Pastoral Care

At Redland High, pastoral care is a priority. All parents know that a child who is well settled and knows that she will be listened to is most likely to be happy and do her best at school.

We see ourselves as working in partnership with parents to ensure that girls are thriving socially and consequently academically. This relationship begins from the first visit a family makes to the school and often continues well beyond the day the youngest daughter in a family leaves us when our Alumni Office and Old Girls Guild will wish to keep in touch and follow our former pupils' careers with interest.

All staff, academic and support, are part of the pastoral life of the School, from the Head of Year who monitors the progress of each girl in her care, the Tutor who deals with day to day issues for girls and parents, all the way to the Receptionist, who may be the first port of call if a pupil is feeling unwell,

The experienced and highly trained Heads of Year co-ordinate their tutor teams. These are the first people that a pupil or parent will approach when an issue needs to be discussed.

From the day she arrives, each girl is a member of one of our four Houses. The House ensures a smaller group to which she can belong, with its Sixth Form House Captains, its Head of House, and her Year 10 Buddy. In addition to the Form Tutor and Head of Year, these provide additional people who are approachable and concerned for her welfare.

A team of Peer Listeners operates within the School. These girls from Year 10 to Year 13 have volunteered to give time each week to lending a listening ear and offering support to anyone who needs it. They are available in a room at lunch time, monitor an email service, but most importantly make their presence felt in assemblies, form rooms and in clubs and activities each day. They are trained by our School Counsellor at the beginning of each school year. In addition to all of this they regularly provide the pupil perspective in reviewing all pastoral policies and making suggestions for the improvement of our pastoral care.

For those occasions when it is helpful for a pupil or a parent to talk over worries with someone more expert, we have a School Counsellor who specialises in the care and wellbeing of girls and young women. She is available by appointment and girls often use the support she can offer them when they face the difficult situations with which life sometimes presents them.