Pastoral Support
At The Howard School, the health and wellbeing of our students, families and staff is exceptionally important to us. We are committed to providing outstanding holistic care, in partnership with students and families, to enable young people to overcome personal difficulties and barriers to their learning, so they can go on to achieve great success in all aspects of their academic, social and personal development.
Every student is supported through:
- Form Tutor
- Senior, Head & Deputy Head of Year
- Pastoral Office Team
- Inclusion Team
Once a student has been identified as requiring or requested support, they could have access to a range of therapeutic support and interventions.
Within the school, we employ a range of professionals who hold responsibility for leading and developing the SEND, Safeguarding and Health, Wellbeing and Therapeutic strategy and provision.
We have 3 Base Rooms, used for academic tuition, to support reading and numeracy as well as SEN, EAL and therapeutic interventions.
Staff
| Senior Heads of Year | |
|---|---|
| Key Stage 3 | Mr Daburn |
| Key Stage 4 | Mr Longe |
| Year Teams | |
|---|---|
| Sixth Form | Mr Loftus & Mr Julian |
| Year 11 | Mr Knights & Mr Manny |
| Year 10 | Mr Murphy & Mr Low |
| Year 9 | Mr Flack & Mrs Salter |
| Year 8 | Ms Jaiyeoba & Mr Doe |
| Year 7 | Mr Michelsen & Miss Wears |
| Pastoral Team | |
|---|---|
| Pastoral Manager/DDSL | Ms Tracey McComas |
| AENCO/LAC Coordinator | Mrs Rebekah Greening |
| Pastoral Support Officer/First Aid Lead | Mrs Elaine Pasfield |
| Attendance Officer | Ms Marie Gravells |
| Pastoral Support Officer/Safeguarding Officer | Mrs Sophie Keegan |
| Pastoral Support Officer | Mrs Sarah Evans |
Use Of Bicycles
Any students who want to park their bike on site need to understand their responsibilities of riding to school and parking the bike on site. Students must act safely at all times if you bring your bike to school and must not ride your bike until you pass the school exit points.
Students who do not fully dismount their bike will receive a C5 correction. If they repeat this a 3rd time, their Bike permission will be taken away and they will no longer be allowed to park their bike on school grounds.
We place the safety of our students of the utmost importance and this is the reason we insist that they must wear their cycling helmet to school.
Students park their bikes at their own risk both in school and out of school.
Wellbeing Information
All students can access a range of services listed below and can be accessed through the school website.
Support can be requested by:
- Speaking to any member of staff
- Completing a ‘Tell Us’ submission on website or to the Pastoral Office postbox
Support Services
| Agency | Contact Details | Information |
|---|---|---|
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Visit kooth.com and sign up for the text based conversation with a qualified counsellor. Counsellors are available from 12 noon to 10pm on a weekday and 6pm to 10pm at weekends. |
Kooth is a service which provides support with well-being and resilience. Kooth is a web based confidential support service available to 11-18 year olds who are going through a hard time. Kooth provides a safe and secure means of accessing mental health and well-being support. This is designed specifically for young people. |
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Telephone: 0800 1111 |
To access a counsellor, they are there to listen and support you with anything you’d like to talk about. Or you can have a 1-2- counselling chat online. You can discuss anything you like from a disclosure of pregnancy, being a victim of bullying, feeling low and struggling with sleep patterns; to mental health issues, or general low mood. |
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Telephone: 116123 (24 hours a day, 365 days a year |
Encourages children and adults to talk about their own mental health needs and provides top tips for managing mental health during crisis. |
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Text ‘YM’ to: 85258 |
Text YoungMinds Crisis Messenger, for free 24/7 support across the UK if you are experiencing a mental health crisis. It also provides support and guidance for parents/carers to help support their children with managing their mental health. |
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Telephone: 08088 081677 |
This is a service which offers support, advice and information to children, young people and adults when someone dies. They provide tips to help yourself, or as a parent; how you can support your child. There are video links which explain the grieving process so children/ adults understand each stage of grief. |
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Helpline: 0800 02 888 40 |
Child Bereavement UK works to provide support to families of children who have lost a loved one. |
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Talk Grief | Talk Grief is a dedicated online space for grieving teenagers and young adults (13 to 25), powered by the childhood bereavement charity Winston’s Wish. Here you can learn from other young grieving people, find healthy ways to cope and feel less alone. You’ll find out what it’s really like to live with grief from teenagers and young adults, along with advice and tips on managing your grief from our bereavement experts. |
