Pastoral
Pastoral Organisation
The pastoral care and guidance of pupils are the constant concern of every member of the teaching staff, in conjunction with JR the School Chaplain.
The fact that their secondary school will be much larger than the primary school they have just left does not mean that pupils will receive any less individual attention here than before as there is a closely-knit pastoral organisation.
On entering, pupils are placed into a form of approximately thirty pupils. Their first point of contact with the staff is their Form Tutor who, in regularly scheduled periods, will be able to help and advise as necessary. Any cases of special difficulty are referred by the Form Tutor to the Head of Year who works closely with the senior management team. The Head of Year’s concern is with the well-being of pupils within the year-group and he or she keeps a watching brief over pupils' academic and social progress.
We also have a two fully trained Counsellors at Corpus Christi; Ms Bird and Mr Whittock. They are not members of the teaching staff and are available to counsel and support pupils independently and individually.
We hope that parents would let us know beforehand of any personal problem a child may have so that any potentially stressful situation can be averted altogether.
Positive Relationships - Positive Discipline
Corpus Christi Catholic High School is very keen to maintain the highest standards of discipline so that children can make the best possible progress in school.
The school, therefore, operates a system of Positive Discipline which:
- recognises and rewards children for good behaviour
- imposes strict but fairly applied sanctions on pupils who misbehave.
As always, we look to parents to support the school in its efforts to maintain high standards and this partnership is made clear in the Home School Agreement. In particular, the school operates after-school detention as a sanction. We know that this can be inconvenient for parents, as it is your responsibility to arrange transport for children involved in such a detention. However, we value your support for this very effective sanction. We must also emphasise that the detention is applied to all pupils who warrant it regardless of whether they live near the school or at a considerable distance from it.
A very powerful element of Positive Discipline is the pupil's school diary. This allows children to make a note of any homework but, importantly, it is also a daily form of communication between the school and home. The diary shows any reward stickers that the pupil has gained and also records any occasions when the pupil has misbehaved, was late, forgot to bring equipment or failed to hand in homework. Parents have found the diary extremely useful in gaining a picture of their children's progress from day to day.
However, at Corpus Christi, we recognise that prevention is better than cure. The aim, therefore, is to create conditions which discourage ill-discipline in the first place. Every effort is made to make lessons interesting and purposeful and there is also a system of rewards. This recognises good behaviour, effort and achievement by awarding stickers, issuing certificates, informing parents and providing raffle prizes. A copy of the full Positive Relationships - Positive Discipline Policy can be found below.Positive relationships - positive discipline.
Anti-Bullying
At Corpus Christi, we aim to create an atmosphere which is caring and protective, where pupils can learn in a secure and safe environment.
Learning to respect and care for each other is part of that learning process but we do recognise that some bullying may occur.
Bullying affects everyone, not only the victim and bully. It also affects other pupils who may not only witness violence aggression and the distress of the victim but who may also be drawn into the taunting and tormenting of the victim by group pressure and other psychological factors.
We, therefore, investigate any claims of bullying most vigorously and we take immediate action when necessary. If you suspect that your child is being bullied or is bullying another child, please contact senior staff as soon as possible.
Our Anti-Bullying Child Friendly Policy can be found here.
Mental Health Support - Useful contacts
Childline-0800 1111
Samaritans: 116 123
Young Minds: Text 85258
Hopeline UK-0800 088 4141
School Nurse: Text 07520615717
Online
Apps
CALM APP
CALMHARM
HEADSPACE