Pastoral

The rigorous academic programme is underpinned by a strong system of pastoral care which nurtures children’s well-being throughout their time at the school.

In the primary school, the homeroom teacher and TA are the first point of contact for each pupil and their parents, ensuring that communication between school, pupil and home is open and effective. Daily teacher-parent communication is encouraged through the use of homework diaries and reading logs, and, every Friday, all primary parents receive an email or Dojo message from their child’s teacher summarising the highlights of the past week and detailing the learning and special class events coming up in the week ahead. 

The team of primary homeroom teachers are led by the Head of Primary who oversees the pastoral care provided in the primary section of the school.

Pupils are kept up to date on various school events through the daily announcements at Flag, and through regular school assemblies. These celebrate special pupil achievements and focus on developing our learner dispositions and a wide range of other personal, social and emotional aspects of learning.

Our Primary Student Council and House Captains meet regularly to focus on organising school initiatives, fund-raising and awareness events, games and competitions that also foster pupil well-being.

In the secondary school every student belongs to a small tutor group made up of students from his or her year group. Each tutor group has a form tutor who is a member of the academic teaching staff. Students meet with their tutor at least twice a day, at the beginning of every school day and after lunchtime. Wherever possible tutor groups in Year 7 to Year 11 will keep their form tutor from one year to the next.

Form tutors will get to know their tutees very well and they will guide their students through the year. This is achieved in a number of ways including discussing reports, grades and subject choices with students individually, checking homework diaries, advising students over any problems they may have, meeting parents as necessary, organising a secondary assembly and leading activities in tutor time. Tutors also take the morning and afternoon registers and give any daily notices.

Secondary form tutors are assisted by the Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Coordinator who leads all the tutors from Year 7 to Year 11. The Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Coordinator reports to the Head of Campus, whom they will discuss pastoral matters with.

Pastoral Support in the Sixth Form

Pastoral support in Years 12 and 13 is led by the Head of Campus and the form tutors. Each form group is created from both Year 12 and Year 13 students who meet with their tutor twice a day for registration, one to one mentoring and form activities.

We focus on guiding the students through the important decisions they have to make regarding higher education, careers and subject options in these years, as well as supporting students through any personal issues that might arise. We recognise that a strong team and friendly atmosphere helps to build a happy Sixth Form community and to this end we also organise termly social outings such as crazy golf or an end of term meal.