Pastoral Care

“Be your best and believe in yourself”

Broomwood / School Life / Pastoral Care

We know the importance of creating a warm, friendly and nurturing environment. At Broomwood, we pride ourselves on offering outstanding pastoral care where each child feels valued and cared for. Our school sites are dynamic yet small and intimate enough, for all children to be well known to all our staff.

We believe that reward and praise bring out the best in every child hence we provide a whole range of different arenas such as academic tasks, music, drama, sport, competitions, and themed events in which our pupils can shine, be happy and confident.

House System
Tutors
Awards & Responsibilities

House System

The house system at Broomwood encourages a sense of team spirit and belonging.

At the start of their school journey into the Pre-Prep school, children are allocated a place in one of our four Houses in which they remain throughout the years with us.

We are currently in the process of joining the Broomwood houses together across the school sites so that boys and girls can collaborate across a variety of competitions, activities and social events. The new house names will be announced in the Autumn Term 2023.

In the Pre-Prep, each house has its own lunch monitor and House Captains, a boy and a girl who are appointed termly. Houses compete with one another in various ways, with House Points awarded to teams in inter-house competitions, and to individual children for manners, tidiness and effort.

Our pupils at Broomwood Prep – Boys and Broomwood Prep – Girls remain in their respective Houses as they move up from the Pre-Prep. They also welcome new children who are allocated evenly across the houses. A House Captain and a vice-Captain are chosen from Year 8 along with a vice-Captain from Year 6 (who serves for half a term). A member of staff is appointed to act as Housemistress or Housemaster for each house. All staff have a particular allegiance to one House.

Houses continue to compete vigorously with one another in various ways through a system of House points. There are inter house matches, music competitions, quizzes and poetry contests. Regular House Assemblies are held to motivate the members to gain House points and to win the coveted House Point Cup.

With its emphasis on loyalty and togetherness, the House system is instrumental in encouraging a sense of belonging and healthy competition within the school.

Tutors

We believe it is essential that each of our pupils has someone within the Broomwood school community to support, supervise and mentor them. This is why form tutors play a significant role in our children’s experience at Broomwood.

All our children are under the supervision and care of a form tutor who oversees their academic, social and personal wellbeing. Tutors have regular individual and group meetings, both formal and informal, with their tutees. At these meetings, they discuss academic performance and extra-curricular activities, as well as any aspects of their lives both at school and at home.

Tutors play a key role in our children’s day-to-day school activities and help keep track of their progress, house-points, successes and concerns. We encourage our parents to contact their children’s tutors if they have any concerns or queries.

The tutor system adds another layer to our pastoral care provision, working hand in hand with the tutees, teachers and parents.

Awards & Responsibilities

‘We recognise and reward both talent and effort..’

At Broomwood, we want your children to feel they count, and that effort is always worthwhile, even if they find a subject challenging. We recognise positive attitude, improvement, and good manners, as well as academic excellence. We also look to reward those who excel in sport, music, drama and the creative arts. There are award assemblies each half and end of term and a leavers prize-giving service at the close of the academic year. We monitor the awards to make sure no pupil does through a year without achieving a prize or certificate for something deserved.

Throughout their time at Broomwood, our pupils are given positions of responsibility. These culminate in Year 8 with the major positions – Head Boy and Head Girl, Head of House and Prefect. Pupils also have the chance to take on additional roles such as Maths Prefect, and Vice House Captains and Deputy head of House.

Our focus is on encouragement as well as celebrating success. The aim is to build character and confidence, and to prepare our children for the future. We want them to start the next phase of their education and beyond that, with a sense of achievement and confidence.

School Council

We have a school council which aims to be the voice for the pupil body.

The School Council comprises elected representatives from Years 4 to 8. It serves as a forum in which the pupils have the chance to influence how the school is run, from the menus at lunchtime to helping the school to be more environmentally friendly.

The Council meets on a weekly basis and the elected members change each term giving everyone a chance to take part and have their voice heard.

Health

The health and wellbeing of our children is paramount at Broomwood. Our qualified nurses and school Matrons are on hand to support all our pupils’ needs and requirements.

On admission, we ask for a thorough medical history and to be kept updated should any changes occur. If a child needs regular prescribed medication, with parental authorisation, this can be done via staff at school. The school medical team is also able to provide medication such as mild pain killers (e.g., Calpol) with parental permission.

On a day-to-day basis, it is also important that parents let the school secretary or nurse know if children have had any medication prior to coming to school.

Parents will be contacted if we feel that pupils are too unwell to remain in school or if an injury needs further medical attention.