Welcome to St Stephens Pastoral Care Team
The welfare of our pupils is of paramount importance at St Stephens Community Academy and we take pride in our early identified, well-targeted emotional and academic support for all pupils within our care. We have a strong pastoral care team which is at the heart of the supportive community that pupils and staff value.
We wish all our pupils to be happy in the school environment as this can have a positive and empowering effect on their ability to learn. All members of staff have responsibilities for the general welfare of pupils. In addition, a formal pastoral structure exists to care for pupils in particular ways.
Pastoral Support for children within school is delivered by our Pastoral Care Team who work closely together to provide support for the families of St Stephens pupils. They are based in the schools ‘Pastoral Room’. This room was established as the school felt it would benefit from:
A room where children could go if they needed to calm down or talk to someone;
A behaviour recovery room for children to go to if they need to come out of class, to benefit themselves and the other children in their group;
Somewhere that children could work without distraction;
A dedicated area where we can deliver small supportive group sessions;
A room to be able to meet with parents and carers.
Our Governors, School Leaders and Staff understand that sometimes life can be really tough for children and things like falling out with friends, keeping up with excellent behaviour, getting to school on time or coping with difficult circumstances out of school can get in the way of their learning.
The Pastoral Care Team work in partnership with teachers, Learning Support Assistants and parents/carers to provide additional support to all children whose learning can be affected by their emotional, social or behavioural difficulties.The staff are committed to the welfare of all pupils who receive a very high level of pastoral care. They are encouraged to manage their own behaviour and to take responsibility for their own social skills to help prepare them for new situations such as moving to secondary school.
We have a great deal of experience within the team supporting individual pupils with a varying degree of moderate learning difficulties, physical, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Our aim is to establish and maintain a relationship with our pupils to ensure that they know there is an adult they can approach if they are worried or in difficulty. We would like to ensure that our pupils feel safe and secure and that there are adults within school who they can talk to and who will listen to them.
The Pastoral Care Team undertakes ongoing relevant training to ensure that they are able to develop professional, productive and supportive relationships with parents to support the needs of pupils and their families. We also liaise with outside agencies and are able to offer advice or to refer or signpost parents to additional support within the community eg Foodbank and Early Help Hub.
A Trauma Informed School.
As a school all staff have received Trauma Informed School (TIS) training and Mrs Baxter and Mrs Paul are fully qualified in this area.We are proud of the principles of this programme and elements are used daily throughout the school. We are able to carry out a TIS assessment on your child if we have your consent and believe this will be beneficial .We have weekly timetabled sessions where your child will have time working 1-1 or in a small group with one of our trained practitioners.
Getting in touch is easy:
Speak to any member of the Pastoral Team you feel comfortable talking to
Contact the Pastoral Team on 01566 772170 or via the school office
Email: ststephens@andaras.org for the attention of the Pastoral Team
The ‘front door’ to Early Help services led by Cornwall Council and Cornwall Foundation Trust.
Staff within the Early Help Hub will decide whether the child / young person is eligible for support and which service is most appropriate. This is usually in discussion with the person making the request and / or young person / family.
Children and young people who are aged pre-birth to 18. If a young person has a special educational need or disability, who have a need for early help care and support, this is extended up to age 25.
Professionals must gain consent from a parent or competent young person to make a request for help.
Some early help services can only be requested by a professional
Parents and/or professionals can request:
Professional request only:
Pastoral lead, TIS practitioner, Children in Care Champion and Sendco
Mental Health Lead, Safeguarding / Attendance Officer TIS practitioner
Parent Support Lead, TIS practitioner
Education Mental Health Practitioner