Pastoral Care of our pupils is at the very heart of all that we do here at Holland House School.  We treat each and every child as a unique and special individual and do all in our power to bring each one to their fullest potential. To achieve their best, educationally, socially and emotionally. 

All Staff here at Holland House School take an active role in the pastoral care of each child. The Headmistress, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Pastoral Manager and School First Aider take a lead role, making up the Pastoral Support Team.

The aims of pastoral support at Holland House School:

• To provide support that meets the differing needs of all children so that each child is equipped with the skills to cope with life.
• To support children to address social, mental, emotional and physical needs.
• To maintain an atmosphere in which children feel secure, are encouraged in their learning, growth and social development and know that they are valued within a healthy and safe environment.
• To reassure parents/carers their children are being educated in a safe and nurturing environment.
• To encourage pupils to recognise and reflect upon our core values (Friendship, Kindness and Compassion).
• To work with a range of stakeholders, parents, support staff, outreach agencies and other schools to ensure the continuity and progress of individual pupils.

The role of the Pastoral Support Team:

• To support and work alongside parents in addressing pastoral concerns impacting on their child’s learning and development.
• To work with staff in ensuring good pupil support and build upon the caring and respectful relationships that exist between staff, pupils and families.
• To provide mentoring to support individual children; listening and talking to children who may need support in a variety of pastoral issues, for example, self-esteem and confidence, bereavement, managing feelings, anxieties/worries, separation and developing social and friendships skills.
• Responding to situations as they arise within school.
• Meeting with parents/carers to discuss issues relating to their child.
• To ‘signpost’ families to outside services for appropriate provision and support,

 

 

Girls on Board                                                     

We place a real priority on the happiness and well-being of our students. Girls on Board is a key part of our approach to pastoral care and it aims to empower our girls with the tools they need to solve their own friendship issues.

Girls on Board initiative was originally developed by Andrew Hampton, Headteacher of Thorpe Hall School. It is an approach that helps girls, their parents and teachers to understand the dynamics of girl friendships. It uses language, methods and ideas which enable girls to understand and address friendship challenges.

This innovative approach recognises that teachers and parents often have limited success when it comes to resolving conflict between girls. In fact, girls often report that involving adults only makes matters worse.

How it is used

The Girls on Board programme is a pro-active approach, which delivers sessions that bring girls together to explore key principles around friendship dynamics and challenges. 

Through these sessions, girls work together to understand that they all feel this way. They explore group dynamics, different personality types and behaviours and how to manage parent reactions.

Girls on Board enables girls to resolve issues more effectively and aims to minimise the impact of conflict when it does arise, by encouraging open, honest and effective communication. 

 

We are proud to be a part of the myHappymind Family!
As a whole school program grounded in science and dedicated to building positive mental wellbeing, myHappymind helps children understand how their brains work and creates a culture that helps to build children's resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. myHappymind also teaches the children how to self-regulate and manage their emotions in stressful times, allowing them to be their very best selves! 

Learn more here: https://myhappymind.org

myHappymind Module Descriptions

Meet Your Brain: Understanding how your brain works and how to ensure we look after it so that we can manage our emotions and be at our best. Growth mindset is a key part of this too.

Celebrate: Understanding your unique character strengths and learning to celebrate them. This is a fantastic module for building self-esteem.

Appreciate: Understanding why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit. Gratitude is key to well-being and resilience and we're all about making it a habit!

Relate: Understanding why positive relationships matter and how to build them. We're focussed on the building blocks of good relationships and friendships.

Engage: Understanding how to set meaningful goals that matter and how to keep resilient in times of challenge. This module is all about building self-esteem and resilience too.