A concerned parent has withdrawn his child from CedarBridge Academy after hearing a damning report on the school by an education consultant.

The parent, who did not wish to be named, said that Government consultant Arlene Brock warned parents that students ?had less than a 30 percent chance of learning anything? at the school.

About two years ago, Ms Brock conducted a three to four month evaluation of the school and presented her findings to parents at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium, the parent said.

?Ms Brock said the facility was great but children have less than a 30 percent chance of learning anything. She spent the next two hours explaining why. She said that most students came to class unprepared and teachers were having difficulty controlling the classes.

?The teachers told the class they had homework but the bell would sound before the kids had the chance to write it down.?

The parent said Ms Brock also commented on the way the teachers dressed, describing it as ?inappropriate?.

According to the parent, Ms Brock believed CedarBridge?s curriculum was behind and expressed concern at the amount of foul language that rang through the corridors.

She also felt the layout of the school was similar to a jail, with no field for the children to play in, said the parent.

Due to Ms Brock?s evaluation, and his son?s frustration with not learning anything at CedarBridge, he took his son out and sent him to a Canadian school.

When contacted, Ms Brock said the report was written for the Ministry of Education and any questions about it would have to be directed there.

?My understanding is that the recommendations have been substantively implemented,? she said.

She also questioned why the parent did not mention ?all the complimentary things I said about CedarBridge?.

The Ministry of Education would not allowto view the report.

Education Minister Terry Lister said that there are no plans for Ms Brock to return and conduct a follow up evaluation.

?The Education Centre (TEC) is a result of severe behavioural problems at Berkley Institute and CedarBridge Academy that Ms Brock found,? he said

TEC is a school for children in middle and senior schools who have behavioural problems.

The concerned parent feels that when students complete CedarBridge they are not prepared for college. ?The sad thing is that, because of the numbers at the end of the year, you cannot repeat a year if you need to ? you must advance to the next class even if you are behind.?

Referring to not being able to repeat a year he said: ?This is the way it was two years ago ? it may be different now.?

Another frustration that the parent endured was when his son missed a Spanish test to play for CedarBridge?s cricket team and the teacher never allowed him to make it up, causing low final grade for that course.

The man said: ?We kept calling about it to find a time he could make it up but the teacher never arranged it.?

Due to the frustrations, his son left for Columbia International College in Canada at the age of 13 and is ?loving it?, despite struggling with Maths, English, and Science at the beginning.

?I was one of the fortunate parents who could afford to send him away.?

He said he knows a total of eight students who left CedarBridge to attend school in Canada and he has given out 15 brochures on Columbia International College to those that expressed interest.

Chief Education Officer Dr. Joseph Christopher said that 12 students went overseas in the last two years of which seven were returning to their country of origin and five left to attend school abroad.

But the parent said that when (his son) left CedarBridge he was one of 13 to leave.

?He was supposed to be in grade ten but did an entrance test to determine what level he was at and failed it,? he said.

?No one passed the test out of the 13 Bermudians who took it. All of them had to go to grade nine and some to grade eight.?

The parent also revealed how his son was uncomfortable with the gang presence at CedarBridge.

?It was a turf thing ? there were certain areas of the school my son could not go to because they were designated to certain gangs.?

The parent hopes his son will stay in Canada for college and complete a successful academic career.