The Importance of Pastoral Care in Schools

*Collaborative post.

Pastoral care refers to the system of support in place within schools to ensure children’s physical and emotional wellbeing. The pastoral care available at your child’s school will be made up of a number of different people they can turn to for emotional support, such as specific teachers who have a pastoral role and perhaps trained counsellors to help with mental health issues. The aim of pastoral care is to prevent any emotional or physical challenges getting in the way of your child’s learning. This primary school near Chorleywood explains more about the importance of pastoral care in schools. 

Supporting academic learning

Taking on new educational challenges can be harder for children who are unhappy and struggling with a physical or emotional problem. Having someone they can talk to about this who might be able to suggest solutions will help relieve some of the pressure. This will allow children to concentrate on their learning, knowing they have that support around them. Having people to turn to will also make children feel safe and valued, which in turn will boost their learning abilities. 

Strengthening relationships

Knowing there are people they can turn to if they’re struggling will help instil in children a sense of community as everyone pulls together as part of the school family. It will also help strengthen relationships between them and those they receive support from. An effective pastoral care system also helps children connect with each other, particularly if they are experiencing similar challenges. The House system many schools utilise can be viewed as part of pastoral care as children from different age groups learn to support and look out for one another as part of the school community. 

Helping disadvantaged children

Having an effective pastoral care system in place can help identify and support children who are vulnerable and have other challenges to deal with at home. If children frequently misbehave in class, pastoral staff can intervene and find out the reasons for the bad behaviour, which might be to do with something happening at home. Getting to the bottom of this and helping such children to overcome challenges will mean they are better able to focus on their learning. 

Pastoral care in schools aims to provide emotional and physical support to children so that challenges in these areas don’t get in the way of their education and so they can leave school as well-rounded individuals.