If you are worried about your child's emotional needs, you can talk to our Pastoral Lead, Helen Shirley who is also our lead for mental health.  Please call the school office to arrange a convenient time to have a conversation to discuss whatever concerns you may have.  Childhood can complex and challenging at times.  We will not have all the answers, but we can listen, signpost to agencies & places of support, and walk alongide you to help ensure your child is happy, thriving and able to learn. 

Pastoral Support In Our Schools

In both of our Federation schools, pastoral support is rooted in nurture, care and compassion. We believe that children learn best when their emotional wellbeing is understood, supported and prioritised alongside their academic development. Our approach is strongly guided by the principles of nurturing schools and by the thinking outlined in David Whittaker’s The Kindness Principle, which places relationships, empathy and understanding at the heart of school life.

We understand children’s learning developmentally. This means recognising that children within a class are all at different stages emotionally, socially and cognitively, and that their behaviour, responses and learning are shaped by their experiences. We do not expect children to arrive ready-made; we support them (and you parents) as they grow.

We believe that our classrooms and our schools offer a safe base. Children need to feel secure, accepted and known in order to engage, take risks and learn. Safety, predictability and positive relationships are essential foundations for success.

We recognise the importance of nurture in the development of wellbeing. Warm, consistent relationships, clear boundaries and high expectations help children feel valued and supported. Nurture is not about lowering standards; it is about creating the conditions in which children can meet them.

We place great importance on language as a vital means of communication. We support children to develop the words to express their feelings, worries and needs, and we help them to feel heard and understood.

We work from the principle that all behaviour is communication. When children struggle, we seek to understand what lies beneath the behaviour rather than responding with blame or judgement. This allows us to respond calmly, consistently and supportively. Some parents struggle with this approach - if you feel your child has been hurt or their learning disrupted, you may demand recrimination or punishment - but that is not how we work and it is important that all families who sign up to our schools are aware of this and able to support all of our children through their childhood years, with kindness, love and understanding.  

We also recognise the importance of transitions in children’s lives. Changes such as starting school, moving class, family separation, bereavement, house moves or friendship difficulties can be deeply unsettling. At these times, children may need additional understanding, reassurance and support.  Many of our children will need pastoral support at some stage of their journey through the primary years, so please don't feel judged, upset or worried should we become involved - it is for the benefit of your child. 

The Role of the Pastoral Team

Our pastoral team works closely with teaching staff, children and families to meet the wide range of needs within our school community. This includes:

• Leading training and professional discussions with staff, modelling nurturing approaches and developing practical strategies to support children.

• Providing safe spaces and additional key adults for children, particularly during times of difficulty or crisis.

• Supporting children as part of behaviour plans and working collaboratively with staff to ensure consistent, compassionate responses.

• Acting as a liaison between home and school to support clear, calm and trusting communication.

• Signposting families to external agencies and acting as a referral point within school to access wider professional support, courses or services.

• Setting up Hertfordshire processes linked to child protection and early help, such as Families First Assessments, to ensure families receive timely support and to help prevent the need for social care involvement wherever possible.

• Ensuring children feel listened to, supported to express their views and involved in decision-making in appropriate and meaningful ways.

• Sharing power and responsibility with children, and supporting staff and families to engage with them inclusively, particularly during times of challenge.

The pastoral team supports issues related to behaviour, school attendance, family trauma and family difficulty, always working in a way that is non-judgemental, open and rooted in trust.

There is very little we have not heard before. If you are worried about your child, or your family is going through a difficult time, please do not hesitate to ask for help. You can contact Mrs Shirley and the pastoral team via your child's classteacher or the school office to arrange a confidential discussion.

Our commitment is simple: to ensure every child feels safe, heard, supported and cared for, so they can flourish both in school and beyond.

Family Support

We work with the South West Hertfordshire Family Support Service and have had a long association with them in helping our families through times of difficulty and trial.  Raising a child/children is not easy and asking for help can sometimes be hard.  The best of us have been tested by children not wanting to go to bed, children refusing to eat healthily, issues with routines and boundaries and challenges in the child/parent relationship - it truly can happen to us all.  Our family support worker, for many years, is Mrs Sam Ward, who is knowledgeable, kind and non-judgemental in the help she can provide for your family.  Many of our families have spoken and shared with us how indebted they have been to Sam for her work with them.  If you would like some help with parenting and managing your child's behaviour at home, the first step is to contact your child's classteacher, or Mrs Shirley and we will arrange for you to chat to us as we draw up a referral together to get additional advice and help from Sam.  You can learn more about Sam's work and the work of the Family Support Service below. 

Mental Health Support For Children

We have linked up with the Hertsmere Mental Health Support Team and have a dedicated Children's Wellbeing Practitioner supporting children and families across both our Federation Schools.

The Mental Health team provide early help for any of our children displaying anxiety, low mood and stress.  They offer differing levels of support, such as direct support in one to one sessions, some parent support and school-wide support delivering workshops and training and providing a holistic whole-school approach to mental health.  Our practitioner has been working with us for nearly two years and is called Laila Elomari and she can be contacted via a referral from our Pastoral Team.  Please contact your child's classteacher, or Mrs Shirley, if you believe your child would benefit from this level of support, help and intervention. 

Child Support - Year 6 transitioning to secondary school and the teenage years

We are proud of the relationships and community links that we have build over the years, and which have been a support to successive year groups of our children, particularly as they navigage the challenges of transition around secondary school transfer.

One such relationship, is that which exists with Watford Football Club's community programme called 'Positive Minds'.   Positive Minds Education is a 6-week wellbeing programme combining classroom and practical based activities to engage our Year 6 children in the topic of mental health.

Year 6 is a time of transition, during which children are more likely to experience and develop mental health issues. The programme has been developed to support children ahead of this change, to help them increase their knowledge, and instil key tools to improve and support their wellbeing.  Although this programme used to be free, there is now a charge for this service, which our school invests in as we believe in the strong outcomes that can be achieved and we have had positivie feedback from our children and teachers to let us know how valuable the learning that was offered became.  

Research Informed Practice in Pastoral Leadership and Systems Development: 

In working within the field of Mental Health, and with children who are experiencing trauma, it is important that we remain committed to learning from leading researchers and practitioners in this field.  Our Federation Schools have joined the national Attachment Research Community (ARC), a charitable organisation set up in 2017 by virtual school heads, school leaders, psychologists, training organisations and academics, with a mission for ‘every school to be attachment and trauma aware’.

ARC’s purpose is to support all schools and education settings to be attachment and trauma aware in their practice for the benefit of all members of the learning community and particularly the most vulnerable, by bringing together, sharing and celebrating best practice to include:

• Supporting Schools to Become Attachment & Trauma Aware
• Enhancing Existing & Potential Collaborative Communities of Support 
• Collating & Providing a National Platform for Research & Practice
• Helping to Provide & Extend a National Voice for Attachment & Trauma

We are benefitting from courses, training, reading and research released by ARC and it helps us to cement our own understanding, and develop our practices in relation to how we work across both our schools, and in the tailored approaches we deliver to specific children and families.