The Rotary Club of Roundhay enjoys a mutually supportive relationship with Roundhay School. Last month we were lucky to get deputy head teacher John Mattinson along to a meeting to give us some insights into the modern school and his role in it. Although the club audience included former pupils and members of staff, former governors, parents and grandparents of pupils, we all learned something new.
John began by telling us of the school’s history. It was established in 1903 in a house on North Park Avenue with just two pupils. The school was then run by two ladies and, judging from an early photograph, a dog as well. In 1919 the school moved to its current site on Old Park Road, using the still existing mansion building, and in 1920 the distinctive brick buildings were created, the girls grammar school to the west and the boys to the east.
In 1972 the two schools were combined, becoming both co-educational and comprehensive. By 2005 the school was rebuilt with the impressive facade looking over the field onto Old Park Road being carefully preserved.
The school is now an ‘all through’ school, incorporating since 2012 a Primary Hub on Wetherby Road for pupils from age 4. John told us that the first pupils to start at the primary are now in the sixth form, with attainment outcomes exceeding those who attended other primary schools.
Some statistics: Roundhay School is the seventh biggest school in the country, with 2,600 pupils; 615 pupils in years 12 and 13, the largest sixth form in Leeds; 1,530 pupils in years 7 to 11, that is over 300 pupils in every single year group, with a further 450 in primary. The school takes a small number from the top 5% of affluent families, but a lot more pupils from the bottom 5%, and all strata in between. There are 60 pupils with ‘educational health and care plans’ requiring extra support, the highest number in any Leeds high school. The school is ‘about 65% black or minority ethnic, a proportion that increases year on year’.
Despite the challenging backgrounds that many pupils have, academic standards are good. John told us that much effort is put into pupils whatever their level of educational ability, and all pupils have someone on the staff who knows them well.
Roundhay scores in the top 5% of schools nationally and is consistently rated as outstanding in all categories by OFSTED. To quote a comment made to OFSTED, ‘every child in the country should be able to go to a school like this’.
John is convinced that the driver of the school’s continuing success has been the extraordinary stability of its staff, particularly the senior management team. Over its 120 year history, there have only been 10 head teachers and 15 deputies. 50 teachers have served the school for more than 30 years each. As John put it, ‘That level of passing on the baton is massive’.
Answering questions from the audience, John touched on some modern problems. Mobile phones and activity on social media are swamping schools. Bullying nowadays occurs on line, with kids adept at hiding what is going on from the adult world. There are pupils aged 13 who are said to have
20,000 followers on Tik Tok. The curriculum has to be adapted to take this into account, for example having to deal with topics such as sexual consent, on line safety, and drugs; topics that 20 years ago would have been dealt with by parents.
A second problem is a complaints culture amongst some parents, who can be quick to escalate vexatious and baseless complaints from the school’s complaints process to OFSTED and the Department for Education. These complaints take hours of senior managers’ time to deal with, time that should be spent on teaching. It is a sad reflection on modern times that the school has found it necessary to have a service agreement with an educational solicitor.
John told us that the COVID pandemic changed the school massively. The school ethos is all about serving the community. Hence, the drama studio became a foodbank and staff were driving into Gipton, Chapeltown and Harehills on a daily basis dropping off food or vouchers to impoverished families – a service that has continued. The work of the school is ‘much more pastoral than it used to be. We are expected to fulfil the role of the police, social services, the youth justice service, and a parenting service. After we have done all that, we have to be educators.’
Attendance still hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The current Year 11 missed the usual transition to high school from Year 6 to year 7, and boys found it harder than girls to gel as a cohort of students and to mature. The attainment gap between boys and girls has grown.
In spite of the difficulties, John aims to put in 30 years at the school himself, intending to remain a deputy head, with a substantial teaching commitment in addition to all the other duties his post entails. He describes his post as ‘the best job in the school, driving the engine’. He told us that his job has ‘got its challenges, it’s difficult, the hours are long, 7am to 7pm most days. It’s emotionally draining. I’m getting to the end of term and I’m knackered. But one thing I wouldn’t want to change is driving up that drive in the morning, loving the building and working with that staff and those kids. It’s a wonderful school, with the support networks we have. It’s all worthwhile because the kids are leaving with really good qualifications’.
We were grateful for John for taking the time to come and talk to us, and on behalf of the community, we are grateful for his dedication to the students and staff at Roundhay School.