How we care

Students are recognised and celebrated for their achievements both in and out of school. We do this through a variety of ‘Rewards System’ forums, including assemblies and external communications.

Because we have high expectations of our students, we also support them in taking responsibility for themselves and their actions.

Young people spend a lot of their waking hours in school, making it a major part of their life. So please let your child know that when they are struggling, a good first step is to talk to someone.

They may feel able to talk 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 have dedicated staff members responsible for pastoral care. You or your child can talk to:

• Your child’s Form Tutor
• Their Head of Year
• Their Head of Section
• The Pastoral Support Manager
• The Deputy Head Pastoral
• Any member of our Pastoral Team or teacher, which includes our Nurses and Counsellors.

When your child comes into our Senior School in Year 7, they will be assigned an ‘amiga’.

Your child’s amiga will be a student in the year above, but in the same house. Amigas have recently been through the same experience as them and can help to support your child as they to settle into life at Habs. Amiga activities take place in Form time over the course of the academic year.

In addition to this, each Year 7 form is allocated a Sixth Form prefect, who will support the form in their first year at Senior School.

Beyond Year 7, students can also access wider peer support through our Peer Mentoring Programme, linking Sixth Form and Upper School students with Middle and Junior School students for talks and one‑to‑one guidance.

We do our very best to make sure every student enjoys personal and academic success. This means working closely with parents and guardians to provide the support which each young person needs. As such, 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 Form Tutor, their Head of Year, Head of Section, a subject teacher, study support sessions or learning skills programmes.

Students with known medical conditions are on a special medical register. Our Nurse holds individual medical plans for students, ensuring their day‑to‑day needs are clearly understood and supported.

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, learning, social, emotional or mental health or communication and interaction needs.

If your child has an assessment report, it is really helpful if you can share this with our Individual Needs team. This means we can put any recommendations in place and provide the most appropriate support for your child.

Individual needs policy

Spirituality is important in many families. Habs Girls welcomes a rich diversity of faiths within its community.

We are fortunate that our pupils come from a diverse range of faith backgrounds and students have the opportunity to learn about other faiths through our student-run Faith Assemblies. This enables us to celebrate our diversity and enriches our students’ understanding of the wider world.

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.

It can take a lot of courage for a young person to reach out and talk to somebody about their concerns.

Keeping our students safe is our most important priority. All of our staff undergo regular safeguarding training to ensure they have the knowledge and expertise to respond appropriately to any concerns in line with our safeguarding policy.

You can find out more about our safeguarding policy here.

Please make sure your child knows that if something is bothering them, they can talk to us. No one wants them to struggle in silence.

Throughout the week, we have various assemblies and faith assemblies. Students will receive fortnightly PSHE lessons in Years 7-9 and weekly sessions in Years 10 and 11 with specialist PSHE teachers. Students in Years 7-9 and Sixth Form also review some PSHE topics in their form groups. Workshops with specialist speakers are organised for all year groups at different times through the year, focusing on age-appropriate issues such as digital wellbeing, physical health, mental health and relationships. Talks and/or workshops are also delivered to parents.

The PSHE Curriculum at Habs is designed to help each student to maintain an informed, healthy and socially responsible lifestyle, with an awareness of the responsibilities, risks and challenges faced by young people and adults in the global society of the 21st century. The School is constantly evolving the programme with new resources, tailored to the specific needs of our students, to ensure that every child is taught the knowledge and skills needed to look after their own mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Review our curriculum map for a detailed breakdown.

If you have any questions or feedback about any aspect of the PSHE Education curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact The Head of PSHE, Mr Daniel Heyman, via the Habs App.

As per the statutory guidance, parents will continue to have a right to request to withdraw their child from Sex Education delivered as part of RSHE in secondary schools which, unless there are exceptional circumstances, should be granted, up to three terms before their child turns 16. At this point, if the child wishes to receive Sex Education rather than be withdrawn, the school should plan for this to happen in one of the three terms before the child turns 16 – the legal age of sexual consent.

At Habs we recognise students are on a journey in their time here. The journey is both academic and also one of personal growth, development and change. Taking care of our students’ wellbeing and mental health is a key part of our day-to-day role and we recognise the link between student health, wellbeing, academic achievement and attainment. When students feel happy and cared for, they are more able to engage in their learning and reach their full potential. Additionally, we recognise the critical role parents play and the need to work together to support families as part of our Habs community.

Through a pastoral system of holistic care, lived values and the delivery of a comprehensive PSHE curriculum, we aim to ensure our students develop into well rounded individuals with strong core values who are recognised as such within society, support others in the school community and go on to live successful and happy lives beyond their time at school.

Strong Pastoral Care is at the heart of everything we do, underpinned by our holistic pastoral system, lived values and a comprehensive PSHE programme. Every student is known as an individual and we celebrate their personal journey.

Mental health and wellbeing are priorities for the entire school community. Our staff receive Mental Health First Aid training, helping them to support the needs of our students. We actively promote a positive mental health message through assemblies, external speakers and our Thought for the Day, which is a focus for Form time each morning. This includes regular assemblies and visiting speakers who address topics relevant to student wellbeing.