Safeguarding
Your child’s form tutor is your child’s main point of contact. S/he will: see your child regularly; liaise with your child; receive information about your child from other staff and be aware of strengths and areas for development.
Should you have any safeguarding concerns, you should contact our designated safeguarding lead, Mrs K. Scripps on head@ralphsadleir.academy. Alternatively, the safeguarding team can be reached at safeguarding@ralphsadleir.academy
Phase Leaders
The Phase Leaders closely with the year group tutors and their primary concerns are the academic progress and personal welfare of all the pupils in their year group. Pastoral Care in KS3 often builds upon the initiatives begun in KS2, with academic and social progress shared between the previous and new Form Tutor and Phase Leader, ensuring consistency during your child’s journey through the school.
The Positive Behaviour & Restorative Practice Policy clearly states our expectations with regard to behaviour. Whilst most pupils at Ralph Sadleir are happy, behave well and make good progress, some find establishing good working relationships and achieving their best, can present more of a challenge. This is where the pastoral element becomes important for the pupil.
Pupils with difficulties are monitored closely so that supportive intervention strategies can be introduced to aid pupil well-being, behaviour and learning. Regular meetings with the pupil, parent(s), phase leader and form tutor are held to discuss, initiate and evaluate:
- personal goals and achievements within and outside school
- raise self-esteem
- advice to help ease difficulties within personal relationships
- making the most of all the school opportunities offered
- improving current working practices & get the pupil “back on track”
- the sharing of relevant information between pupil-home-school
- ensure pupils understand the Positive Behaviour & Restorative Practice Policy – rewards
Behaviour and Attendance
In order to provide the best possible learning environment for pupils and staff, the school office will contact parents if we have concerns with regard to attendance and punctuality. Mr Haigh (Attendance Officer) oversees the display of attendance percentages, which helps us to celebrate positive attendance for individuals and tutor groups.
Operation Encompass
Our school participates in the Operation Encompass partnership scheme, between local schools, academies, colleges, community health agencies, and Hertfordshire Police.
Operation Encompass was set up to provide early reporting to schools etc., about any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school hours to which a young person attending our school has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on their schooling the following day. This information will be shared throughout the year, including school holidays and the weekends.
Information will only be shared with the school by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.
A nominated member of school staff, known as an Encompass Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. In our school it is our school Designated Safeguarding Leads (Mrs Scripps and Mrs Wilson). They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adults will keep this information confidential, and will only share it on a need to know basis, for instance, to teaching staff for the child or young person. It will not be shared it with other school students.
Operation Encompass was first introduced in Plymouth in February 2011, and has proved very effective in providing appropriate and timely support to young people affected by domestic abuse. This initiative has been implemented across the whole of the Lancashire Police area. If you would like some more information about it, you can view it online at operationencompass.org.
We are keen to offer the best support possible for our pupils and a recent review of Operation Encompass showed that it is beneficial and supportive for all those involved.
