Pastoral care – the foundation of a fantastic educational journey
When you’re choosing a school you will want to ensure it will work for your child, especially in these very formative years. It is important then that our ethos and our approach to pastoral care matches your expectations of what a modern prep school should be delivering.
Our belief
Our belief is that a ‘happy child’ is one who can achieve everything they are capable of achieving, whether that be academic, sporting or artistic. Our tutors and pastoral care co-ordinator are here to help your child develop their talents, at whatever level they are capable and comfortable.
Our tutors’ responsibilities
Our tutors are 100 percent focused on getting to know the children and you, their parents. We operate a ‘one point of contact’ approach with all pastoral care issues dealt with by your child’s tutor. Each tutor is responsible for a very manageable group of approximately 18 children. They undertake the twice-daily registration, ensure that day-to-day routine is adhered to, and that children are organised and ready for the school day.
Our reward system
We have a homework diary which is used to record the effort stars that are awarded to children by subject, as well as for manners and kindness. These are collected each Friday, collated, and allocated to houses. Competition between the houses is strong, and regular house meetings take place to develop this house spirit. Bronze, silver and fgold certificates are awarded in Assembly when children achieve certain termly milestones, eg. 50,100 or 150 stars in years 3-4. In years 5-8 they are awarded a certificate for their final total.
Our behaviour management system
Behaviour management is based on the golden time model, a system in which stars are at the end of the week awarded for good behaviour, or deducted if, during the week, a child (having received a warning) continues to exhibit poor behaviour or makes poor choices. This information is recorded and monitored to identify patterns of behaviour. If a pattern of poor behaviour occurs the tutor, in consultation with the pastoral care co-ordinator, will devise a programme designed to help the pupil make better choices in the future. Should a child regularly lose minutes then parents are involved in finding a way forward. Our dealings with children are based on the principle that we trust before we mistrust. We believe that children choose how they behave and should that choice be incorrect we will ‘direct’ them through a loss of minutes so that the next time the situation occurs they will hopefully make a better choice.
At Copthorne Prep we pride ourselves on the level of pastoral care we offer. All our staff go the extra mile for pupils and parents to ensure that we have in school children who feel valued, respected and above all happy.
