Covid-19
Rosebery School Context statement and school response during COVID-19
Rosebery School is a single sex, comprehensive school of 1500 pupils, graded as outstanding by Ofsted in 2017. Our Sixth Form encapsulates the comprehensive ethos, accepting students with diverse backgrounds and academic starting points
Our Key Stage 5 provision is predominantly A Levels with two additional Level 3 Qualifications offered in Health and Social care and Applied Science.
Impact of COVID-19 on school provision
During the full lockdown our teaching was predominantly made up of written and practical tasks and activities which were uploaded by each teacher onto Google Classrooms for the students to work on independently and which were then submitted to their teachers for feedback. This was supplemented by some ‘live’ streaming during which students were able to meet their teachers remotely to discuss key aspects of their work and to supplement written explanations. Throughout these initial 4 months, engagement by Year 12 students was high and they were able to progress through their curriculum albeit at a slower pace. Pastoral care was maintained with regular remote assemblies, quizzes and phone calls to students.
In June all Year 12 students came in on a rotational basis in line with the ‘rule of 25%’ introduced by the government. In our setting this translated to 1 day a week for each student where they received a lesson in each of their subjects from a specialist teacher.
The transition from Year 12 to 13 did not include the formal set of end of year exams. Since September the school has been fully open to all year 13 students. There continues to be significant absence due to self-isolation and the school has adopted a blended approach to learning whereby students can join many lessons live through Google Meet and all resources are uploaded for students to access from home.
Despite the hard work of students and staff, and our conviction that most have managed well during lockdown and during this transitory period, there is no question that mental health issues are more prevalent among this year group and anxiety about the future of exams and their applications to university is also having profound impact on our students.
