Pastoral Care

Outstanding Pastoral Care

Pointers pupils are well known throughout Blackheath and Greenwich for their cheerful nature and kind hearts. We believe this is attributed to our strong system of pastoral care. All adults in our school, from teachers to playground assistants, work to create a loving and fun environment where children are taught to value mistakes and take pride in the accomplishments of themselves and others.

Our houses are named after four castles of Great Britain (Stirling, Windsor, Dover, and Caernarvon), and house pride is strong! The house point system rewards effort and kindness, as each child works towards earning 50 points in order to visit the illustrious Treasure Chest. Each term the house with the highest house point tally is treated to a House Breakfast hosted by the Head and the overall winner of the year is awarded the House Cup!

Our annual pastoral theme of the year focuses on different aspects of a child’s wellbeing. These are supported by Bible Memory Verses, school-wide initiatives, and assemblies. We have a strong pastoral team, composed of teachers who have Mental Health First Aid training, and they meet in small groups and one-on-one to support pupils throughout the school.

Assessments at the Pointer School are not simply academic - as a school a key aim is to focus on the development of the whole child. Children in the EYFS are assessed against Learning Goals in the Prime Areas, which cover all aspects of their pastoral development. Pupils in Year 1-6 are assessed on a termly basis using a Pastoral Resilience Survey, the Child and Youth Resilience Measure - Revised (CYRM -R). This allows us to identify pupils with a low level of resilience, which is linked to confidence and self-worth. Our Director of Pastoral will then complete an individual wellbeing questionnaire to identify areas for future support. This is fed back to parents and class teachers, and may be used to form the basis of a Pastoral Support Plan for the pupil, if necessary.

We believe strongly that children only thrive when parents work together with the school, and we run a Parenting Masterclass series, hosting workshops on topics such as first aid for parents, intuitive eating, supporting your child through homework and reducing childhood anxiety.