SGSE

Pastoral Care

A Positive, Caring Learning Environment

Growing up in the 21st century presents challenges to young people, and at St George’s we do all we can to help your child learn to navigate their way through them. There is a distinctive warmth to St George’s. It is palpable at the first visit and is sustained throughout a family’s time here.

As a Gold Award UNICEF Rights Respecting School, we want your child to flourish at St George’s, not just intellectually but morally, physically and emotionally. The School has a focus on wellbeing through the exploration and affirmation of positive values, within a culture that upholds respect, compassion and understanding. High expectations for pupils' work, attendance and behaviour are a natural part of the school culture, and this supports high quality learning and community wellbeing.

The quality of relationships within school is of paramount importance. The rapport and relationships that children establish with adults, as well as other children, is central to their experience at school. Staff work hard to create a caring and supportive atmosphere to help each child feel safe, secure and successful. We believe that kindness, tolerance, honesty, good manners and respect are all vitally important in the life of our community, and we aim to instil virtues and values that our pupils will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Each child is directly under the care of their Form tutor and Head of Year who reinforce these values. Form Tutors register the students in their forms three times a day (at the start of the morning, afternoon and end of day), and so are directly available to answer any questions of concern a chid may have. They are the natural first point of contact and support. Time with Form Tutors is also used to deliver our Tutor Time programme, where we focus on current affairs, safeguarding topics, health and wellbeing.

All students in Year 7 and 8 have two weekly PSHE lessons; Year 9 to Year 13 have one. PSHE integrates personal, social, health and economic education with an emphasis on emotional literacy, mental health and spiritual, moral and cultural values.

Children are always encouraged to talk with their form tutor, or any other member of staff, if they have any worries or concerns either in or out of school. The Headteacher (Mr Luke Nicholls) and Deputy Headteacher (Mrs Jenny Shaw), are closely involved in the pupils’ welfare and pastoral care, and are always on hand to offer support. Whatever their age or stage in the School, however small or big that difficulty may be, there is support tailored to your child.

Our Pastoral Care notice boards provide signposting information, and contact details should any child have a concern or be unsure who to talk to.

For those in need of greater support, our school Mentors work with any students who need a safe and confidential place to talk about anything that may be confusing, painful or uncomfortable, while our School Nurse (Mrs Vicky Jones) is also involved with is also closely involved in supporting the wellbeing of our pupils, as well as being on hand to deal with medical needs, knocks, bumps or even breaks.

Pupils leave St George’s happy, confident and at ease with themselves, ready to make the most of the opportunities that their next steps have to offer, but more importantly, ready to be good citizens in the wider world. Of course, we cannot take all the credit - but we would like to claim that we played some part!