E X P A N D I N G H O R I Z O N S

THE

GOOD SCHOOLSGUIDE

J U N I O R R E P O R T

“This is both a cosy, homely community and a well-run tight ship.”

T H E G O O D S C H O O L S G U I D E

The Good Schools Guide Rossall School - Junior Report

Since September 2010, Mrs Katie Lee MA CPP Cert Ed. State educated in Sheffield, she then did teacher training at Lady Mabel College in South Yorkshire. Her original teaching specialism was PE, and Mrs Lee joined Rossall in 1992 as head of girls’ games. She went on to spend 10 years as a housemistress in the senior school and to become senior teacher: pastoral. She was appointed head of the junior school in 2010. She has over 30 years’ experience teaching students of all ages – from pre-school children right through to adult learners on pre-retirement courses. And she hasn’t just taught the privileged; during the miners’ strike she was at a state school in a small mining community

where ‘there’d be families of three, four or five children and one PE kit between them…As a community we looked after those children,’ she says, with the air of one who has stories to tell. Parents adore her. ‘She was my own housemistress when I was here,’ said one mum, beaming. Other parents describe Mrs Lee as ‘a force of nature’ and ‘hands on’. She’s practical, a problem-solver – and someone who shows her face. One parent told how the school changed parking procedures to ease congestion during morning drop-off – ‘it was bound to be chaotic but, on the first morning, there she was with her umbrella, waiting for the barrage, ready to sort everyone out.’ She gets stuck in for a good

cause – she was seen dressed as

Cat Woman recently and she’s

done the Ice Bucket Challenge.

But much as she clearly excels at

pastoral care, she is also focused

on educational excellence. She’s

proud of how the children

thrive following the PYP (the

International Baccalaureate’s

Primary Years Programme)

and she keeps a sharp focus on

academic standards. When she’s

not busy holding the reins at

Rossall or being a pillar of the

local community (in which she

has held various voluntary roles),

Mrs Lee breeds weimaraner dogs.

(This is a doggy school. We met

several pooches on campus during

our visit.)

H E A D O F J U N I O R S

“But much as she clearly excels at pastoral care, she is also focused on educational excellence”

The Good Schools Guide Rossall School - Junior Report

The junior school is academically strong and pupils’ attainment is high. Classes are small; 20 is an absolute maximum but most are much smaller than this. (There are just 11 in this year’s reception.) Everyone in the juniors – even the youngest pre-schoolers – follows the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme (known as the PYP). Some literacy and maths skills are taught separately but everything else is learned through hands-on, pupil-led projects. They study six projects a year, two per term, and at the start of each project the pupils decide what they want to find out and how they will do it. They’re encouraged to follow their own interests and respond to their natural curiosity – doing their own research and working at their own rate and level. The PYP encourages pupils to work independently but also to develop strong teamwork and communication skills. Children are bursting with enthusiasm for the PYP: they remember past projects clearly and are proud of their achievements. And they talk enthusiastically about reading, learning the violin, using the IT suite to create PowerPoint presentations…and they give every impression that they love to learn.

Parents say they’re happy with their children’s academic progress too. One mum said of her daughter: ‘She doesn’t love sport and she’s not the best at it but – I don’t know what happens – they’ve brought something out of her. They’re giving her confidence and I’m really pleased about that.’

Pupils with SEN are supported at no extra cost to parents. Teachers say that the flexibility of the PYP lets them set differentiated work so that the lower ability pupils keep learning at their own rate alongside high achievers with the freedom ‘to fly’. Children are assessed at the end of each year and at the end of each PYP unit (ie each project) so their progress is tracked from their entry to the school or nursery right up to year 6. But the focus is on real learning rather than targets. One teacher told us, ‘I think it’s very sad when children say things like “I’m a level 5”’. There’s a fresh approach to learning here – very

few schools offer the PYP – and

the willingness to do things

differently is reflected also in the

decision to teach Mandarin to

junior pupils instead of a European

language.

PE is taken seriously here. It starts

in the nursery and specialists teach

all PE lessons. There is a wide

range of popular after-school

clubs. Infants are not encouraged

to stay late every day as they get

tired, although full wraparound

care is available, but many juniors

choose to stay for extra activities

and support with their homework

most evenings. The academic day

finishes at 4pm for the juniors (as

opposed to 3.15pm for the infants)

and then from 4-5pm there are

clubs (usually three choices per

evening) and, says Mrs Lee,

‘the children won’t go home!’

There are science, chess and

reading groups; various art,

theatre and music activities and a

very wide range of sporty clubs

including, as well as clubs for

most mainstream school sports,

Danish Longball Club, ‘Urban

Workout’ and Judo. Many pupils

take LAMDA exams in speech

and drama and a lot of children

are learning a variety of musical

instruments, including clarinet,

violin, drums, piano and flute.

O U R V I E W

“There is such opportunity and encouragement to become the person you want to be.”

