Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing

Rationale

At St Thomas More’s we use our school creed to guide our pastoral care and student wellbeing practices.

We are a Catholic School who is Centred in Faith and Learning. We are nurturing, inclusive and welcoming to all. We ensure our classroom and playground environments inspire minds with rigorous, personalised and sequential learning experiences. Our teaching practices are based upon the latest educational research and we believe every child can learn. We nurture hearts and respond pastorally to all situations, to ensure all children feel they are safe, they belong and are valuable members of our school community.

We teach personal and social capabilities as outlined in the Australian Curriculum to develop our student’s skills and ability to communicate and interact wisely, with courage and in a respectful and peaceful manner.

St Thomas More’s School Creed

Our school creed guides the implementation of this practice to enable our students to grow in wisdom, courage and peace from the conversation that occurs as a result of an action which has not shown respect, appropriate thinking or encouragement. A teacher facilitates the conversation using a script to ensure a consistent practice and message is conveyed.

In the initial stage of the conversation, the teacher leads the discussion to ask those involved about what happened. Everyone is asked to be centred as they recall details about the choices that were made and how they can work together and follow the pathway to peace. All students and parties involved are supported to share their story and have a voice. They are also expected to listen, reflect and act.

The students are asked to listen to one another and the teacher listens to them as they recount what the problem is and think more about how to communicate their feelings and concerns. When we Think More we grow in Wisdom.

The students reflect upon their actions and identify what they are responsible for. Teaches encourage them to own their actions and be honest. When we Encourage More we grow in Courage.

We believe that it is important to resolve issues with respect, where all parties feel the problem has been solved in a just and fair manner. It is important that there is an opportunity for forgiveness, a fresh start and that all parties are able to move on and restore peace and harmony in their relationships and friendships. When we Respect More we grow in Peace.

This conversation is an opportunity for students to develop strategies for what to do in the event they are in a similar situation in the future. They may be given an action to perform. An action can be a way to make these things right, to forgive and to restore relationships that may have been hurt from an incident or conflict. It is important that the action can inspire minds and nurture hearts.

The Australian Curriculum outlines personal and social capabilities that children are taught. Our pastoral care and student wellbeing practice provides an opportunity for students to develop these skills, guided by a teacher in a real life situation that has just occurred.

Parents and carers play an important role in developing these personal and social capabilities also. They are kept informed of our practices and when incidents occur that require their input and support.

The full policy can be accessed here: