Houses & Pastoral Care

Year Groups

The school is divided into the following year groups:

First Year Year 9 Shell Second Year Year 10 Remove Third Year Year 11 Hundred Fourth Year Year 12 Lower Sixth Fifth Year Year 13 Upper Sixth

The College’s Statement of Boarding Principles can be found in the Almanac.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

The College aims to safeguard and promote the welfare of all its pupils, protect them from harm and abuse and to offer the support required to enable them to thrive. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the responsibility of all members of the community. All pupils, staff and parents, should raise any safeguarding concerns immediately with the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or deputies.

DSL: Mr Willmett rdw@marlboroughcollege.org /07394 564897 Acting Deputy DSL: Mrs Hodgson jah@marlboroughcollege.org /07833 747803

Other Safeguarding Leads: Mrs Marvin hjcm@marlboroughcollege.org /07967 270253 Mrs Li ql@marlboroughcollege.org Mr Hodgson jh@marlboroughcollege.org Mr Blake jblake@marlboroughcollege.org /07917 521429

Houses

The Housemaster or Housemistress (HM) is in overall charge of the House to which a pupil belongs. Contact details are included with this pack. The HM is in loco parentis and may have to take important decisions on your behalf (e.g. on medical matters) but will always try to contact you wherever possible. Please let your son/daughter’s HM know where to find you when you are away from home and ensure that he or she knows whom to contact in an emergency.

Staff with Special Pastoral Responsibility

Every House has at least one Resident House Tutor (RHT) who deputises for the HM on occasion and lives in his or her own accommodation in the House. Each House has a Dame (non-resident House manager), who is responsible for pupils’ clothing and laundry, as well as being an important member of the pastoral team in the House.

In addition to the House-based staff, the Chaplains, the School Medical Officers, the Medical Centre Staff, and the College Counselling team are all available for pupils to consult when it is appropriate.

Tutors

Each House has a team of tutors and your son or daughter will have his or her own tutor who will make individual contact with them on a weekly basis. Tutors’ initials are listed in the Almanac, and your son or daughter’s HM will inform you of the name of their tutor.

The tutor is a guide, adviser and supporter for his or her tutees. Virtually all members of Common Room are tutors and, in addition, the College has a number of tutors who are not members of the teaching staff, which enables pupil to tutor ratios in the school of approximately 7:1. All non-teaching tutors have a close connection with the College, for example by being part of the school’s administrative staff or married to members of Common Room. Non-teaching tutors bring an important extra dimension to house life and their existence outside the school’s hierarchy means that pupils will often see them as figures in whom they can confide.

All tutors receive training, centrally, and as part of House Tutor teams. Their jobs combine pastoral care for pupils and academic monitoring. A pupil may talk to any member of the House tutor team and will thus benefit from the range of expertise tutors represent, in the academic field and beyond.

All tutors have a “duty night” in their House when they also see their tutees. They are responsible for academic monitoring through the College’s internal reporting system. They also assist the HM and the Guidance Department in:

• guiding their tutees through their (I)GCSE, GCSE, A level and university or career choices; • guiding their tutees in choosing curricular and co-curricular options; • advising their tutees through the acquisition of life skills and developing emotional and personal maturity. Academic progress is recorded via Progress Indicator

Reports (PIRs), which are reviewed by the tutor. These act as a record and also enable pupils to review the past term and to set goals for the next.

Tutors are assigned to pupils from a particular year group, or “cycle” within the school, which enables them to build up experience and expertise in the particular needs of pupils at each distinct stage. All teachers and tutors receive regular in-service training and opportunities for professional development in order to maintain the College’s commitment to a high level of education and pastoral care.

Head of Shell

Pupils in their first year are supervised by the Head of Shell, who has overall responsibility for the Shell’s programme outside the classroom and who arranges their introduction into the College. The Head of Shell produces The Shell Handbook every year which is issued to pupils to guide them through their first weeks at Marlborough. A great deal of care is taken in the induction of new pupils to the College, and HMs, tutors and senior pupils all have their roles to play in the process. There are also Heads of Year for the Remove, Hundred, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth, offering a vital whole-year group perspective and supporting the pastoral and academic development of pupils, as well as being a vital conduit for the ‘pupil voice’.

Senior Pupils

All senior pupils but, especially, College prefects, heads of houses, house captains (house prefects) and sacristans (the Chaplain’s pupil assistants in the Houses) have a duty to care for the welfare of all the pupils in the school and in their Houses. They are also given responsibility for aspects of the running of the school and their Houses such as organising teams for inter-house competition. The two senior prefects, who are usually appointed for one term, are in charge of the routine organisation of the 20 or more school prefects.

Lower Sixth Induction

Pupils arriving in the Lower Sixth join the school, with senior pupils from the Upper Sixth including prefects and heads of houses, a day before the other pupils return. They will meet the adults in their house, will finalise their A level courses and they will hear a number of talks about aspects of school life and have a tour of the campus. Various social events are organised early in the term to help them to make friends.

Parents are always welcome to support their children and the College at school events and there are a number of occasions when we particularly value their presence. Parents will be most welcome at events such as school and House plays and concerts and Chapel on Sundays. More formal occasions are the Carol Services at the end of the Michaelmas term, Confirmation in the Summer term if their child is being confirmed and Prize Day in the Summer term. Tickets are required for school plays, some concerts and Carol Services. Parents are also very welcome to watch sporting events, full details of which can be found in the Almanac. In addition for every year group there will be an annual opportunity to meet teachers (beaks).

Bullying

The College is committed to dealing firmly with any bullying which may occur and has pursued an energetic policy for some time in order to minimise its incidence, with the aim of creating an anti-bullying ethos at all levels in the school. Parents are encouraged to contact the HM immediately if they are concerned. The following statement is posted on House notice boards, having been drafted by pupils in the Lower Sixth, and a shortened version is included in the Almanac. It forms the basis of training in the topic for all new tutors and with members of the Upper School. The College’s Countering Bullying Policy can be found on the College website.

Shell pupils receive a presentation about bullying in their first half term, as well as one on digital safety, online behaviour and social media. Both are followed-up in Houses. They are thus given every encouragement to talk about any concerns they may have with their HM, their tutor or a senior pupil. Pupils have the opportunity to report bullying by email (stopbullying@marlboroughcollege.org) and are encouraged on Firefly, the College’s VLE, to report inappropriate online behaviour, including cyber-bullying. The school annually surveys Shell pupils, via an anonymous questionnaire to find out their perception of bullying and how safe they feel within the school environment.

Senior pupils holding posts of responsibility, including prefects and heads of houses, also have a training session organised for them in the first half of the Michaelmas term, at the same time as the Shell, to reinforce their role in deterring bullying.

Bullying Statement

Bullying is repeated, intentional, unprovoked, malicious actions or words which cause distress, making others feel unhappy and insecure.

All members of Marlborough College have the right to enjoy their lives free of bullying and harassment (including racial or religious) by whatever means, and are expected to treat others as they hope to be treated themselves in an atmosphere of mutual respect. They are expected to do all they can to show disapproval of bullying.

An individual who feels bullied or intimidated has the right to expect any senior member of the College – pupil, captain, prefect or member of staff – to listen and to deal with a problem promptly and sensitively.

Bullying will always be treated seriously and the school believes that to do nothing is to condone the bullying.

Guidance on ‘Privs’ & Parties

A separate document detailing guidance to parents on Privilege Weekends (‘Privs’) and hosting parties away from College is available in the secure Parent Portal – details of how to access the Portal can be found on page 14.