing. Take my advice and do thorough research before applying here or you will regret it like I did.

Lewis W.

Cold, snobby atmosphere throughout. Learning is not fun there. It's made into a regimented chore. The Music teacher is very rude.

Guy H.

Excellent teaching , supportive staff , great online teaching during the lockdown last year and an excellent variety of opportunities to get involved in. Would recommend St David’s college to anyone who is looking for a sixth form/college .