How we care
Habs Girls is a place where children can feel safe and are given the support to thrive. We take pride in our excellent pastoral provision and make sure that all children understand what it is to care and to be cared for, and have a sense of belonging at Habs.
We are always here to help. After all, we understand that children of all ages can have worries and concerns. Here at Habs, we ensure that every student feels listened to, valued and nurtured.
Whatever may be going on
Our aim is to ensure that our pastoral provision meets the constant and changing needs of our students in their personal development to allow them to flourish.
We understand that sometimes our students face challenges, these can range from friendship concerns to significant changes in family circumstances.
Whatever your daughter may be feeling, our staff are here to provide support and guidance.
The relationships that your daughter builds within school are central to her wellbeing, both with her peers and adults. We strive to promote a culture of trust and openness, where all students feel they have an adult they can talk to in school. We have an open door policy and encourage parents to speak to us about any worries or concerns.
You or your daughter can talk to your daughter’s class teacher or phase leader in the first instance and then Ms Ursula Elliott Deputy Head (Pastoral), Junior School.
Our buddy system
Reception girls are paired with a ‘buddy’ from Year 5, who will support and help them in their first term at Habs Girls. We arrange a series of activities to help our littlest ones get to know their buddies.
Your daughter could also talk to their buddy about any worries they have.
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 daughter’s class teacher, phase leader, a subject teacher, an individual needs teacher or in smaller group sessions.
Pupils with known medical conditions are on a special medical register, with the school nurse holding individual medical plans.
To best help your daughter, 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 daughter 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 daughter.
Find out more about our Individual Needs Policy
Spirituality
At Habs we celebrate the diverse range of faith backgrounds that our students belong to.
Throughout the school year, assemblies are held to acknowledge significant religious festivals which are led by our students and parents.
We encourage our students to develop their own spiritual wellbeing; to support this we have a multi-faith room which all our students can use for prayer or quiet reflection.
Safeguarding
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.
Find out more about our safeguarding policy
If you have any safeguarding concerns please contact Ms Ursula Elliott, Deputy Head Pastoral, who is the Designated Safeguarding Lead in the Junior School.
We are a Tooled Up Education School
Habs Girls and Habs Boys are partnered with Tooled Up Education, which provides a collection of online resources curated by one of the UK’s leading experts on parental engagement in children’s lives and learning, Dr Kathy Weston.
Dr Weston is passionate about bridging the gap between research and real-life parenting. This is why Tooled Up aims to provide holistic support to everyone in our school community, in all areas of family life. This gives all our families privileged access to a regularly updated digital library, full of evidence-based tips, simple activities, advice-packed videos and enlightening podcasts on all matters relating to parenting and family life.
As a ‘Tooled Up’ parent, you will feel more supported on your parenting journey. You can get evidence‐based tips which can help your child to thrive and reach their potential. You can also ask questions and get the answers you need, sourced from the highest quality research evidence.
