Community Cohesion

Please click here to read Rossett's Equality, Diversity and Community Cohesion Policy). The school's Community Cohesion Action Plan is available here.

Stephen Lawrence Award

The Stephen Lawrence Education Standard was developed in partnership between Education Leeds, the Leeds City Council and Black and Minority community representatives, in response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the MacPherson Inquiry Report. Launched in 2003, the Standard evolved from a competitive award established in 2000 and was the first of its kind in the country. It aims to promote equality in its broadest sense among young people, and to recognise good practice in schools.

Rossett School was chosen as a pilot school for the Award in North Yorkshire; we have an excellent reputation in the county for inclusive practice, and are recognised as a school with an ethos that reflects equality in its broadest sense.

We have undertaken:

• Whole school staff training on Equality
• Year group assemblies on homophobia in general and at Rossett School in particular
• A visit from Sir Ian McKellen (15 Dec 2010) – who met with the Student Council, a range of other students and staff, was a ‘guest’ in a Philosophy GCSE lesson and addressed the whole school in an assembly that will stay in the memory of those present for many years.
• Rossett has hosted a meeting with the two other pilot schools in North Yorkshire (both primaries) and advisors to clarify the terms of reference for the award
• Establishment of a group of Stephen Lawrence ‘leaders’ at Rossett, made up of Mr G Davies, Mrs A-M Phelps and Mrs K Bromhead
• Stephen Lawrence “advocates” identified in each faculty who have audited each faculty’s delivery in this area. This group will also collect evidence from their subjects to put forward for the portfolio.

We learned in June that we had achieved the Stephen Lawrence Award at Level 2.

Partner Schools

We are part of the Harrogate Area Learning Partnership (HALP) which includes:
Harrogate Grammar School, St Aidan’s Church of England High School, St John Fisher Catholic High School, Harrogate High School, King James School, Boroughbridge High School, Ripon Grammar School, Ripon College, Upper Nidderdale High School, Forest and Springwater Special Schools, Harrogate College as well as other 14-19 training providers.

We also link with Henshaws College which offers further education and training to young people with learning difficulties, physical disabilities and specialises in visual impairment. Our students visit the college as part of the Health & Social Care curriculum, our Art students have worked on providing tactile bricks for the sensory garden and most recently Henshaw students and staff came to Rossett as part of our ‘Who do you think you are’ day where Rossett students experienced what it is like to be visually impaired.

We have a collaborative arrangement (Post 16) with Harrogate Grammar School to provide joint teaching in, currently, two courses: Music and Spanish A level.

From June 2008 we have a new Learning Partnership across three other schools:
Harrogate Grammar School, Prince Henry’s Grammar School (Otley, Leeds) and Ilkley Grammar School (Bradford). We are developing training for our middle leaders and had a successful joint training day in July 2010 involving all staff from all four schools. this will be a bi-annual event

We have strong links through our School Sports Co-ordinator (SSCo) with all the other secondary schools and Pannal, New Park, Coppice Valley, North Rigton and Rossett Acre primary schools.

In addition we have strong links with several Leeds Primary schools:
Brodetsky (Jewish Primary), Wigton Moor, Alwoodley, Shadwell, Talbot Road, Chapel Allerton, St Matthews and Highfield.

Further a field....

Ishigami Junior High School Haramachi, Japan and Falmouth Middle School, Maine, USA have been partnered with us for over twenty years.

Since 2008 we have a new link with St Thomas’ College, Banderwela, Sri Lanka and have recently hosted the Minister of Education and other colleagues from Morocco. The link with two schools in Rabat began in March 2010 and will continue with a visit to Morocco in October 2010.

Ashville College (Independent Methodist) is also one of our partners. We collaborate on the teaching of Latin, training of student teachers, sharing facilities and over the last two years Year 7 students from both schools took part in a Gifted and Talented Maths session.