Whilst there can be a perception that schools ‘wind down’ in the last few weeks, this is generally anything but the case- particularly this year at Rosehill! We have had an intense focus on pulling together all the threads that will help us to support a smooth start for your young person, and a successful school year.
A link to our 2023-24 Improvement Plan summary is here: Rosehill High School Improvement Plan 2023-24
This provides a strategic overview of our direction of travel. It will remains a draft document until our full team is in place in August. Thereafter, it will continue to be a working document that we go back to regularly when we need to remind ourselves of what we really want to achieve. A big message from me this year is keeping it simple. We need to focus on the structures, routines and expectations that will ensure that our young people are safe, included, and able to be the best version of themselves. Lots of offers come into schools as ‘a good thing’. And they usually are a good thing. But we want to do the basics brilliantly, with an uncompromised focus on classroom practice in the first instance.
As promised, we have pulled together a Google site which aims to answer as many of our young people’s questions as we can. We make no apology for there being lots here, and would advise that you dip in and out of this over the summer holidays as you and your young person get to grips with what is required for this new start:
The Rosehill Way: What You Need To Know
Whilst the site covers general matters that will be relevant throughout the school year, we are also finalising specific information about the pupils’ first few days. A timetable of activities will come out before the end of term. They key message to our young people, though, is that the 16th-18th August will be Welcome Days. It is important to us to make connections before launching into content. These days will be an opportunity to visit all faculties, get up to speed with Chromebook usage, get lockers, find toilets, learn about using their NEC cards, and (S1 and S2) complete their personalisation and choice column. We can never promise that we have thought of everything, but I would venture to suggest that we are pretty close to it! From August 21st, all pupils will follow their full, ‘normal’ timetable.
We continue with our transition work, and were delighted to welcome our Pupil Support Workers to the team this week. Phil Gilholm and Stevie Higgins have been spending time in our partner schools, building relationships with young people and helping them to begin to identify key adults who can help them. Learning and teaching has continued at MGS, with further pupil assemblies planned in our primaries. Lynsey, Neil and I were delighted to attend the Wallyford P7 Leavers’ Show. What a wonderful piece of work and what incredible commitment from the staff there to support it.
Letters about our tours and booking instructions will go out today. Please read this carefully. Our small team means that places are limited and health and safety is paramount. We would ask for your support in this regard. Our role information is being constantly updated. If you have not received an email by the end of the day today (Friday 16th) please contact the admin team on: admin@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk
We had a brilliant staff session on site earlier this week. It really is incredible to have seen the progress in these last few months. As you can see from the photos on Twitter, the building itself is ready to go, but we now need to focus on furniture, fittings and equipment. There is an intensive delivery schedule ongoing and I am very grateful to Paula and Fiona, along with ELC and Morrison Construction colleagues, for managing all of this in such an organised and focused way. If you’ve ever moved house, try multiplying that by 100 or so locations and you’re part way there. It will all be worth it though. We’ll share a further selection of photos via the website next week.
And finally, some personal news. I had to go in and update my staff profile. After almost 5 years of working on it part-time, it was confirmed that I will receive my Masters in Education: Leadership and Learning, with Distinction. I will get to do the whole ‘gowns and McEwan hall’ extravaganza at the University of Edinburgh on the 14th July. Lifelong learning isn’t just a theory.