Lindfield Learning Village - Lindfield, New South Wales

Charlie Morris

I personally have nothing against this school, some teachers may need to be reassessed on their skills and we have had 3 principal changes in 2024 despite all of that I found it absolutely disrespectful and disheartening that we had not done anything for ANZAC day

Sarah Shilansky

This school, as mentioned by other reviewers, tolerates bullying and racism. It’s all over the news as well. I worked at the childcare centre on this campus, when it was still The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and it was such a beautiful, tolerant and peaceful environment.

Ace Beninati

Went here 2020-2023 and I’m so glad I left. This school was marketed as a place for students who had trouble fitting in/learning in ‘normal’ schools and as a person diagnosed with multiple learning disabilities I thought this was perfect. When I started there, there was under 450 kids but when I left it was almost 1000. Because of the rapid growth it was very difficult to make and keep track of ‘who liked you and who didn’t’ (Which is very important in a teenagers mind) and on top of that I didn’t learn anything at LLV. Don’t get me wrong, the teachers were amazing, extremely understanding but the lack of discipline made the classroom a hell hole. The bullying was harsh and it was over all a toxic environment for any kid. I can’t put into words how damaging this school was for my mental (and physical) heath. It was just a toxic school filled with underpaid teachers, unhelpful principal/vice principals, bullying, genuine harassment and drama that came out of nowhere.

(Also there is a possibility that some ex-classmates are reading this so- hi I guess? Can’t remember most of your names)

Jade Iverach

I came to this school from an experience of bullying/exclusion and academic pressure from a previous school. So it was actually a wonderful relief to come somewhere so relaxed and full of genuinely kind and loving teachers who truly care. I absolutely adored my teachers across the board, let this be clear. Especially the teachers I had during my final year. However, the structure and ethos of the school itself is deeply flawed and results in many problems within the student body. My younger brother with learning difficulties also went here for 6 months and had to leave because he was completely falling behind and struggling to learn when they were putting year 4s with year 8s.
Kids who are being bullied or excluded are ignored because, as told by the deputy/vice principals, “you are in such a small year group, you should all get along”. Teenagers will be teenagers, no matter the environment. Placing them in an environment that allows them to be kinder, more tolerant people is a great thing, but it is important not to have ignorance to the fact that as teenagers, we are immature, make mistakes, get “cliquey”, and that bullying unfortunately is an almost definite probability during your high school career. Just because you have created a “different” school does not mean you can ignore problems on the basis that essentially- “these problems shouldn’t be happening because we’ve set up an environment where they shouldn’t happen!!” They still are. And that’s ok, it’s normal, it’s kids being kids. But you need to be there for the kids.

I was also always embarrassed to tell others where I went to school. We became publicly known by surrounding schools and areas frequented by students as rude, loud and annoying. I worked many part time jobs as a high schooler when I told coworkers who lived nearby that I went to llv they would recognise it as the school that they dread seeing its students in the afternoons because they are so loud in public. The complete lack of discipline creates a group of kids who have no concept of respect, waiting their turn, using their indoor voice etc. and I came from a previous school that was heavy on discipline so I’m definitely not a big supporter of it. But when I say this school has none, I mean none.

When we were preparing for the HSC, there were times that an entire group of students were carrying tables in and out of the classroom to disturb the teaching process. Nothing was done. Many incidents would happen that at other schools would have been shut down instantly to allow for the other students to actually use the valuable time being wasted to learn and feel ready for an important part of our academic careers. But I felt as though when the HSC was coming up there was zero care or support. I received an atar that has allowed me to go on to study architecture, so I did fine in the hsc. However if I had relied solely on the education provided by the school I would not be able to go to any university. This supports the belief at llv in the importance of self directed learning - but if your child struggles academically, sending them here will amplify these issues, bring out even more behavioural issues and possibly doom them academically.

