Student Welfare and Personal Development

We are proud of our open and inclusive ethos as a school.

Students have a tutor who will be the first point of contact for the student and the parent if there are any concerns. In addition, we have a team of mentors who are committed to tackling any barriers to learning that students may face and we have a successful tradition of work closely with outside agencies to support our students and their families.

We hope that the students and their parents will talk about any concerns they may have and that they come to see school as a safe place if there are any difficulties at home. Children’s worries and fears will be taken seriously if they seek help from a member of staff. Parents will normally be consulted and their consent obtained before any referral is made to an agency outside the school under local ‘child in need’ procedures. However, staff cannot guarantee to consult parents first, or to keep a student’s concerns confidential, if referral must be made to the appropriate agencies in order to safeguard the student’s welfare.

For a list of useful contacts to discuss concerns around Mental Wellbeing, please click here here

Student Leadership

We have introduced a School Senate which has representatives from all year groups. These students are selected by their peers after a rigorous application process. They make key decisions on behalf of the student body and run projects throughout the year. We also have a huge range of other leadership opportunities for students to get involved in to develop their personal potential. These include enrichment leaders, eco leaders, lead learners and house leaders.

Arts

Opportunities to get involved in art, dance and drama activities feature regularly and individual music tuition is available for a range of instruments. Many students reach high grades in examinations and some play in various school and county orchestras and bands. Annually, there are a number of evening performances, shows, exhibitions and concerts to which parents are invited.

Clubs

A number of clubs run at various times during the year such as the ICT Club, the Reading Group, Film Club and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Clubs. As with all extra opportunities, these are advertised termly so that students know what is on offer.

Sports

Our outstanding physical education and sport facilities include a five badminton court sports hall, a twenty five metre swimming pool, a health and fitness suite, a dance and aerobics studio, state of the art all-weather football and hockey pitches, tennis and netball courts.

We offer an extensive out of school hours learning programme and the school has a proud record of producing successful individuals and teams at district, county, regional and national standard. We are particularly pleased with our Sports Leadership Programmes. These include:

Working as a performer or coach at a local sports club
Fulfilling the role of an official such as an umpire or referee
A volunteer or leader with community groups

Anti-Bullying

Our a school we promote anti-bullying through our STOP (Several Times On Purpose) policy. Heads of Houses regularly present this to students in bulletins and year group assemblies.

Level	Description	Aggressor	Recipient
Joking	Where two or more people think their actions are funny. This normally happens between friends and it can be seen as a joke by everyone	Amused	Amused
Teasing	Where one student or a group of students makes a comment to another which isn’t found funny or upsetting.	Amused	Harmless
The Limit	This is where the actions taken by one student or a group of students hurt another student without knowing. The other student doesn’t find the actions funny and is hurt or upset.	Amused/ harmless	Hurt and upset
Bullying	Bullying is where one student or a group of students deliberately hurt or upset another student numerous times. If a student has already received a STOP warning and they hurt or upset the student again, it is classed as bullying.	Hurtful, upsetting and repeated	Hurt and upset
Assault	Assault is an action taken by one student that is intended to hurt. This could be verbal, physical, emotional or social but must be an isolated incident (otherwise it would be bullying).	Hurtful	Hurt and upset
Retaliation	Retaliation is where someone who has been assaulted or bullied deliberately hurts the person who bullied or assaulted them. This is different to self defence where a student is preventing immediate hurt or upset	Hurtful	Hurt and upset