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Chums | CHUMS offer specialist bereavement support to children and young people from 31/2 up until their 26th birthday in Kent and Medway. |
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The Compassionate Friends | The Compassionate Friends (TCF) is a charitable organisation of bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents dedicated to the support and care of other similarly bereaved family members who have suffered the death of a child or children from a month old and from any cause. |
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Mood Spark | A space created by young people for young people to help navigate and learn about emotions. |
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Be you Project | The BeYou team offer support, a safe, welcoming and inclusive space where LGBTQ+ young people can meet, socialise and find the support they need. Everyone is welcome whether you're lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or questioning your sexual or gender identity, or you know someone who may need support or advice. |
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The Mix | The Mix is the UK’s leading support service for young people. We are here to help you take on any challenge you’re facing - from mental health to money, from homelessness to finding a job, from break-ups to drugs. Talk to us via our online community, on social or our counselling service. |
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Telephone: 0800 58 58 58 |
This service provides a space to talk and practical advice from professionals. Helpline is available from 5pm - midnight. |
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Kidscape | Kidscape is an award-winning charity that offers practical help with bullying. |
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Email: mscp@medway.gov.uk |
The MSCP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in Medway. Medway Council, Kent Police and NHS Kent and Medway are the tree safeguarding partners that make up the MSCP. |
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Brook Sexual behaviours Traffic Light Tool | This tool categorises sexual behaviours into green, orange and red light categories and gives examples for different age groups. This helps you to make consistent and informed decisions and have meaningful conversations about appropriate sexual behaviours. |
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Website: www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk |
The National Domestic and Abuse Helpline is for women and children who are exposed to domestic violence. This allows you the option to seek help, support and advice. In an emergency, please call 999. |
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Barnardos | Working with children and young people to be safe, happy, healthy and hopeful. |
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Shout | If you are struggling to cope and need to talk, our trained Shout Volunteers are here for you. To start a conversation, text the word ‘Shout’ to 85258 |
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Email: YP-Medway@openroad.org.uk |
A free and confidential service to support young people from the age of 10-18 who are affected or are experiencing issues with drugs and/or alcohol. |
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Talk to Frank | Honest information about drugs. |
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Clover Street - Medway Sexual Health Hub Phone: 0300 123 1678 |
Free STI testing and sexual health advice. |
Helpful Resources/Apps
| Resources | |
|---|---|
| Clear Fear App | This app encourages you to learn to reduce the physical response to threat. It uses a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) framework to help change anxious thoughts and emotions, alter anxious behaviours, and calm fear responses. |
| The Categories Game Grounding Exercise | This is a categories game that can be used for grounding and calming down in moments of anxiety, during times of feeling disconnected from surroundings, or to help you sleep. |
| Grounding Worksheet | This is a worksheet listing 3 ways you could use to ground yourself; mental, physical and soothing grounding. |
| Breathing Exercises Sheet | A Document with a list of breathing exercises to try when you’re feeling anxious, angry or overwhelmed. |
| Low Mood App | This app uses the evidence-based treatment, Behavioural Activation Therapy, to help you improve your mood by encouraging you to increase your motivation to carry out a variety of tasks in order to help you move forward, take control and feel positive. |
| Waking Up Refreshed: Tips for Better Mornings | Anxiety and depression can negatively impact sleep. This worksheet provides research-backed solutions to make mornings better, featuring 10 tips to help you wake up feeling good. The information can help you learn how to have a better night sleep, get moving in the morning, and make mornings more pleasant. |
| Teen Sleep Hub | Information and resources on getting better sleep. |
| NHS Inform | This self-help guide is intended for people with mild-to-moderate symptoms of social anxiety. |
