Senior School Pastoral Care

At Queen’s Gate, all staff see themselves as having a key role in supporting the pastoral care of our pupils.  However, a number of roles have particular pastoral responsibilities, together providing truly holistic care for our girls.

Form Tutors see girls in the morning and at afternoon registration and will usually be the first port of call for girls and parents. Weekly Form Time sessions allow Form Tutors and pupils to explore.

All year groups benefit from a Head of Year and Deputy Head of Year who oversee both the well-being and academic progress of the girls in their care.  These staff are responsible for identifying key issues for their specific age group and responding where girls might be experiencing difficulties.  They also lead regular year group assemblies, again focusing on topics that are of particular relevance to the girls in their cohort.

At Queen’s Gate, SEND provision comes under the auspices of our Learning Enhancement Department.  Their work is crucial for the girls’ academic progress, as well as playing an important part in the well-being of our girls.  The Learning Enhancement Department liaises closely with our subject and pastoral staff, to ensure that any difficulties are recognised and supported in the best way possible. We also offer specialist EAL tuition which is invaluable for those girls for whom English is not their first language.

Our School Counsellors visit school each week and are available to offer extra support for pupils who need an extra listening ear. We are also able to offer 1:1 coaching for girls who may appreciate some extra help with specific issues such as exam anxiety or difficulties managing relationships with peers.

Pastoral care at Queen’s Gate Senior School is overseen by the Director of Pastoral Care, who is supported by an Assistant Director of Pastoral Care.  Together they plan a programme of proactive support, which seeks to meet the needs of the girls before issues can arise.  Experts in working with adolescent girls, they keep up-to-date with trends and research, ensuring the provision of forward-thinking, modern and relevant pastoral care.

Queen’s Gate is committed to an education that truly prepares our girls to flourish in the wider world. We aim to provide an exciting, practical and relevant PSHE curriculum, allowing girls to explore challenges that they may face in real life in the calm of their Queen’s Gate classrooms. There is no such thing as a typical PSHE lesson at Queen’s Gate and girls will find themselves discussing a wide range of topics from holiday safety and healthy eating to the ethics of advertising or the relationship conundrums in their recent favourite Netflix series. The content of Personal, Social and Health Education sessions at Queen’s Gate, as well as the Relationship and Sex Education curriculum are informed by pupil voice, as well as statutory government requirements, to ensure that sessions really are relevant and meeting pupil needs.

At Queen’s Gate we are keen to work in partnership with families to support the wellbeing of our pupils. For this reason we have a programme of Parent Seminars which aim to support parents in understanding their children and the different stages of their development, as well as helping parents to navigate tricky issues such as teenage friendship, social media and the party scene – and the challenge of how to conduct productive conversations about these topics. We always welcome suggestion for new seminars, and our programme is constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of our parent body.

Accessing the views of pupils is extremely important to us at Queen’s Gate. Pupils can represent the views of their form on School Council and Food Committee, and this year we will be introducing an Environmental Committee.  Our Prefect Team take the lead on pupil voice, chairing a number of these committees, a well as meeting weekly with the Principal to put forward suggestions and discuss current issues.  Queen’s Gate also seeks to obtain pupil feedback through regular surveys on issues such as PSHE, dress code, the curriculum and school trips.

Girls belong to one of our four Houses which allows them to meet and work with girls in other year groups, as well as enjoy an extra special sense of belonging.  Rivalry between the four can only be described as fierce, as can be seen at events such as our Swimming Gala.  Competition ranges across sports, music, drama and debating, to name just a few, with new suggestions always welcome.

Full school assemblies are held twice a week and offer the opportunity for the Queen’s Gate community to come together to reflect on spiritual and moral issues or world events as well as celebrating our successes. Our Readings, prayers and music recognise a range of spiritual approaches and philosophies and there are opportunities for individual pupils and forms to be involved in presenting and preparing assemblies.

Queen’s Gate hopes that all our pupils will leave understanding how to manage their use of mobile phones and similar devices in a way that is positive, purposeful and healthy.  To this end, we are proud to be a Yondr school, whereby pupils in Remove (Year 7) to Form V (Year 10) are asked to lock their phones in a specially designed pouch each morning.  This allows them the security of keeping their phone on their person throughout the day, but without being able to use it, encouraging them instead to focus on face-to-face interactions with their peers and staff.  Prospective and current parents with queries about how management of mobile phones are warmly encouraged to get in touch with the Director of Pastoral Care, Ms de la Pena.