Pastoral support and Early Help
"Pupils at Milton Park Primary follow the school’s values. They are ‘responsible, respectful and resilient’. Leaders ensure that pupils receive high-quality pastoral support. Pupils feel that staff will support them with any problem they have. Consequently, pupils feel safe because staff care for and nurture them."
Ofsted March 2022
At Milton Park Primary School pastoral support is a high priority and we aim to promote the wellbeing and self-esteem of each child. We believe that every child should enjoy their education and be happy, healthy and safe at school. We will value our children for their individuality, culture and heritage. We are committed to achieving this by providing the Right Help at the Right Time in the Right Place for children and families.
What sort of help can I get from Pastoral Support?
Often it may be that parents want to talk about concerns they have about their child, but support can be offered in many different ways to help you in your role as parents. Here are just some of the ways we have been able to help families:
- One to one support
- Making phone calls on your behalf
- Writing letters of support to other agencies
- Help with filling in forms for housing/benefit applications
- Help with applying for secondary school places
- Giving a listening ear when parents just need to talk
- Attending meetings with parents
Pointing you in the right direction for specialist help and support
- Helping to find furniture for families in an emergency
- Getting children to and from school in an emergency
- Parent Groups – offering training and support
- Parent Drop In Sessions
- Advice sessions for school transition
- Settling in sessions for children starting school
Our Learning Mentor and Pastoral Assistant, helps pupils make the most of school life by breaking down barriers to learning. For the child, they are someone supportive to talk to, share successes or disappointments with, or to provide help with practical difficulties or worries. They can also be the link between school and home, or with outside agencies. They can act as an advocate for children and young people and is non-judgmental. They deliver a tailored and flexible approach to meet the needs of those being mentored.
Our Learning Mentor and Pastoral Assistant meet with children and young people, usually outside of the classroom, either individually or in small groups in a planned and structured way.
What can the Learning Mentor/ Pastoral Assistant help with?
- Settling into a new school
- Friendship issues
- Problems on the playground
- Family breakdown
- Unstable or difficult family circumstances
- Changes in home life
- The loss of a loved one
- Coping with illness
- Any form of bullying (including cyber bullying)
- Controlling emotions
- Social skills
- Self-esteem or confidence issues
- Worries or concerns about transferring from primary to secondary school
- Anything else causing a child to worry
The Pastoral Support Team are also members of Milton Park Primary School’s Safeguarding Team, supporting the headteacher in matters relating to children’s welfare and child protection concerns.
You can contact any member of the Pastoral Support Team by calling into the school office or telephoning the school on 01934 624868 or you can contact them on the following number Mrs FB 07720698563.
School Based Help
We know that sometimes people find themselves having a difficult time. Should you feel that you need some additional support on a specific issue or for a short period of time we can help you with that. We can do this on a 1:1 basis or by meeting with other people and agencies who may be able to give you the help that you need. Early Help is about supporting you to have the help you need at the earliest possible stage.
Some of the things that we have supported families with are:
- Finances and budgeting
- Housing and homelessness
- Challenging Behaviour
- Emotional wellbeing and mental health
- School uniform
- Foodbank vouchers
- Domestic Abuse
- Substance Misuse
- Routines
- SEND
- Home fuel top up
For more information on our offer of Early Help please contact office@miltonpark.extendlearning.org or call one of the pastoral team on 01934 624868. If you want to know more about Early Help within North Somerset and how to access Family Wellbeing services, please contact the Children’s Front door on 01275 888808 or childrens.frontdoor@n-somerset.gov.uk
Statement of Mental Health and Pastoral Intent
Moral Purpose
Milton Park Primary School Pastoral Team is passionate about making a difference to the lives of children and young people. We believe in teamwork; working with each other, with teachers and colleagues across the school, with the wider school community and most importantly with the children in our school. We act with determination. Whatever issues our students, their families, the school, our team or the community face, we always support, react and pull together. Finally, we are committed to making a difference; we are not passive players in young people’s lives but active participants who can and do make a real difference. These are a reflection of the school’s core values, in that we all are respectful, responsible and resilient.
What Inclusion and Effective Mental Health Interventions Means to Us
- The child stays at the centre of every conversation.
- We prioritise those who need our help most, but we intervene with all.
- When young people are here, we can support and educate them – attendance matters.
- Young people learn best when there are clear rules and simple consequences.
- Staff teach best when there are clear rules and simple consequences.
- We use evidence-based practice for all our interventions.
Expectations of Ourselves as Staff Members
- Our notes and records are recorded in a timely manner kept up to date.
- We all will have read and understood section one of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021.
- We will make sure we know our behaviour, SEMH, attendance and safeguarding policies and protocols.
- We will always attend duties to support the wider school community.
- We will attend meetings on time and prepared.
- We will ensure pastoral work is evidenced and purposeful.
- We will always speak to students, staff and each other with courtesy, respect and understanding.
Safeguarding
- Safeguarding students comes above everything else we do.
- All staff across the school have training annually with reminders throughout the year at briefings, staff meetings and inset days.
- All new staff have safeguarding training as part of their induction.
- All staff at the school recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, that they should have read and understood section one of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021, that early intervention is key and that context matters.
- All records are kept securely.
- The Pastoral Care and Mental Health Lead is an experienced and trained practitioner.
Attendance
- All staff have a role to play in ensuring each child attends school.
- The Pastoral Lead has overriding responsibility to monitor and check on whole school attendance and to support children whose attendance is low to find ways to improve this in consultation with parents/carers and children.
- All of the Pastoral Team work to remove barriers to good school attendance.
- We work together with external agencies to address and remove barriers to school attendance.
- We prioritise students who are classed as disadvantaged, SEMH or SEN, however, we are passionate about providing the same support to all students, irrespective of background.
- We follow the protocols which are in place, acknowledging that each child and situation is different and adjusting as required.
Behaviour
- Good behaviour allows for teachers to teach and students to learn.
- We have a moral obligation to prepare young people for the rigours of work and life beyond education. We are here to educate the whole child, helping with their moral and personal development.
- We apply the policies for each student, acknowledging that each child and situation is different and adjusting as required.
- We prioritise students who are classed as disadvantaged, SEMH or SEN, however, we are passionate about providing the same support to all students, irrespective of background.
- We make reasonable adjustments for students with special educational needs or vulnerable students.
- We have a restorative based behaviour system which allows children to respond to incidents of poor behaviour by showing improved behaviour.
- We involve parents in supporting their child to improve their behaviour.
Pastoral care/mental health
- Pastoral support is driven by our desire to ensure each child achieves the best outcomes possible during their time at school.
- We do not give up on students and constantly look for ways to support them.
- Our interventions are directed by evidence-based practice.
- Our Pastoral Team are passionate about being the best they can be when supporting children and families with pastoral and mental health support.
- We work with numerous external agencies to support our students.
- We recognise that early intervention is vital.
- We involve parents as appropriate in the support which we put in place.
- The mental health of our students and staff is of the highest priority.