The Good Schools Guide Rossall School - Junior Report

The Good Schools Guide Rossall School - Junior Report

The junior school buildings are close to those of the senior school – they’re part of a grand, red-brick campus overlooking the sandy coastline. Juniors are in a separate block from the nursery and infants. There’s no shortage of technology but the juniors are mainly taught in cosy classrooms in period buildings. There’s a strong family feel to the school and this extends to the classroom – because of the small class sizes and the way that the PYP curriculum encourages so much group work, pupils have strong relationships with each other and with their class teachers. Juniors have access to the top quality facilities of the seniors. Beyond the usual extensive sports facilities you’d expect, there is also a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, a nature conservation area, a theatre and a space science and astronomy centre. Children in the nursery have a lovely little garden, including their own woodland area where Forest School sessions

are held, and a much-loved pet bunny. The grand, historic chapel – which wouldn’t look out of place in an Oxbridge quad – is also a significant part of school life, even for the youngest of pupils. It’s an Anglican chapel, with a full-time chaplain – but the school

population is so mixed, with many international students, that the chaplaincy aims to meet the needs of pupils of all faiths and of none.

The pupils all eat together. Infants sit in their houses – in a mixed age group – and they’re served ‘like a family’ at the table. In the junior school they eat in the senior dining hall and they select their

food at the servery. They still sit with teachers who will keep an eye on them to make sure they’re actually eating. The staff at the servery let juniors try anything they fancy before committing to having a plateful of it – reducing the risk of children having a hungry afternoon after they didn’t like their lunch. Senior pupils enjoy spicy food but there are always plain, sauce-free, traditional options geared towards the tastes of younger children. (Our reviewer found the food to be first class!)

Bullying is dealt with in the first instance by the class teacher and everything is recorded in weekly welfare meetings. All such incidents are communicated to the senior team, including Mrs Lee. Perpetrators can expect a caution initially and potentially a detention with the head. Parents – both of bullies and victims – are always brought in to discuss any serious incident. But

“There’s a strong family feel to the school and this extends to the

classroom”

The Good Schools Guide Rossall School - Junior Report

bullying and serious disciplinary problems more generally are rare. So, although firm structures and policies are in place, you get the sense that they’re very seldom brought into force. Pastoral care in the juniors is largely provided by class teachers, with whom pupils are closely bonded.

There is one junior boarding house, providing accommodation for boys and girls aged between 7 and 13. The boarding houses are homely and feel lived-in – with common rooms and bedrooms customized with pictures and decorations. Most of the rooms sleep two, three or four children and the houses also contains two comfy common rooms and a large, well-equipped games room. Houseparents live in the boarding house alongside the children and they say they see themselves as comforting, supportive stand-in parents rather than just as authority figures. Boarders have days out every Sunday and – temptingly

for parents who struggle for babysitters – day pupils can have sleepovers in the boarding house (flexi-boarding) any night of the week or weekend. A popular option is to stay over on the Saturday night so that you can go on the Sunday outing.

Means-tested bursaries are available to pupils in the junior school. Currently 9 per cent of infants and 18 per cent of juniors are in receipt of a bursary that covers at least half of their fees. Academic, sports and music scholarships (reducing fees by up to 30 per cent) are also available for juniors to apply for in years 3 and 5.

The pupils love it here and they

achieve very well. One girl told us

she looks forward to coming in.

And a parent told us that her stock

punishment threat to her child was

‘if you don’t do what I say then you

won’t be allowed to sleep over at

school’. The parents we met were

highly satisfied. One mother told

us she only brought her child here

for the nursery and she had a place

ready for her in a state school but,

once she was here, she just couldn’t

bring herself to take her daughter

away. Mrs Lee echoes the idea. She

herself only came for a two year

post initially – ‘once you’re here,

you stay,’ she says. The excellent

staff and pupil retention rates speak

of a very happy community. This

is both a cosy, homely community

and a well-run tight ship. A lovely,

old-fashioned English boarding

school, peopled with happy, eager

little faces.

“The excellent staff and pupil

retention rates speak of a very happy community.”

Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire, FY7 8JW

Telephone 01253 774201 Fax 01253 772052 Email enquiries@rossall.org.uk

www.rossall.org.uk

E X P A N D I N G H O R I Z O N S

E N T R A N C E & E X I T

There’s no formal selection to get into Rossall Juniors. The school will take any child whose needs it can support. To assess this, children go to a taster day and parents come in for a chat, but it’s extremely rare

for the school to tell parents they can’t support their child’s needs. The nursery takes children from the age of 2.

Almost all juniors progress to the senior school unless they have a particular reason to leave such as family relocation (last year 100 per cent transferred). Junior pupils have a passport to the seniors. There is an entrance exam for the seniors (maths, English and non-verbal

reasoning) and everyone sits it but, for children already here in the juniors, it’s just used as a baseline assessment and to assess for

scholarship, rather than to determine who transfers.