How we care

A good first step if you are struggling, is to recognise you do not have to face any challenges alone.

Our pastoral team, which includes your Form Tutor, offers flexible support to help you in a variety of ways. This might be managing a difficult situation or easing any pressure you may feel under.

Our Form Tutors get to know our students really well in the first few weeks of the Sixth Form, so you can build a strong professional relationship with them. Also, the Deputy Head Pastoral, Assistant Head Pastoral, Head of Sixth Form and Deputy Head of Sixth Form are all available to provide a network of care, each closely supported by our Health Centre Team and Counsellors.

Before you even start at Habs Girls’ Sixth Form, you will be paired with a ‘buddy’. This will be someone in the same form and house as you, who has studied at Habs in earlier years.

Your buddy will get in touch with you over the summer holidays before you start, so you can get to know each other before you meet. Being a familiar face when you arrive, your buddy will help you to settle in as soon as you join the Sixth Form.

If you feel it is appropriate, you could also talk to your buddy about any worries you have. They might be able to help, or point you in the direction of someone who can.

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 each young person needs. Meanwhile, all our staff are expected to familiarise themselves with your unique needs, on a need-to-know basis.

At Habs, support can occur at various levels in school life. This might be through your Form Tutor, Head of Year, a subject teacher, study support sessions or learning skills programmes.

Students with known medical conditions are on a special medical register and the school nurse holds individual medical plans.

To help us to best help you, 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 you have an assessment report, it is really helpful if you can share this with our Individual Needs team so we can put in place any recommendations and provide the most appropriate support.

Individual Needs policy

Spirituality is important in many families, especially at Habs Girls. We are fortunate our students come from such a diverse range of faith backgrounds.

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 those who need to fast, or be absent from school for religious reasons. We also have a multi-faith room which all our students can use.

Assemblies take place two or three times a week. Each week, a group of students from one of the many different faith groups represented at Habs presents an assembly to the whole school. This way, we can all learn more about, and share in, each other’s beliefs and traditions.

It can take a lot of courage to reach out and talk to somebody about whatever is worrying you.

Keeping you 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.

So if something is bothering you, please talk to us. No one needs to struggle in silence.

Throughout the week, we have various assemblies and faith assemblies. Students will receive fortnightly PSHE lessons either with their tutor or from visiting speakers, some of which are joint with the Boys’ School.

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 email.

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 your 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 you 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.

Our Pastoral Care team of Co-Tutors, Heads of Section and Heads of Year, alongside our Medical Centre and Counselling support, is at the heart of everything we do, supporting our community and ensuring that pastoral care reaches every corner of our school – whether in the classroom, on the sports field or within the wider community. 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 as well as being displayed on screens around the school. We also offer a Peer Mentoring Programme, where Sixth Form and Upper School students support Middle and Junior School students through talks and one-to-one sessions. Additionally, we hold Parent Information Evenings each half term with external guests and our own Pastoral Leaders, offering guidance on a range of pastoral care topics.