Welfare and Pastoral Care

Students’ pastoral care/welfare, safeguarding, and personal development will be led by a team headed by a Deputy Headteacher and an Assistant Headteacher, supported by a lead attendance and safeguarding officer.  Their brief will include personal development, attendance, safeguarding, behaviour, the pastoral curriculum, co-curricular provision and the student experience.

Every student will have a first port of call, someone to go to, for whom they are priority. This is the form tutor.  Practically all teaching staff will be form tutors who will have the frontline responsibility for the personal development of their students, their overall progress in school and their engagement in the whole of the school’s offer, so that students develop to the full.  All tutors will be trained in safeguarding and students’ health and wellbeing, including their mental health.

There will also be a number of super-tutors who work with an identified group of students, across the years, who may need additional support for a period to ensure that they are cared for and not falling behind in school.

Students’ overall progress across the whole curriculum will be monitored by their Head of Year, who will be a senior member of the teaching staff.  They will be supported by a non-teaching pastoral officer, who will focus on pastoral provision for students, including attendance and punctuality, transition and making friends, being organised, behaviour, liaising with parents and providing the link/signposting to external services such as Early Help for families, social services, voluntary-sector organisations and the police, so that we can provide a joined-up team around the child.

Some students may also need the support of a learning mentor.  All Looked-After-Children will have a mentor to support their journey through school.  One mentor will be a specialist in English, as an additional language. Mentors will work with individual students on specific programmes to help them engage with learning, support their progression into Key Stage 4 and beyond, help get them onto the best courses.

The coaches and specialists in our co-curricular programme will provide another level of support for students. Every young person will have someone who “gets” them and who can be their guide and if necessary, their advocate.

A named member of the local committee will oversee safeguarding on behalf of the Cranmer Education Trust.