At St Richard Reynolds we are committed to supporting students’ wellbeing to enable students to achieve their personal best, be happy and become the person God intended them to be. The College supports students’ wellbeing in several ways and not limited to:
Pastoral System
Every student is assigned to a form group with a form tutor. The form tutor acts as the first point of call to support students academically, but also pastorally. They are best placed to support students in the day to day and with any minor issues they may face, as well as celebrating their achievements and progress. Where appropriate we use strategies like buddy systems, mentoring, reports and communicate regularly with parents/carers of our students.
Each year group has a Progress Leader who oversees the wellbeing of the year group and supports tutors in providing excellent pastoral care. Progress Leaders deliver assemblies that promote positive wellbeing and work closely with students, tutors and parents to ensure the success and happiness of each student.
Additionally, there is a Head of Key Stage, whose role is also to liaise and collaborate with Progress Leaders and tutors to create a culture where all students feel loved, listened to, challenged and inspired.
Safeguarding Team
Please see the Safeguarding page for more detailed information about Safeguarding at St. Richard Reynolds. However, it is important to highlight the role the safeguarding team plays in supporting our students’ wellbeing and putting into place internal or external opportunities and services to support our students’ wellbeing.
PSHE and Key Skills Curriculum
Our PSHE curriculum incorporates dedicated lesson time to teaching our students about wellbeing and strategies that can be used to promote positive wellbeing, as well as strategies to overcome any issues students may face. The intent of the PSHE curriculum is to ensure our students are equipped to deal with the everyday challenges they may encounter, as well as having a “wellbeing toolkit” to use for any difficulties they may face in the future. We also dedicate a term of bi-weekly lessons to wellbeing in the Key Skills Curriculum at Key Stage 3.
SEMH (Social, Emotional, Mental Health) Provision
We have a dedicated teacher leading on SEMH at the College. Our SEMH lead works with small groups of students as well as on a one to one basis in providing support, strategies and next steps to improve students’ wellbeing.
Our SEMH lead and Progress Leaders also work closely with Richmond School Nursing Service. The School Nurse linked to St Richard Reynolds Catholic College from Richmond School Nursing Service is called Charlie Pratten. The school nursing service runs a weekly confidential drop-in for students and offers support and advice on healthy lifestyle choices, friendship and relationship advice, support for anxieties, exam stress and emotional wellbeing.
Additionally we work with external counseling services and referrals are made for these through Progress Leaders and our SEMH lead.
SPEAK UP: You can message us HERE regarding any issues that are concerning you in school that you may not feel able to discuss with a trusted adult.
Worried about a friend?
If you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing please contact the form tutor in the first instance. Please also see information below about external support for the wellbeing of young people.
It can be really difficult to know what the right thing to do or say is. Sometimes your friend may already be accessing mental health support, but other times they may be trying hard to manage on their own.
One in four people experience some form of mental ill health, so that means in most of our friendship groups at some stage we or our friends may need some support. Often it is not so much what we do that helps, the main thing is to be a non-judgemental friend and to understand that your friend may be finding life quite tough.
Sometimes something simple like a friendly text message or asking him/her to go for a coffee can make a real difference.
Encourage your friend to talk to someone and if you are really worried, talk to a trusted adult, or complete the Speak Up! Form HERE
Also, remember that it is really important to look after yourself.