Empowering pastoral excellence

Rose Hardy, Headmistress of Habs Girls’ School, reflects on the decline in ‘free range children’

Never has it been more vital for schools to support their students pastorally in an increasingly complex world faced with multiple and evolving challenges. Today, it’s no longer enough simply to tick boxes to provide adequate pastoral provision, in fact schools are now charged with raising the bar in pastoral care and equipping the younger generation with a wealth of practical information, new connections, ideas and ‘real world’ best practice approaches to help them to progress and succeed in their future lives.

Pastoral care should seek to empower, inspire and energise students and sometimes that means removing fears around failure and tackling hardhitting issues affecting young people today. After all, raising children in sheltered captivity is not realistic, nor is it useful in helping them to build the strength of character, resilience and confidence they will need as they develop and grow.

Driving that sense of pastoral excellence and the need to recognise and embrace a number of prominent topics surrounding wellbeing and the importance of teaching happiness is something we are really pushing at Habs Girls right now. In fact, we got the ball rolling early into the start of the new school year when we hosted our very first pastoral conference with the objective of boosting empowerment.

The decline in ‘free range children’

Close to 300 delegates attended the event, which attracted interest from across the country and our local community. We were lucky enough to hear from headline speaker Professor Tanya Byron, (child and adolescent mental health psychologist and author of The Skeleton Cupboard), who delivered a thought-provoking speech regarding the growing decline in ‘free range children’ and the need to let children experience real life and its successes and failures.

The conference included a fascinating timetable of workshops and special talks delivered by a line-up of impressive speakers, who engaged with delegates on a variety of topics linked to pastoral wellbeing. The conference agenda also covered some harder-hitting topics too, such as helping young people to find their own identities outside of potentially toxic friendship groups, something that is becoming ever more relevant today. We also tackled the more taboo subject of spotting the signs of substance abuse and how to help students make safer choices around drugs and alcohol.

Other sensitive topics included looking at different ways of supporting bereaved children and identifying and understanding unhealthy coping strategies in young people. Delegates learned that coping mechanisms such as deliberate selfharm and eating disorders are usually signs that children are struggling with difficult experiences or emotions and gaining a better understanding of these problems from the outset, can be very helpful in terms of managing this in a balanced way. We also learned that bereavement can have a profound effect on family and the wider community in a number of different ways and that pastoral provision in schools must start looking at managing the various needs of those children affected today but in line with the 21st century.

Digital wellbeing

Digital wellbeing is another obvious area that schools are looking to tackle from a pastoral perspective. Managing screen time is just a small part of the spectrum and schools are now having to look at ensuring they continue to use the digital world for good, in our heavily digitally-led society. During the conference we also looked at the concept of taking micro-actions in our daily lives to reduce stress and foster a more positive mindset. Sometimes parents can feel like they have a mountain to climb and one can rarely address everything at once, but we learned you don’t have to. Doing a few things well and breaking down those concerns really does help to maintain a sense of calm and is a positive step for your mental wellbeing too.

On that note, The Sunday Times bestselling author, Paul McGee, who closed the conference, also gave some straight-talking advice, reminding the audience to have kinder conversations with themselves and to recognise that ‘self-care is not selfish’. This is something we are all guilty of, not being kind enough to ourselves but it’s a positive message that we need to be demonstrating to our children if we expect them to follow suit.

Much of the pastoral support we provide in school today begins at home and this is nothing new. As schools we are well aware that the most effective strategies for dealing with pastoral concerns related to students will almost always involve a joint home-school approach, with both parties united in their objectives. The conference really helped to highlight this fact and emphasised that finding the best ways to interact with parents and their families is paramount for schools in managing a successful outcome of any pastoral-related issue.

React and respond

Other prominent topics included looking at nutrition in school today and why good food really does matter. As a nation we are becoming more fixated on what we eat and where it comes from, not to mention the impact it has on the environment, our bodies and our general health. It is encouraging to see parents and children embracing the importance of nutrition today.

Mental health in young people continues to become an ever-evolving issue for schools who are now expected to fill the gap that CAMHS cannot cover, even though most of the teaching professionals in the industry are not trained specialists in mental illness. But where we can provide greater support is in identifying the potential issues children face today, spotting the signs early and finding ways to react and respond within the best interests of our students.

Like many schools, we have an excellent pastoral team, a dedicated wellbeing hub, fully trained counsellors on site and are continually working with teaching and support staff to equip them better for the challenges that lie ahead. The topics surrounding pastoral care today are of course vast, but one thing is consistent, the need to open more channels of communication to build greater resilience, diversity and gender inclusion in schools for the future.

Speakers at the ‘Empowering Pastoral Excellence Conference’ included: Professor Tanya Byron, Paul McGee, Dr Harjeev Rai, Dr Nikki Teper, Tanya Goodin, Amanda Ursell, Lucy Bailey, Dr Ellie Cannon, Stephen DeSilva, Stavey Hart, Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, Adrian Bethune, Dean Johnstone and Dr Jay Stewart.

Topics covered included substance abuse, unhealthy coping strategies and mental health difficulties, digital wellbeing, nutrition, building resilience, power of the micro action, pastoral wellbeing, grief and bereavement in children, making safer drug choices, teaching happiness, whole school approach to mental health, inclusion and gender diversity.