Pastoral Care in the Junior School

We believe at St Edmund's that our boys and girls should not only have a positive, happy experience of childhood, but also that they should feel enthusiastic about school life itself. By making this possible, and by guiding and encouraging our pupils, we hope to enable them to grow in their confidence, self-esteem and willingness to learn.

We encourage strong relationships and a good rapport between our staff and our pupils, supported through our small class sizes, the Christian ethos of St Edmund's and the friendly atmosphere of the school. We want our pupils to feel valued members of our community and to take pride in their achievements. We aim to foster our pupils' natural reserves of common sense, initiative and responsibility, and emphasise the importance of interpersonal skills such as courtesy and consideration for others.

Key members of staff are there for your child's welfare at each stage of their journey through the Junior School, including form teachers and form tutors with specific pastoral responsibilities, the senior staff, the chaplain, the school counsellor and our medical team. We also place an emphasis on a good partnership between the school and home, and we encourage our parents to take an active interest in their children's education. This is both through our formal parent-teacher evenings, and also through the informal contacts we welcome during the school year. Where we feel that your child may need more particular assistance in reaching his or her potential we can refer parents to the specialists who visit the school: our occupational therapist, educational psychologist or orthoptist.

We also encourage a positive eating policy at the school, providing lunch and encouraging pupils to bring a healthy mid-morning snack. For pupils whose parents need to collect them later than the normal end of school time, we offer a 'late stay' service until 5.30pm.