Pastoral Care
What is Pastoral care?
Pastoral care is a provision schools provide, to ensure the social and emotional needs of their pupils are met.
- A successful pastoral support program will have all children feeling safe, happy, involved in the school community, and able to perform to their full potential.
- Teach important life skills that students can implement in their own lives.
- Pastoral care understands the importance of keeping a child's needs at the centre of support and ensuring all pupils achieve their best.
What is an SDQ?
An SDQ is a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening tool for children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 years old, developed by child psychiatrist Robert N. Goodman. The SDQ is completed by staff who work most closely with the child. When the questionnaire is evaluated, a “score” is reached. From this score, an intervention can be tailored for children in the area they may need support in. The Pastoral Support Team delivers evidence-based interventions across all of the year groups at CVIS.
What are the Areas of Need?
Emotional Literacy
Emotional Literacy involves having self-awareness and recognition of your own feelings and knowing how to manage them. The following principal skills have been identified to develop for emotional literacy – 1. Knowing your feelings, 2. Having a heartfelt sense of empathy, 3. Learning to manage our emotions, 4. Repairing emotional damage, and 5. Emotional interactivity – putting it all together.
Peer Relationships
Some people have an easier time establishing and maintaining friendships than others. And some of us long for closer friendships or try to figure out why an existing or promising relationship fizzled out. It is only our own behaviour that we can change, and there are certain personal characteristics it's essential to cultivate to build healthy, lasting friendships.
Concentration
Some children may struggle to concentrate for prolonged periods of time, and may also find it challenging to complete tasks or stay on topic during conversations.
Appropriate Behaviour
The way in which a person behaves. Sometimes, some children may not behave appropriately in relation to the situation they are in.
Pro-Social Skills
Prosocial behaviours are those intended to help other people. These actions are characterized by a concern for the rights, feelings, and welfare of other people. Behaviours that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for others. Prosocial activities involve social skill building and often collaboration with similarly aged people.
FAQ - What are Pro-Social skills?
They are any kind of behaviour intended to benefit others, such as;
- Offer to volunteer
- Raise hand to offer suggestions (even if wrong)
- Participate in group work
- Help peers with tasks
- Tell someone they’ve done a good job
- Greet people independently
- Smile at others
- Give out equipment
- Pick up things (even if not yours)
- Ask questions
- Expressing concern for others if ill, upset or hurt
Enhancing pro-social skills helps with;
- Promoting self-esteem and general wellbeing
- Enhances the immune system, promoting the release of oxytocin
- Social competence
- Effective and appropriate interaction
- Skills to manage negative interaction
- Developing empathy
- Responsibility
- Self-Control
- Being more readily accepted by peers
- Academic achievement
- Success in adulthood
- Promoting mutually supportive social interactions
Does Pastoral Support work?
The Pastoral provision utilised across all schools within the Gloucestershire Learning Alliance is an exemplary practice as recognised by The Safeguarding Alliance, The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning organisation (GHLL) and the Department of Education (DfE). All of our interventions used are research and evidence-based, proven to support children in their area of need.
What is the aim of the Pastoral team?
- Support children in their emotional, behavioural, and social development
- Create a safe and happy school environment
- To provide a link between the school and parents
- To assist each individual student to enrich personal life
- To support teachers
- Encourage school values
- Build a rapport with the student based on trust, empathy, and active listening
- Safeguard individuals
- Provide support in delivering PSHE curriculum
At its simplest, pastoral care is ensuring the social, emotional, and mental health welfare of pupils. It is the essential foundation upon which learning can take place and it is our primary focus at CVIS. If children are safe and happy, they learn.
Where do interventions take place?
Pastoral interventions happen in the afternoons, in ‘The View’, CVIS’ on-site Pastoral Support Unit. This is a safe space for children to talk and receive bespoke interventions, delivered by an experienced member of staff.
We use a variety of research-based interventions at CVIS. Some of these include;
Time to Talk (Pro-Social Skills) - Time to Talk - Language Therapy Children - Integrated Treatment Services
Leap in to Listening (Concentration) - Leap Into Listening: Bk228 - Thomas Webber - Google Books
The Blobs (all areas of need) - What Are The Blobs? A Feelosophy | blobshop (blobtree.com)