A Form Tutor is a consistent and friendly face for each of our students. Tutors are integral to pastoral support at St Mary’s. Students meet with their form tutor twice a day and have regular profiling meetings throughout the year so that they truly understand and support their forms, and the individuals within it. This support network ensures unsurpassed pastoral support for all. Tutors also deliver a bespoke pastoral programme in form time each week, including weekly reading as a form.
Pastoral Care and Student Well-being
Pastoral care is at the heart of everything we do at St Mary’s because we know that girls achieve their best when they are happy and feel a sense of connection to the community to which they belong.
We pride ourselves on getting to know students really well so that we give our utmost attention to ensuring each and every student receives the care and support she needs to flourish and achieve her potential academically and personally. Support at St Mary’s comes in many forms, is accessible through many routes and is available at every moment of the day to ensure everyone can access the right support: for her to ensure she exceeds her potential. There is no ‘one size fits all’, and with the expertise and provision we have within our staff, each student is treated as an individual.


Our dedicated Pastoral Team includes Form Tutors, Heads of Year and Heads of Section, Senior Leaders, the Medical Team, School Counsellors and Mental Health First Aiders. However, Pastoral Care is everyone’s concern: from the Headmistress to classroom teachers to our wonderful kitchen team. Our staff are very good at building relationships with students, which means that we know our girls extremely well. We value and encourage relationships with parents to support girls holistically. Our conversations with home remain an open dialogue so that girls receive full support in, and out, of school and at all times.
We draw on a range of expert voices to enhance our support to both students and parents. We are a Tooled Up school, which gives us access to a wealth of resources on all topics related to young people, and our parents benefit from this facility too. Speakers in our Parent Seminar Programme come from diverse organisations such as Childnet, Tooled Up Education, The Rap Project and Elevate Education. These and other experts lead workshops for students as part of our PSHCEE programmes to enrich the educational experience and help students learn first hand from the most knowledgeable in their fields.
We deliver bespoke pastoral programmes through form time activities and assemblies each week. Our experienced heads of year design programmes to support girls on the areas of their lives that are prominent at key points in the year, and additionally incorporate activities that engage students with wider cultural and societal issues, including anti-bullying, disability awareness and internet safety. Students work collaboratively on projects related to service and charity, and individually on their own personal development, including academic profiling and a focus on character strength development.
Character education is a deliberate and purposeful part of our pastoral support. Our goal is to nurture in our students the social and emotional qualities that promote the character virtues in TAKE CARE so that they can create positive relationships and navigate social situations in a constructive manner. Through our pastoral programmes, we help our students to develop the attitudes, behaviours and strategies that underpin success both in educational and professional settings. They become resilient, confident and ambitious, and have a strong set of core values and an assured sense of their own identity and roles and responsibilities in the world. They are ready to embrace challenges that they will encounter in life after St Mary’s. Students are encouraged to reflect upon how their kindness and empathy impacts on themselves, their peers, teachers, and the overall community.
We endeavour to nurture our students’ confidence and well-being and safeguard their mental health – this applies to every student from our youngest to our oldest so that they should feel safe and emotionally secure. When students need support they can:
- Speak to one of our trained peer supporters: we have a team of sixth form Mental Health Ambassadors and teams of peer mentors in Years 6, 9 and 10.
- Request a drop-in with one of our school counsellors – we also offer students regular appointments across a number of weeks if needed.
- Work with a teacher-mentor, tutor or head of year.
- Receive support for emotional and social issues with one of our trained ELSA staff.
- Use the Well-being Pod to help them regulate and reset.
- Spend time with our well-being-dog-in-training, Bertie.
In addition to the regular support that is offered through the year, we also ensure that student well-being is a priority at more stressful times in the academic calendar, such as during examination periods. We provide balance to our students by delivering carefully planned well-being activities that relieve stress, build teamwork and social connections, and provide some much-needed fun! Recent activities have included a residential trip to Hill End, Oxfordshire, for Year 7 and 8, a scavenger hunt and pizza lunch for Year 11 and pottery painting for Year 13. We encourage students to reflect on the character strengths they are drawing on in both their academic and pastoral activities at these times.
We are incredibly proud to recently have been Highly Commended in the National Muddy Stiletto awards for our Outstanding Pastoral Care.
Pastoral Structure
Heads of Year lead their Tutor Teams and develop the pastoral programme for their year group. They build positive relationships with all students in their year and are there to oversee their successes, whether academic, personal, sporting or within the arts. Heads of Year work closely with parents where necessary, and with other staff in the school to support the needs of each individual. Heads of Year ensure that all the students in their year group have fun, work hard and foster a supportive culture where everyone feels they belong.
Heads of Section oversee the pastoral support in Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. Supporting the Heads of Year, they also organise key events in the school calendar such as the Year 9 GCSE Options Day and Sixth Form Taster Days.
The Pastoral Deputy Head leads the pastoral provision at St Mary’s, including the development and delivery of a pastoral programme that ensures the progress and welfare of all students and supports their academic, social and emotional development. The Pastoral Deputy Head ensures that students know and understand school procedures and policies, and supports students to engage positively with their peers and the wider school community. The Pastoral Deputy Head is also a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
To be holistic in our approach to pastoral care we recognise that at times we all need some extra support, be that for a physical or mental health need, or as we encounter life’s ups and downs, and that the sooner we access the support we need the quicker things will improve. Our medical room is staffed all day by qualified staff, including a Nurse. If a student is unwell, they are able to receive immediate appropriate medical support. Our medical team fully supports students who may have ongoing medical conditions and communicates their needs to relevant staff, preparing any medication necessary for trips or external activities.
Our team of three Counsellors work with us ensuring that there is one qualified counsellor in school every day. All students are able to access the counselling service free of charge for either a drop-in session, booked via a dedicated email address, or if required, a series of sessions. Our counsellors provide a talking therapy which students access for a wide range of concerns.
Mental Health First Aid is an internationally recognised training course designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health and provide help. At St Mary’s, we are incredibly fortunate to have four Mental Health First Aiders and one instructor. They have the skills and expertise to recognise crucial warning signs of mental ill health and can guide our students to appropriate support. A key role, within our school, is for our mental health first aiders to encourage people to talk more freely about mental health – reducing stigma and creating a more positive culture.
Above and beyond this, all teaching staff have been fully trained in the Mental Health Aware Programme. The whole objective is to not just have ‘ok’ mental health, but to champion positive mental health within our school so that staff and students alike can flourish and reach their potential.
