At St Anne's Catholic School we believe in caring for and developing the whole child; spiritually, academically, socially and emotionally. The well-being of all within the St Anne's Catholic School family is our top priority. As such we have a strong pastoral system in place to ensure all pupils are cared for and nurtured to enable them to reach their potential.
All pupils joining St Anne's Catholic School are assigned a tutor group in which they usually remain until the end of Year 11 or beyond. The tutor plays a vital role in any pupil’s school life and is the member of staff who will see the pupil most regularly throughout the school week. Tutor times are a valued part of the timetable, providing much more than a place for registers to be taken and notices to be handed out. The school day begins with mornings prayers, prepared and delivered by pupils, which provides both staff and pupils with a calm, peaceful start to the day. In addition, pupils attend year group and house assemblies with their tutor group, explore PSHE topics and take part in charity events. Tutors will monitor attendance, conduct and progress of their tutees regularly and are also aware of individual circumstances and needs, making them a valuable home-school link and suitable adult for both pupils and their parents to give feedback to and seek help from in the first instance. Pupils have the opportunity to take on a pupil leadership role within their tutor group, which enables them to support their tutor and peers whilst developing valuable life skills. Our pupil leadership structure allows girls to meet pupils in other year groups and to interact with our wonderful Sixth Form leaders.
Each year group as their own dedicated Head of Year, all located in a central Pastoral Hub support base alongside pastoral managers, attendance officer and a hub receptionist. This gives pupils one clear place from which to seek support and allows our pastoral support team to work closely together for the benefit of our pupils. At St Anne's Catholic School we understand the importance of the transition from primary school and have a dedicated Head of Year 7 who is also part of our transition team to give continuity to pupils transition and ensure pupils have a friendly face to greet them when they start in September.
At St Anne's Catholic School we consider pupil mental health and well-being to be of the upmost importance. We all remember how difficult the teenage years can be! As a result, we are proud to provide access to the confidential services of specially trained school counsellors and own mental health nurse for our pupils. In addition, our pastoral team are trained in mental health first aid and we work with a variety of charitable organisations who provide help and support for young people who may need it. We have inclusion provision with two full-time members of staff. Pupils are able to seek help or advice by talking to their tutor or Head of year who will be able to direct them to the most suitable support.
Our school welfare team are responsible for first aid and general medical assistance for pupils and are available throughout the school day. The school nurse visits about once a week and referrals can be made via the head of year or the school first aiders.
The personal, social and health education of our pupils is very important in preparing them for life beyond school, but also in helping them to understand and interact successfully with the world around them. Our PSHE curriculum is delivered by a specialist team of teachers within our RE department alongside form tutors and Heads of year. This enables us to provide a high quality curriculum with access to the breadth and depth of our staff’s expertise.
St Anne's Catholic School is committed to provide high quality inclusive teaching for all in addition to specialised support for pupils with special educational needs. Our experienced SENCo leads a team of teaching assistants to provide in-class support, 1:1 keyworker check-ins, ELSA and a range of individual and group interventions to cater for the needs of our SENCo pupils.
Pupils at St Anne's Catholic School also benefit from the work of our chaplaincy team who work tirelessly to provide additional spiritual nourishment for all students through the support of extra-curricular activities and charity events.
In addition our literacy, numeracy and EAL intervention teams, and team of academic mentors, provide programmes of specialist individual and group support for pupils who may need a little extra help.
We recognise that sometimes families need a bit extra support for so many different reasons, not just to do with the children. We have really good relationships with organisations around the city and can refer families to them for matters to do with children’s behaviour, family finance, housing, health and so on. We try to post useful links on our website, too.
