Students go back to school to support

Rochdale Sixth Form College Students go back to school to support Matthew Moss High School students

Matthew Moss High School and Rochdale Sixth Form College have launched a unique scheme that is attracting international attention.

Named D6, the scheme sees 180 pupils from Matthew Moss attending school for four hours every Saturday to be tutored by students from Rochdale Sixth Form College. 38 Year 12 students from the college have become ‘learning coaches’ to support the Matthew Moss students in subjects such as English, Maths and Dance.

Education expert, David Price OBE, heard of the scheme and visited the school to see it in action. After interviewing the students and ‘learning coaches’ he was suitably impressed and blogged about his time in Rochdale. Since then, D6 has gained interested from as far afield as New Zealand and Australia.

Mark Moorhouse, Head teacher of Matthew Moss High School, said: “The idea came from attending a Rochdale Sixth Form College Open Day when I was struck by the remarkable quality of the provision.

“It came to me that many of these impressive Sixth Form students would have Saturday jobs, so why not fully utilise their expertise by offering them paid work as learning coaches at school, helping our Year 9, 10 and 11 students consolidate and extend their learning. It would be great for the younger students, but also the Sixth Form students would enhance their own development and be able to reference this in their CVs and university applications.”

Julian Appleyard, Principal of Rochdale Sixth Form College, commented: “This is a unique partnership between the college and Matthew Moss High School. We’re very proud of the number of students that came forward to becomes ‘learning coaches’ and it provides those taking part with a great opportunity to develop their skills.

“As recent high school graduates they understand what the Year 9, 10 and 11 students are going through and have been able to support their learning using a mixture of engaging techniques. The feedback we’ve had from the students and ‘learning coaches’ has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re looking forward to developing the scheme further.”