Pastoral Care & Catholic Ethos
Responsibility For Pastoral Care
It cannot be over-stressed that the pastoral care of our students is the responsibility of the whole community. The way we treat, talk to, interact with and indeed teach students will all contribute to the quality of our pastoral care. The school is firmly committed to developing and maintaining strong home-school partnerships and we welcome and encourage parents to be closely involved in all aspects of their child’s life at school. We also recognize parents as the primary educators of their children and, with their support, we endeavour to educate the ‘whole person’ and in so doing, help that person realize her/his innate potential and grow to become a caring and good citizen who will play a worthwhile and rewarding role in society.
Pastoral HUB
Pastoral Structure
- Each student belongs to a form class and has an appointed form tutor whose responsibility is the pastoral care of each student. - The Head of Year leads a team of form tutors and is responsible for the pastoral care and discipline of students in their Year group. The Head of Year has a shared responsibility for the academic progress of students. - The five Heads of Year, Pastoral Hub staff, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, Lay Chaplain, two Deputy Head teachers and two Assistant Head teachers make up the Senior Pastoral Group. - The Senior Pastoral Group liaise with external agencies such as Educational Psychology Service, Wigan Start Well Service, Targeted Education Support Service (TESS), CAMHS, Wigan Inclusion Team and school nurses about pastoral issues relating to the students. - All non-teaching staff – technicians, administrative staff, lunchtime supervisors, teaching assistants, librarian, canteen staff, etc – have a role to play in the pastoral care of students in our school. The form tutor has a responsibility for the welfare of individual students, who will deal with matters such as attendance, punctuality, appearance, attitude to learning, behaviour and general academic progress. For the majority of general enquiries and concerns, the form tutor should be the first point of contact for parents. Alternatively, parents may contact staff in the Pastoral Hub. For more serious concerns regarding their child, parents should contact the Head of Year or a member of SLT. Under normal circumstances, the form tutor remains with their form class from Year 7 to 11 and so knows the students intimately, their background, needs, aspirations, interests and academic ability. In addition, the five Heads of Year have a day to day responsibility for administering general discipline and overseeing the welfare of the students in their year. Subject teachers are aware that pastoral issues arise occasionally and are sensitive to the needs of the students in their class. The subject teacher will make their Head of Department and the form tutor aware of any problems, real or perceived, which they encounter with their teaching groups and will co-operate in making use of the pastoral structures in place in the school for dealing with problems which arise.
