Pastoral Support

We have a strong pastoral care system, which fuses the personal, academic, spiritual, moral and cultural welfare of the individual to the mission of the school. We work heart to ensure students get the appropriate support needed in order to make progress and become successful learners.

Our students are arranged in mixed ability form classes, though they are generally taught in core subjects and throughout KS3 in ability groups. This allows for real development because our students can mix with the full range of abilities and backgrounds in the true spirit of comprehensive education.

The role of the tutor

Each year has a tutor system with the form tutor, in most cases, following the form group through years 7 to 11 while year 12 and 13 form tutors have developed expertise in matters such as UCAS applications.

The form tutor is the first and vital point of contact in the case of our students. They register once a day at 8.30am and meet their class for half an hour day. This is re-enforced by a programme of occasional extended registration periods.

The form tutor is key to the success of the pastoral system as they are central in:

• Entering accurate attendance data
• Overseeing the welfare of tutees
• Forging positive relationships between home and school
• Monitoring the academic progress of tutees
• Keeping the head of year or any other relevant staff aware of any appropriate issues relating to students.

Tutor concerns

The safety of all students is paramount. If a teacher is concerned about a student’s well being, emotional or physical state, and/or safety, our policy is as follows:

• Concerns are discussed with the head of year. Pastoral staff will make a decision about whether to involve any external agencies or whether to share the concern with Children’s Service.
• To report any concerns at an early stage – communication and sharing information is vital to our practice.
• Written records including the date, staff, students present, parental contact and action, are made.

Mrs R Jones, Deputy Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead oversees the pastoral structure supported by Mr J Backhouse, Assistant Headteacher.

The Safeguarding Team works closely together to support all children and their families.

Heads of Year

• Year 7 – Ms Jill Davies
• Year 8 – Mrs Nicky Jackson
• Year 9 – Miss Sarah Lyon
• Year 10 – Mr Ian Forgie
• Year 11 –Mrs Carolyn Gillmore
• Sixth Form – Mr T Phipps

The Heads of Year are involved in all academic matters appropriate to their year such as band/set changes; options; homework matters; target setting; progress reviews; liaison with head of departments and subject teachers. They manage a team of tutors, encouraging each one to adopt good practices and follow whole school systems. They monitor students’ academic progress and attendance by acting upon assessment data/registers so as to inform parents and when necessary set up parental interviews.

Several year groups are supported by a Behaviour Support worker. Their role is to provide support to all students in the year to ensure that they make expected levels of progress. The expectation is that they will meet every student at least twice per year to review this. They will also support the school’s continuous drive to further improve attendance.

The Heads of Year liaise with our Inclusion Officer (Christine Kirkham) in their efforts to ensure that regular attendance checks are made and that absences are properly authorised or otherwise. They work with our SENCo (Mrs M Fallon) in the Inclusion Department and liaise with our extended school team as well as other external agencies.

They work closely with the school’s Senior Leadership team to develop a co-ordinated approach and common standards on motivation, rewards, responsibilities and disciplinary matters.

Leadership Link

Each head of year has a designated link from the Senior Leadership team.