How we care
Pre-Prep and Prep at Habs Boys are places where children can feel safe and happy. Yet for whatever reason, sometimes our young pupils need a little extra support.
We are always here to help. After all, we understand that even young children can have worries and concerns. Some of these are real and significant. Others less so, with your child just needing extra reassurance, care and attention.
Whatever may be going on
Whatever your child may be feeling, we want them to know that they can talk to us and we will do our best to help.
For example, sometimes children may struggle with worries such as:
- Their self-esteem or emotional wellbeing
- Problems with friendships
- Their schoolwork
- Health problems, their own or those of loved ones
- Family breakdowns
- Major changes in family circumstances
- Bereavements
- Anything else that matters to them
Your child can talk to us
Young children spend many of their waking hours in school, making it a major part of their life. So please let your child know that if they are struggling, they can ask us for help.
They may feel comfortable talking to a member of staff they trust. We can be surprisingly flexible in helping to manage situations, providing support with how your child feels and easing any pressure they may be under.
We also have dedicated staff responsible for pastoral care, who you or your child can talk to:
- Their class teacher or form tutor
- Their Head of House
- Mrs Michelle Best (Head of Prep and Pre-Prep)
- Ms Victoria Huggett (Head of Pre-Prep)
- Mr P Swindell (Deputy Head of Prep, Pastoral)
- Mrs Tessa Grossman, for any worries about schoolwork in Prep
- Our counselling service (please see below)
Our counselling services
Whether their concerns are about life inside or outside of school, we offer counselling for students who would like to talk about what is worrying them.
You or your child can make an appointment by emailing or contacting:
- The counsellor
- Your child’s class teacher (Reception to Year 2)
- Your child’s form tutor (Year 3 to Year 6)
- The Deputy Head of Pastoral
Where appropriate, the counsellor will work closely with the extended pastoral team, and with you as parents.
House System
All pupils in the Prep and Pre-Prep belong to one of our four houses: Andrews, Davids, Georges or Patricks.
Each House has a designated staff Leader who run fortnightly House meetings and organise annual events across the year.
Our House system not only provides an additional layer of pastoral support with Heads of House supporting pupil’s emotional wellbeing, but it is also crucial in monitoring each child’s individual personal development. Our House system aims to foster team spirit across the school with pupils being supportive of, and being supported by, their house community. This is achieved through recognising and celebrating their individual strengths while encouraging a contribution to the wider life of our school.
Each term the four Houses compete in a number of high-profile events and each pupil’s participation contributes towards points for their house, through the daily awards of house points for effort, achievements and behaviour. At the end of the School Year, the House with the most house points will win the much-coveted House Cup.
House Captains and Prefects
House Leaders select two House Captains and two House Prefects to act as positive role models for their house. It is their job to help support the House Leaders and Deputy Head (Pastoral) in a variety of ways throughout the school year.
House Families
Each House is split into smaller families that contain pupils across year groups. The children will often complete activities by working together within their family, especially during house meetings. These families help our youngest pupils feel a strong sense of belonging and security, knowing that older students are there to support them, while our older pupils embrace the added responsibility that comes with this role.
Our buddy system
Your child will be paired with a ‘buddy’, who will support and help them in their first few days. After that, we arrange a series of exciting activities throughout the academic year, so newer children can get to know their buddy and have fun together.
In Pre-Prep, your child’s buddy will be from Year 2.
In Prep, their buddy will be from Year 6.
Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)
Our pupils participate in a carefully designed PSHE curriculum that is both proactive and responsive. Our bespoke scheme is tailored to address the specific challenges our students face within the school community and in the wider society, with regular updates to ensure relevance.
We collaborate with external speakers and conduct workshops to delve into more complex topics such as drug education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and gender equality. Some sessions are conducted jointly with Habs Girls, fostering healthy discussions and broadening perspectives.
We are committed to helping our pupils understand and respect the core British values and the protected characteristics that are essential to our community. From Reception to Year 6, Form Tutors deliver an adapted version of the Jigsaw Scheme to teach weekly PSHE lessons. Detailed schemes of work can be found in our PSHE Policy.
Individual needs
We do our very best to make sure every child enjoys personal and academic success. This means working closely with parents and guardians to provide the support they all need. Meanwhile, all our staff are expected to familiarise themselves with each student’s needs, on a need-to-know basis.
Support can occur at various levels in school life. This might be through your child’s class teacher, phase leader, a subject teacher, an individual needs teacher or in smaller group sessions.
Students with known medical conditions are on a special medical register, with the school nurse holding individual medical plans.
To best help your child, please let us know if any specific learning needs have been identified, whether they be sensory or physical, related to cognition or learning, social, emotional or mental health or communication and interaction needs.
If your child has an assessment report, it would be a huge help if you could share this with our Individual Needs team. That way, we can put any recommendations in place and provide the most appropriate support for your child.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS POLICY
Spirituality
Spirituality is important in many families, especially at Habs Boys.
We are fortunate that our pupils come from a diverse range of faith backgrounds. So whatever yours may be, please feel free to seek our support.
We make special provision for children who need to fast, or be absent from school for religious reasons. We also have a multi-faith room which all our children can use.
Confidentiality
For a young child, it can take a lot of courage to talk about their worries and concerns. For example, they may be afraid that other people will find out about their problem. So we respect that courage and their confidentiality.
Yet there may be times when we will need to talk to someone else. This would only ever be for your child’s ultimate benefit. Of course, we would always talk to your child about it first.
Please let your child know that if something is bothering them, they can talk to us. At Habs, they never need to struggle in silence.
