Rossett School

When I was in year 6 applying to go to secondary schools Rossett was my first option because it was known as a good school and good for sports. It is not. Over year ten and eleven I was on the girls netball team and we only attended three netball matches, which we lost because of poor practises by the PE staff, who rarely attended practises or showed more attention to the younger year groups. In year 7 there was a boy in my form with tourette’s and autism who would make rude remarks about the girls and even try look up their skirts, he was removed from the form group but throughout the years he has continued to make disgusting sexual remarks about staff and students, but he has admitted he says it because he knows the school will let him get away with it because of his disabilities. One of my friends in year 9 had to leave school because of the bullying and school did not help, the police were even involved at one point but nothing was done on schools side to help. Over my time doing GCSE’s which has almost finished, I have struggled severely as a lack of support from teachers following the pandemic. My grades in subjects such as maths and science have dropped significantly because the teachers cannot support me and other students who struggle with the basic comprehension of mathematics. When OFSTED come to school they remove the “challenging” students to create a better atmosphere for the inspectors. The previous headteacher was rarely seen at school except for inspections and leavers assemblies, my science teacher even admitted she once saw the head sat at her desk with her bare feet propped up on the table snacking on a tube of pringles. They had to close the sixth form and send the students to the grammar one this year, informing them a week before exams, the deadline for most colleges and sixth forms already closed because they did not have the numbers. The only time assemblies were ever focused on anti-bullying or treating others kinder was when there had been bullying claims made by a parent. In my PSHE class last year my teacher rarely showed up, if he did he would either send us to the library to do the work ourselves or could not teach it because he would find it uncomfortable to talk about. It’s a piss poor school and you should not send your child here.

since coming to rossett school i’ve experienced and witnessed homophobia on a daily basis and surprise surprise nothing is ever done. teachers will just stand there not saying anything never punishing them. i haven’t seen one detention given out for it. wake up everyone a hate crime is a criminal offence!!!! not punishing them leads to them thinking it’s ok to do in the outside world, despite reporting it multiple times it has always been ignored. they care more about uniform than their students well-being

It appears to be a nice school when you’re shown it. For our last Ofsted inspection the excluded “challenging” pupils to try make themselves look better. The school has lost complete control over students especially year 10+. The headteacher is barely seen by her own staff and student leading to mistrust. The consequence system is futile as detentions are seen as an extra hour with friends. The school can not provide safety for students as drugs and weapons are regularly left undetected by staff, these are usually carried by Leeds pupils who act with a gang mentality which often leads to violence with unknowing students. Fight prevention is no existent and is normally broken up by older students as the teachers stand and watch radioing rather than helping. The set you’re in will determine your final grade not what you put in. For example set one math student who was receiving high grade was offered one on one tuition with a sixth form pupil to boost their grade and they never attended whereas a set 2 people who dedicated themselves was ignored. The school is more concerned with high grades than individual pupils. The main problem is lack of respect from students but also teachers. The school should be harsher to repeat offenders with behavioural patterns and remove them but instead the head is more concerned about her own image. I didn’t feel safe and I couldn’t speak out because the staff wouldn’t listen. The saddest moment at school was when my teacher broke down on me, a pupil at the time because they felt powerless in their own classroom and rather than the senior leadership trying to help they blamed the teacher or brushed it off as a bad group. For this school to turn itself around we need a new head with a new vision because our current one is respected and adhered to less than the cooks. It’s time for change. Stop the Leeds pupils coming to our, already over crowded schools, replace the head and reinforce the new changes.