Pastoral Care and House System

Pastoral Care

We pride ourselves on giving bespoke pastoral care to all our pupils. We encourage an ethos of respect for oneself as well as for all others within a supportive, caring and inclusive community. We promote the values of honesty, personal integrity and kindness.

Our care begins with an underlying ethos of consideration and respect, with all staff working collaboratively to ensure pupils have the best learning experience possible. We support pupils’ personal, social and emotional development and a culture of encouraging good behaviour and taking responsibility. Within this framework, pupils develop self-confidence to learn to keep things in perspective and grow to be resilient.

The House System

On entering the Senior School, all pupils are allocated to one of the ten Houses.

Girls’ Houses: Buchanan, Hollenden, Reade and Queen’s House

Boys’ Houses: Cambridge, Keable, Latessa Wing, Madden, Oxford and St Andrew’s House.

Many factors are taken into consideration when placing pupils. We try to have a cross section of feeder schools in each House as well as sharing our pupils’ talents in areas such as work, sports, music and drama. Siblings are allocated to the same House unless a written request to the Admissions Department (admissions@royalrussell.co.uk) to the contrary is received. There are many opportunities to forge new friendships and maintain former ones in both lesson time and activities. The School Houses are a focal point for all pupils.

Being part of a House fosters a sense of belonging and friendly competition, where all pupils participate in interHouse events throughout the year. Pupils celebrate the individual and collective successes of their House as well as those of the School as a whole.

Houses are run by experienced Housemasters or Housemistresses (HoMS), and their Deputy, alongside the

Tutor team. The House teams are responsible for pupil’s welfare and monitor academic progress. All Houses have Prefects; senior pupils whose role is primarily pastoral, acting as a role model to younger pupils.

Our in-House Tutoring System also plays an integral part in the day-to-day life of pupils and staff. In addition to being members of a House, all pupils have a Tutor who is responsible for their academic and social well-being.

We pride ourselves on how our staff set out to develop firm, meaningful, nurturing relationships, which enhance pupils’ progress in all areas. Each pupil is an individual, each needs an individual approach, which is developed through open channels of communication and time spent getting to know one another.

We aim to establish, warm, friendly relationships with parents and keep them well-informed of all aspects of their child’s development, which often helps us to better understand their child and certainly helps us to deal more effectively with any difficulties which may arise.

We operate a 24-hour Health & Wellbeing Centre to deal with any health problems and we also offer some School Counsellors to whom pupils may turn to if they wish.