Pastoral Team and Pastoral System

We are incredibly proud of the importance we place on student welfare, health and wellbeing at Writhlington School. Our aim is to help our students develop the capacity to manage the ups and downs of life and also to recognise that there is support available if it is needed. Every member of staff at Writhlington has a responsibility for supporting our students.

We believe that the role of the tutor is a vital part of the development of young people in our community and each student will be part of a tutor group. The tutor should always be the first point of contact should you need to speak to someone in school.

To support students as early as possible when patterns of behaviour are seen we have the behaviour levels system. These levels will be used by the tutor and pastoral team to monitor and intervene in patterns of poor behaviour swiftly and effectively.  The system involves parents and tutors working together to improve a student's behaviour.

• Pupils can enter the Behaviour Levels or Disciplinary Stages at any level.

We rely on our close partnership with parents to maintain the high standards and positive atmosphere exhibited by our students.

As you would expect, we ask parents to take an active role in the support of their child’s progress in school. To this end we stress that parents are always welcome to contact and visit the school.

We have a Home-School Agreement which the student, parents and school sign. This outlines the commitment each will make to ensure students make the optimal progress during their time at Writhlington.

A school ethos of encouragement is central to the promotion of desirable behaviour and this policy works alongside the rewards policy. We have high expectations of work ethic, attendance, behaviour and participation in school life.

Each term, students can be awarded for five different aspects of their success:

1. 100% attendance; REWARD = non-uniform day
2. No Lates to sessions or lessons; REWARD = certificate
3. Number of GEMS awarded; For those students who ‘Go the Extra Mile’, we award GEMs to them based on the school’s values. There is an expectation that students will achieve at least the number of GEMS as weeks in that school term. REWARD = certificate
4. No demerits in a term; REWARD = non-uniform day
5. Participation in school life; students should regularly attend a school club / activity or be a part of a school event. REWARD = certificate

Students who get the required GEMS AND have no demerits will also be awarded bonus GEMS for success.

If all 5 of the above are met in one term, then the student will also receive A £10 Amazon Voucher.

Celebration assemblies are held at the end of the Christmas, Easter and Summer terms and pupils are presented with the relevant awards. Attendance is also rewarded in the following way:

• 100% attendance certificate for the year at celebration assemblies.
• 99/100% attendance letter home at the end of the year.
• Year group competition - tutor groups with highest attendance weekly and termly will receive Head of Year rewards eg - mufti day or sports activity.
• Year group competition - Year group with the highest attendance at the end of the year rewarded with mufti day or a specifically targeted activity.

Rationale

Whilst there is no doubt that rewards often motivate students far more than sanctions, it is crucial for everyone, especially young people to have clear boundaries that do not move. The system and those operating it must be fair, but consistent.

Sanctions are an important element to the whole behaviour system, but they are not the whole system. The use of rewards and support systems go hand in hand with a clear consistent sanctions system.  

Exit System

If a student is disrupting a class to a degree that the learning of others, or indeed their own learning, cannot continue unhindered, then the following strategies will be used:

1. Use of a restorative approach (e.g. time out period where appropriate OR student given 1 warning for disrupting learning)
2. Further disruption or a significant disruption to learning will result in the student being ‘Exited’. The student must go immediately to the Exit Room where they will stay for the rest of that lesson.
3. An After School Detention will be set automatically if a student is sent to the Exit Room.
4. Failure to go to the Exit Room as instructed will result in the Exit staff alerting SLT to collect the student. This will lead to further sanctions

The number of Exits that a student accrues will be closely monitored and the following sanctions will apply if multiple Exits are recorded:

For very serious incidents, the pupil will be taken to the isolation room whilst the incident is investigated and a suitable sanction is decided upon.