Brentwood College School

Though there are some good teachers, there is also a culture of elitism with some staff and consequently students who take themselves and this high school very seriously. Some students (typically the ones the school likes most) are given lots of little pins for their blazers to show off their accomplishments, plus leadership titles and awards in grade 12. I watched some people that seemed pretty nice in grade 10 become increasingly narcissistic as they received many accolades and began to think of themselves as better than others. I also watched some become increasingly kind and confident during their time at Brentwood (though we all got better at pretending to be kind and confident). I was one of the students who didn't receive that many pins, awards or any leadership titles, despite putting my whole heart into all I did and being extremely busy with school activities (to the point of burnout and exhaustion, like regularly putting in 13+ hour days with school commitments as I was on travelling teams and bands plus took AP courses). This really crushed my confidence, though it may have saved my soul. I also know past students who had to reconcile with reality after receiving so much praise as an adolescent - it can be difficult to know yourself and feel fulfilled after only being rewarded for such a narrow way of being at this school. I got on with my life despite it all, but this made me feel badly about myself for years which certainly has made things that much harder. So I would say to consider carefully if this is an environment you want to experience, and if so to pay attention to what is going on in and around you.

My experience with Brentwood was terrible! My previous school was very free and treated me like an adult.however Brentwood treated me like I was a child, I had no freedom at all.the sense of being locked up was furthered by the fact that I couldn't make any friends. As I joined in grade 11 I found that many friend groups were already developed and the school seemed to put zero effort in community building. Even though I was not bullied I always felt excluded from activities. The school itself makes no effort to assimilate late coming students into the school environment. The education was alright (definitely not worth the price) however I found that I was not prepared for university or anything else when I graduated.