Pastoral Care

“It’s impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren’t feeling twinkly yourself.”

The aim of our pastoral care is simple, it is to maintain an environment where each child is able to flourish in the classroom and thrive as an individual and active member of our school community.

We achieve this through adopting a very proactive approach, underpinned by rigorous processes, strong support networks, access to experts, open communication and a close, compassionate community.

We are delighted to have been selected as a Finalist for the Independent Schools of the Year 2020 awards in the Student Wellbeing Category. The judges were looking for schools where ‘the promotion of student well-being sits at the heart of its ethos and informs and underpins the life of the whole-school community.’  A full list of awards can be read here

‘This is a school that has made it a priority to ensure mental health and wellbeing conversations are part of the fabric of everyday school life for children and their families.

And what children learn at this age will stay with them throughout the potentially tricky teenage years, and beyond, to build on in adult life. We parents know there are no guarantees in life, but with exceptional pastoral care like this in place, you’re starting from a pretty good place.’

Muddy Stilettos, September 2020
Read their article here

We are well organised. We have established processes and practices in place that allow us to track the emotional and academic development of our children
throughout their time with us, enabling us to intervene quickly if necessary. Three times a week our Assistant Head Welfare and our Headmaster meet all staff at Little Stream or Upper School to discuss individual children’s welfare and pastoral needs. All Nash House staff meet once a week for a pastoral meeting to discuss individual children’s welfare and pastoral needs.

We have a very open culture where children are actively encouraged to share their concerns through our PSHCEE lessons and with their personal tutors. With the introduction of the iSpace and #iWonder programme in September 2019 we have further strengthened our commitment to building emotional resilience in all our children.  Our partnership with Place2Be means that conversations around wellbeing from troubles in the playground to more deep-seated issues are commonplace in both Little Stream and Upper School, therapeutic support is accessible and easily available, and mental health is discussed as readily as physical health.   

In Nash House, we use the Leuven Scales for well-being and involvement to help to ensure that our children feel at ease and display vitality and self-confidence.  We believe that high levels of well-being and involvement lead to deep level learning.  Through a specialised annual review, we are able to track welfare through Little Stream and Years 5 and 6. We monitor the emotional and social development of our children, so we can intervene quickly, seamlessly and often invisibly, to help our children navigate change and thrive.

We are proactive – everything we do is centred around the children and enabling them to believe in themselves.  We encourage peer-to-peer mentoring and self-awareness. We embed a growth mindset, instil mindfulness and build resilience. Challenging topics like bullying and puberty are regularly and openly discussed. Parents are also encouraged to attend our series of PSHCEE talks that cover subjects such as growing up, transition, online safety and drugs and alcohol and information assemblies in Little Stream.