Online Safety
| Online Safety | Contact Details | Information |
|---|---|---|
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If you’re worried about a child, even if you’re unsure, contact our professional counsellors for help, advice and support. |
This provides useful resources for parents /carers on social networks, apps. This site also supports with online safety |
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Education from the National Crime Agency | This is an educational programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline for different age groups and supports parents. |
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Childnet | Childnet has produced a Parent and Carer Toolkit which is a collection of three resources designed to help you talk to your child about their online life, manage boundaries around family internet use and point you in the direction of where to get further help and support. |
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The National College | Courses and resources for a range of things including online safety. |
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TikTok | NOS advice leaflet for Parents and Carers |
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YouTube | NOS advice leaflet for Parents and Carers |
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Apple Guided Access | NOS advice leaflet for Parents and Carers |
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Snapchat | NOS advice leaflet for Parents and Carers |
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Netflix | NOS advice leaflet for Parents and Carers |
Parent Support
| Support | Website Link | Information |
|---|---|---|
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Medway Child Health for Parents | Parental guidance for discussing topics around health and wellbeing with your child |
Anti-Bullying
The Howard School believes that all students, whatever their race, culture, gender, faith, sexual orientation, physical or intellectual abilities have the right to:
- a safe and secure environment at school and on the way to and from school
- concentrate on their educational progress without fearing others
We promote an environment which teaches students respect for others and where all members of the school are encouraged to contribute to a caring and effective atmosphere.
All students are encouraged to speak to a member of staff if they are being made to feel uncomfortable at school or if they witness this happening to others. Please make sure that you or your child lets us know if there is a problem that is making them unhappy. Bullying cannot be dealt with if the school is unaware of the problem.
Different forms of bullying
Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online.
The School recognises that bullying can take many different forms. The three main types are:
Physical: hitting, kicking, taking another’s belongings without permission
Verbal: name calling, insulting, offensive language, racist, homophobic or sexual remarks
Psychological: spreading unkind rumours, inciting others to be cruel or encouraging others to overtly isolate and ignore the individual, sending malicious messages through the use of social media
Racial harassment, homophobia or other contraventions of the Equality Act are treated as very serious incidents of bullying and may be reported as a Hate crime.
Dealing with incidents
All incidents are treated seriously by staff and referred to the Head of Year as soon as possible. This can be by you or by your child. Following on from this, the year team will action the following points:
- Written statements are taken from all students involved
- Both the ‘child who has been harmed’ and the ‘child who has caused harm’ are made aware that the school views any instance of bullying very seriously
- It is imperative that the child who has been harmed is supported and is given help
- Every effort must be made to resolve the situation immediately. Where appropriate, ‘child who has been harmed’ and ‘child who has caused harm’ should be brought together to discuss the incident
- Follow up procedures should check that the bullying has not resumed
- Sanctions must be clear, consistent and appropriate to the seriousness of the incident
- Where the bullying takes place outside of the school site (including cyberbullying) then the school will ensure that the concern is investigated and that appropriate action is taken in accordance with the schools behaviour policy.
- When investigating a fight, it is important to identify whether it has arisen through bullying. If a student has been severely provoked, this must be taken into account when dealing with the incident. If both parties have been provoked by third parties, it is important to identify the provocateur(s) and deal with them appropriately. N.B. We must never give the impression that we condone retaliation, although we should treat incidents of this nature sensitively
SEND
The Howard School's SenCo is Mrs J Deakin, who can be contacted via the details below. All the information needed about our SEND support can be found here:
Mrs J Deakin, Assistant Principal (SenCo)
Phone: 01634 388765
Email: deakinj@thehowardschool.co.uk