Pastoral care and wellbeing

Prep School

Girls first, second and third.

Excellent pastoral care is about putting our girls’ needs at the centre of the way we run the Prep School, making sure that everything we do is in the best interests of the girls in our care. This encompasses everything from instilling our girls with the morals and values that will sustain their wellbeing through the rest of their life, through to making sure there is someone to talk to at break time if they fall out with a friend.

Prep School pupil voice shapes what we do – collected via annual pupil surveys, school council and the talk tree ensuring all pupils know who they can talk to. Action has been taken based on views expressed by pupils leading to change including adding an afternoon break, changing the Snack Shack products and adding some popular new food choices at lunchtime.

“We were really impressed by how much value the school places on providing a nurturing and supportive environment which allows girls to truly be themselves.”

Prep School parent

Believing in Butterflies

Core to our pastoral approach is our ‘Believing in Butterflies’ initiative which consists of three strands that underpin all we do as a school community – Take care of the little things, Grow a little every day and Be bold, be brave and spread your wings. Each strand has a set of values to which the whole Prep School community aspires and these are threaded through our assemblies, form times and learning.

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Positive for Schools

We use the tools provided by Positive for Schools to help the girls monitor and understand their wellbeing and emotions. Explicitly teaching about topics such as positive self talk and the inner-coach has made talking about our mental health normal.

Our emphasis on the outdoors promotes wellbeing as does interacting with our school guinea pigs, Pepsi, Cinnamon, Vanilla and Twix.

Your daughter’s form teacher is always ready to help with any day to day queries but will also pick up quickly if your daughter is not at her best or acting out of character. Often a quiet word is all that is required to sort out the issue and get things back on track but our Deputy Head, Ali Brand, has a wealth of experience to draw on and can provide more individualised support if required.

Members of staff are on the doors to greet every girl in the morning and to see her off after school and this is a time when parents are able to pass on a quick message. Planners are given to each girl and these are often utilised as a link between home and school and parents have access to staff email addresses as another means of communication.

Butterfly strand assemblies promote wellbeing and other assembles such as Mental Health Mondays use tools from Positive for Schools to focus on different areas of health and wellbeing.

In the Prep school we care about your daughter and want to see her succeed. At certain times she will need more support with this than at others but, wherever she is on her journey, we will be there to gently guide her and encourage her to spread her wings. By feeling valued as part of our community, your daughter will grow in her ability to contribute, in the discoveries she makes about herself and in the friendships she fosters.

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Opportunities beyond the classroom

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The Norwich High difference

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