Pastoral Care

Relationships are key to our pastoral care provision. To encourage positive relationships pupils are organised into houses, from Year 3 to Year 8, enabling pupils of all ages to interact.  The older pupils act as an inspiration for the younger, setting a positive example as to how to behave and what can be achieved. House competitions encourage support and bonding across all age groups and help develop empathy as well as an element of healthy competition.

Pupils are also organised by forms, as they move up the School the forms are structured according to academic ability.
In Years 3-5 each child has two people who are there to look out for them. A Form Tutor who meets them regularly to ensure they are making academic progress and a Houseparent who coordinates their pastoral care. Together this team of two staff members work together to support, encourage and champion the individual.

In Years 6-8 each child has a House Tutor who is responsible for each child’s needs, both pastorally and academically. The House Tutor groups meet at least three times a week and consist of a minimum of four and a maximum of eight children from the same house. This enables children to create a very close bond with their tutor who will write a pastoral comment each half term on each of their tutees’ reports. These comments are also shared with the Houseparents and the Head of Pastoral Care so that each child is known and treated as a unique individual.

Daily, we encourage children to take care of themselves and others, to be polite and appreciative. We ask them to try new things and take managed risks and push themselves, to explore ‘failure’ and instil values such as perseverance, giving 100%, commitment, responsibility, kindness and to be aware of their influence in the world and upon others. All this means that when they move onto the Senior School, they do so as well-rounded individuals, equipped to make positive choices and informed decisions.

Every term the school dedicates a week in support of the three child-centred national campaigns: Anti-bullying, E safety and Mental Health and Well-being. During these weeks pupils explore topics to a deeper level, normally around a theme in their PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education) lessons, at break times and in assemblies.

In addition, pupils in Year 7 and Year 8 have two Well-being Days each year, where they cover a range of topics related to a healthy body and mind. They might try new activities such as yoga, bicycle maintenance, First Aid, setting up camp, cooking on an outdoor stove or team building exercises. They might also explore a range of topics, such as the changes that take place during adolescence and body image.

Twice a year we have pastoral mornings that support and enrich the pastoral work undertaken by House/Form Tutors, giving them extra time with their groups/individuals to review progress made, review targets set and to enable each child to have a 1:1 meeting with their form or House Tutor. These mornings enable staff to have quality time with the children and to build on the relationships founded over the year.

We all like to feel praised and at Dean Close Preparatory School we want the children to know that we value their positive interactions with each other, acts of kindness and thoughtfulness to all members of the community. Staff award Golden credits, which are emailed to parents, when children are seen exhibiting thoughtful and positive behaviour, this helps to foster an understanding in the children of the positive behaviour that we are looking for them to demonstrate.

As a school we want to know each individual and use our professional knowledge, parental input, child input and also STEER Tracking to help us best support each child in our care. STEER Tracking helps us to identify those pupils who are struggling to make wise, emotionally healthy, pro-social choices before they lead to mental health or social difficulties. It tracks pupils’ thinking patterns over time, enabling our staff to respond sensitively to fluctuations which may indicate concern. STEER Tracking data helps to tell us where a pupil is, rather than who a pupil is.

Staff regularly undergo safeguarding training and are trained in First Aid. There is also a school counsellor for pupils who may require additional support other than that of their Housemistress/master, House Tutor or Form Tutor and a Head of Pastoral Care who oversees the well-being of pupils throughout their time at the Prep School. There is a weekly meeting of Senior Management where concerns about pupils is a priority. The Head of Pastoral Care has weekly meetings with day and boarding houseparents, where once again pupils are the standing item on the agenda.

In line with the guidance published by The Department for Education for promoting British values in schools Dean Close Preparatory School ‘actively promotes’ the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs to its pupils. These values aim to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain.