Pastoral Care

Rather than being one single, distinguishable aspect of what we do, comprehensive and effective pastoral care underpins a boy’s entire experience of Harrow.

At its most straightforward, it equates to term-time parenting: guiding, directing, consoling and nurturing, as well as intervening more significantly in times of need. And yet, it is also about enabling each Harrovian to become the best possible version of himself: considerate, perceptive and able to tackle life's challenges head on. Whilst the focus of pastoral care is in the boarding House, many other people, programmes and platforms play their part too. Click here for our Pastoral Communication diagram and click here for our PSHE Education curriculum map (included within our PSHE Education Policy).

People

Experienced and well-supported House teams, who are consistently visible and approachable. Each House team consists of a House Master, Assistant House Master and Matron, all of whom are resident within the boarding House. The House team is supported by a number of Tutors (Masters in the School) as well as a House Visitor, a member of the non-teaching staff available to boys both regularly and irregularly for informal conversations about pastoral matters.

• The Pastoral Support Committee, which meets three times each week to tackle more profound or persistent pastoral issues, and to receive feedback from House teams
• A Medical Centre staffed 24/7 by qualified nurses, with a GP’s surgery every weekday and the services of a Visiting Psychiatrist
• A resident School Psychologist and another School Counsellor
• The Chaplaincy, comprising two Anglican and one Roman Catholic Chaplains
• An independent Listening Ear
• A Designated Safeguarding Lead and three Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads
• A strong support network of senior boys whose formal training for leadership responsibilities includes specific components on safeguarding and pastoral care

Programmes

• A comprehensive PSHE education programme delivered by Tutors and designed to prepare boys for life in the 21st century. The Tutors are supported by a wide range of external speakers who deliver seminars, conferences and workshops to whole year groups. The three strands to the programme are: Health & Wellbeing; Families & Relationships; and Living in the Wider World.
• Living Together Conferences that focus on building community and fostering positive relationships both within each year group and across year groups, especially within individual House contexts
• A dedicated End-of-Year Conference for Shell boys
• Regular parent talks on topics such as drugs, alcohol, online-safety and pornography, sometimes followed by ongoing discussions over dinner with members of the Senior Management Team and others with pastoral responsibility and experience in the School
• Shepherding and peer mentoring delivered by trained senior boys
• A system of ‘Flocks’. Every boy is in a Flock group in his House, consisting of one boy from each year group from Shell to Upper Sixth. These Flocks meet regularly to discuss a wide range of School and House matters.

Platforms

• A Boys’ Pastoral Committee that meets regularly and publishes minutes that feed into discussions about the School’s pastoral strategy
• Junior and Senior IT Committees
• Junior and Senior Food Committees
• An Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Group
• A Chaplaincy Council
• House Councils
• Pupil representation on the School’s Games Committee, Health & Safety Committee, Uniform Committee and Environmental Committee
• An annual pupil survey, called Living Together, which provides a pupil perspective of life at School and informs our pastoral priorities