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Pastoral

Pastoral Care

The personal development, health and wellbeing of our students is of most importance to us.  As a parent, you need to feel assured that your child will be well looked-after throughout their school journey, as it is this sense of safety and support that underpins student well-being and good progress. Ensuring student well-being is fundamental to Rishworth and Heathfield's structures for support, advice and guidance.

We pride ourselves on a pastoral care programme that centres around the Form Tutor; a teacher who will be a key person in the day-to-day care and support of every student throughout their time at school. Form Tutors have daily contact with our students and are the first point of contact for parents/carers.

·         All staff have responsibility for ensuring the highest level of pastoral care is provided.

·         There is an experienced team of designated Child Protection staff.

·         All staff are trained in child protection procedures to ensure the safeguarding of all students.

Heathfield Prep

At Heathfield we offer the very highest standard of pastoral care and pride ourselves on the close relationships we enjoy with parents and families.

Nursery to Year 6 have a dedicated Tutor with whom they will build a close bond, they will oversee the children's learning and pastoral needs and be the primary contact for parents. 

Rishworth School

Rishworth prides itself on excellent standards of pastoral care. The welfare of our children is paramount and this is reflected in our ISI inspection reports. Our staff are committed to guiding and supporting our pupils in the School’s values and vision. 

Each form teacher is responsible for the pastoral welfare of their pupils and is the main point of contact for parents. Form time occurs first thing in the morning and immediately after lunch and this allow pupils to build positive relationships with their peers, and our small class sizes enable us to really get to know the children.

There are also Heads of Year, who are there to help oversee the children in that Year group. A list of Heads of year can be found here: Heads of Year and how to contact

Using our online registers, we can track and monitor attendance and punctuality of our pupils, we use an MIS system called iSams to track and log behaviours - both good and bad.  The Head has responsibility for pastoral matters, and reports to staff regularly on all matters. All pupils have contributed to our mutually agreed Student Code of Conduct and abide by them

As well as form staff, pupils have a wider network of trusted adults that support them. These include the Headmaster, our House Parents, matrons and independent listeners.  The school has developed a PSHCE curriculum that incorporates a range of topics and themes, with a particular emphasis on wellbeing. Various speakers and external agencies visit the school and provide workshops covering a variety of topics from drug awareness, keeping safe and e-safety. We have organised talks by the NSPCC on important safeguarding matters, ‘Stay Safe, Speak out’, as well as arranging for pupils to undertake First Aid Training.

Our Rewards and Sanctions policy reflects our positive approach, rewarding good behaviour. All pupils are given a House from Reception age, and collect ‘Golds’ as part of the House Competition. Certificates are awarded to individuals who collect 10, 25, and 50 Golds across the term. We award Headteacher certificates to pupils who have made particularly good progress in a specific area, demonstrated excellent citizenship, or demonstrated one of our ‘key values for life’ (see Spiritual Development). Our weekly achievers’ assembly is a time when we collectively celebrate success in and out of school together.

House and Tutorial System- All children and staff belong to one of our four houses named after local dams :

  • Boothwood (Blue/Purple)
  • Ringstone (Red/Gold)
  • Scammonden (Yellow/Black)
  • Baitings (Green/Silver)