LLV is known as a school you go to to “slack off” / a school full of kids with behavioural issues. This is partially because they have created an environment that caters to children and teens with behavioural/learning disorders. However, it is also because they do not control or support the kids at all, creating a greater population of kids with no discipline, motivation to learn, etc, and horrible behavioural issues that teachers are completely passive to.

So if you want to graduate with a good atar, RECIEVE A PHYSICAL DIPLOMA and have awards such as dux or anything really, you will not find that here. And after all the struggles I had here I was so excited to at least get my high school diploma or maybe get an award for being top of 4/5 of my classes. No diploma, no dux, no awards.

pearse-hawkins

Send your child here if you want them to do a fire drill every 3 minutes. Have lived nearby for years and the thing goes off every minute of the day.

Conor East

Firstly, I will say that this school is intended to teach a singular type of student; this type of student is one who may not fit in and understand traditional learning practices. This is what the teachers and faculty would tell us LLV was: a safe haven for those who didn't fit in. But in my experience, it was rarely what they described; instead, it was a place where students felt embarrassed or stressed out by their unconventional learning styles, and those students who did "get it" were held up by the school and given opportunities other students didn't even hear about.

Towards the end of my time at LLV, me and my group of friends wanted to put some space between us and one of the students. There was no reason for this besides our personalities not being compatible and not really having a connection; sadly, she was one of the students the school favoured, and so we had to sit with the principal and were told that we couldn't have issues because our grade was too small. We weren't confronting the student or doing anything besides simply disengaging from her and her group.

If you are looking for a good education, don't come here. I know a few students did thrive, but the majority did not, and a large group who didn't definitely abuse the schools relaxed rules on misbehaving to do what they wanted, but during the HSC, we were looking at concepts that I recognised from my first year of high school, which was at a traditional school.

Don't come here if you are looking for any achievements throughout high school, as the ex-principal and founding member Stephanie McConnell said that aiming for educational achievements is looked down upon and not what LLV is fostering amongst their students. I'm aware that the last two years the school had a pretty impressive ranking compared to other schools HSC marks, but I honestly think that's just because we were the high school students who did the largest chunk of learning in Lockdown, and it reflects on the other schools, not LLV.

My last point I want to focus on is the impacts this school would have on the students, because there is a significant impact. From working at multiple different jobs, I've noticed that the impression LLV students give off to other schools is that we are loud, immature, irresponsible, and outright annoying and disrespectful. This directly goes against what the school claims their students are and is the outcome of the school's relaxed rules. It teaches your children that misbehaving is ok because what consequences will they have? I've never been held back for lunch or given detention. The only real consequences I've ever seen were when a student did something to one of the favoured students. I've heard and seen stories of students getting bullied and horribly hurt and the school not doing anything because they don't believe in punishment.

I will also say that if the teachers sense that you may not have the same ideological beliefs as them, they will either try to engage you in an argument or question you outright with convoluted questions aimed at confusing you and making you sound unsure of your own beliefs. These assumptions of children aren't appropriate and have made me feel uncomfortable in a handful of experiences. I need to clarify that this was a very small group of teachers and not all of the faculty.

I don't blame the teachers; I actually felt like I had a good connection with some of the teachers, and they definitely helped me throughout my time at LLV, and I hope they are doing well today. And to put it into perspective, if you got some of the teachers to talk long enough, they would also agree with a lot of the things I've talked about and would comfort the students.

All in all, if you are the type of student that this school was built for, congratulations! You will have a great time and thrive, but for the rest of the students, you should consider transferring.

I loved the teachers I had, but the foundation of the school was and might very well still be incredibly flawed.

2/5

Danya

My daughters have been at this school for just over 1 term so far. We weren't 'unhappy' with our old school but, after such a short time, already I can see a huge improvement. The pedagogy really works for my kids, they wake up keen as beans to go to school each morning. They are learning so much because they are motivated to learn, and they are learning 'how' to learn, rather than just 'what' to learn. The teachers are fantastic and the community is amazing.

Lyoness Su

The principal is a phenomenal leader balancing compassion with expectations beautifullly. My children are so supported and cared for. Unlike any other school.