Wellbeing
RTS is fully inclusive and devoted to our students’ success. Our pastoral care is structured to support the high levels of motivation and curiosity we aspire to for our students.
A strong pastoral system underpins our core curriculum. From Year 7, our programme supports students to realise their ambitions. We nurture students to become confident, active and responsible adults who can and want to make a difference to wider society.
Students are placed in one of six form groups and in a House. Each academic tutor group is led by an Academic Tutor who is the primary contact for parents/carers.
The wider and pastoral curriculum consists of:
- Collective Worship / Assemblies
- Academic Tutoring
- Personal, Social, Health and Careers Education (PSHCE)
- Preparation Time (Prep)
- Enrichment
| Academic tutor | Students are placed in an academic tutor group and meet daily with their tutor. |
| Attendance and welfare Officer | Student attendance is monitored daily by our attendance officer. Should a student’s attendance drop beneath 96% then the school will begin to monitor the student closely sending letters home and working with the Education Welfare Service (EWS). |
| Head of Year | Each year group has a designated Head of Year who monitors student wellbeing, attendance, and behaviour for learning. |
| Learning Mentor | If a student requires further support to be able to engage with their learning the school is able to refer to our learning mentor programme. |
| Children’s Welfare Practitioner (CWP) | The CWP programme provides further in school support from an NHS mental health nurse, targeting low mood and anxiety. |
| SPA referral | Should the school or parents/carers feel that more support is required then the school can complete a SPA referral form to Achieving for Children. |
Student Wellbeing Coordinator: Ms Marklew
To support the enhancement and operation of the learning environment of the School, with a particular focus on the well being of students.
To support in the provision of a high-quality education for the students of the school.
Children's Welfare Practitioner
The national CWP programme was established as a response to the target for offering an evidence-based intervention to 70,000 more children and young people annually by 2020, by training up 1,700 new staff in evidence-based treatments, outlined in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health
The CWP Programme is a fantastic opportunity for RTS to:
Focus on prevention and early intervention
The schools CWP nurse attends RTS one day a week and sees up to six students at a time. The programme engages with parents/carers and lasts up to six weeks.
Attendance and Welfare Officer: Ms Bull
Contributes to raising achievement by improving school attendance and punctuality.
Promotes positive attitudes by students and families towards education and ensures that parents are made fully aware of their statutory responsibilities.
Ensures that all students have access to regular full-time education provision and facilitate student’s attendance through regular contact with parents/carers.
Wellbeing in practice
At RTS we have introduced a mindfulness programme that is delivered once a week during academic tutor time in Years 7 and 8. The focus of this session is to provide students with the time and setting to reset and focus on themselves.
In assemblies and in all lessons, students are challenged to be the best that they can be. We explore this further with the students through ‘mindset’. As a school, we ask students to tackle their learning with ‘no fear’, failure is simply part of the journey to mastery.
What is mindfulness?
Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.
"It's easy to stop noticing the world around us. It's also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living 'in our heads' – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour," he says.
How mindfulness helps mental wellbeing
Becoming more aware of the present moment can help us enjoy the world around us more and understand ourselves better.
When we become more aware of the present moment, we begin to experience afresh things that we have been taking for granted.
"Mindfulness also allows us to become more aware of the stream of thoughts and feelings that we experience," says Professor Williams, "and to see how we can become entangled in that stream in ways that are not helpful.
"This lets us stand back from our thoughts and start to see their patterns. Gradually, we can train ourselves to notice when our thoughts are taking over and realise that thoughts are simply 'mental events' that do not have to control us.