Supporting our students At King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls we are proud of our commitment to Pastoral Care. We have a safe, happy and supportive community in which students thrive. Pastoral Care is underpinned by good relationships between staff, parents, carers and students. Every adult here cares about each individual; no worry is too small to be ignored or too big to deal with. We place great importance on students feeling safe, happy and secure at school; the fulfilment of academic potential and the enjoyment of school life is then possible. The school is conscious of all individual needs, and is able to address those needs in a way that students can develop inside and outside of the classroom. Our Pastoral Care is mirrored in the Visions and Values of the school as we want the students who leave our school to be creative, resilient, confident and sociable. We give students opportunities to flourish and the Pastoral Team around the students support them in doing this. All students are members of a form group within their year group and also a house as part of the whole school. The four houses, named after great women (Parks, Keller, Astor and Cavell), form part of a student’s identity at King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls. Students compete for their house in both sporting, extra-curricular and musical events. The house system allows students of different ages to get to know each other, to integrate quickly, and offers many opportunities for leadership and participation. Students are extremely proud of their houses. Each form is supported by a Form Tutor who is responsible for the day to day pastoral care of the students. They are the adult who will see the students first thing every day and will notice patterns of behaviour or attitude for example, that are key to monitoring students’ academic and social achievements and experiences. As well as a Form Tutor overseeing one of the five forms in the year, each year group has a PAL who monitors attendance, achievement, progress and behaviour as well as emotional health and wellbeing. The PALs work closely with the Form Tutors, Attendance Officer, Student Support, SENCO, Subject Teachers and the Director of Pastoral Care or Director of Post-16 to ensure students’ needs are being met. If additional support is needed, the Pastoral Team works together to find the most suitable external agency to intervene. Student wellbeing, happiness and success is of paramount importance to us, as our current staff, students, parents and carers will testify.