| Upon entry to the school, students are placed
in mixed ability social groups and may normally expect
to remain in these forms throughout their five years in
school. Increasingly, as they move up the school, setting
arrangements and other forms of ability grouping for teaching
purposes as well as students' own course choices in the
Upper School mean that the form ceases to be a unit for
instruction. Nevertheless we place high value on the security
and increased sense of identity afforded students by the
continuity of pastoral care, and regard the form base
and the Form Tutor as the most important contributors
to this process. In many instances, students may expect
to have the same Form Tutor for two, three or occasionally
more years. He or she is the person who will have the
greatest knowledge of each student's overall academic
progress and social welfare. Only on relatively rare occasions
would we seek to use the flexibility offered by mixed
ability forms to transfer an individual, in his or her
interests, to another group. Each
year group has a Head of Year who works closely with Form
Tutors, subject teachers and parents in overseeing each
student's progress. Each Head of Year has responsibility
for a specific year group and will have detailed knowledge
of each student's work, progress and general behaviour.
Tutor
groups in the Sixth Form are rather smaller than in years
7-11 but otherwise counselling and guidance, both social
and vocational, continue to play an important part in
the way we seek to structure students' school careers.
Students
in all year groups receive a curriculum of personal, social
and citizenship education. Its aims are academic, social
and personal and include:
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supporting the
academic curriculum through the development of sound
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study skills
and work habits |
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successfully
inducting students into critical stages of their social
careers |
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developing a
caring and tolerant attitude to others and the community |
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encouraging the
growth of personal identity through a programme of |
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activities which
will increase self-awareness and promote self-esteem. |
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