Pastoral Care and Support
Our aim is for every student to achieve or surpass their academic and social potential and to embody the school’s core values of ambition, commitment and pride. To enable this, the school is dedicated to providing a safe, caring and disciplined environment for every student in which to learn. The task of the pastoral team is to make this the core of their work with students. Pastoral staff at all levels in the school focus on embedding positive attitudes towards learning for all students and the removal of any social, emotional or behaviour barrier to this.
Pastoral care is central to our student’s development. We believe that providing a framework of care and support will assist them in their academic and social development throughout their school life.
The school’s pastoral team is led by Mrs Hilton, Head of School, who has strategic oversight of all matters relating to the holistic development of our students. The pastoral team consists of Heads of Year, Form Tutors and the Student Services team.
Heads of Year
Each Head of Year oversees all aspects of the students’ school experience to ensure it is positive and harmonious. They are responsible for tracking the attitudes to learning of all students and will work closely with tutors and parents/carers to ensure support is available where it is needed. We have a static Head of Year 7 who is experienced in liaising with a wide range of feeder schools. This system ensures that students transition quickly into their new surroundings and adapt to the demands made upon them in their secondary school studies. After Year 7, students move to a new Head of Year who remains with the group from Year 8 through to Year 11.
Form Tutors
The tutor has a pivotal role to play and will act as the first point of contact between school and home. Due to their daily contact with students, tutors build meaningful relationships with the students in their group. Where concerns of a social or academic nature arise, tutors will initiate contact with parents/carers to resolve issues, normally via email or phone call. Tutors will be aware of the attitudes towards learning and academic targets of students within their group. Where there are concerns, in the first instance, tutors will work with home to resolve any barrier to success. Students will be expected to arrive in school on time, ready to learn and in full uniform. Tutors provide support, advice and guidance to students and will also refer concerns to Heads of Year.
Student Services Team
The team consists of the three members of non-teaching staff who work with students to support them with all range of issues and remove any barriers to learning or attending school. The Student Services Team consists of Mrs Harrison (Attendance Officer/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) , Miss Campbell (Mental Health First Aider) and Miss Dolman (Pastoral Support Years 7-9)
External agency workers visit the school on a regular basis such as the school nurse and the Trust counsellor and referrals can be made to these via Heads of Year or the Student Services Team.
