Pastoral Care
The pastoral care and guidance of pupils are the constant concern of every member of the teaching staff.
The fact that their secondary school will be much larger than the primary school they have just left does not mean that pupils will receive any less individual attention here than before as there is a closely-knit pastoral organisation.
On entering, pupils are placed into a form of approximately twenty-eight pupils. Their first point of contact with the staff is their Form Tutor who, in regularly scheduled periods, will be able to help and advise as necessary. Any cases of special difficulty are referred by the Form Tutor to the Head of Year who works closely with the senior management team. The Head of Years concern is with the well-being of pupils within the year-group and he or she keeps a watching brief over pupils’ academic and social progress.
We also have a fully trained Counsellor from Face to Face who visits Chepstow School;
Mrs K Davies is not a member of the teaching staff and is available to counsel and support pupils independently and individually.
We hope that parents would let us know beforehand of any personal problem a child may have so that any potentially stressful situation can be averted altogether.
Discipline
Chepstow School is very keen to maintain the highest standards of discipline so that children can make the best possible progress in school.
The school, therefore, operates a system of Positive Discipline which:
- recognises and rewards children for good behaviour
- imposes strict but fairly applied sanctions on pupils who misbehave.
As always, we look to parents to support the school in its efforts to maintain high standards and this partnership is made clear in the Home School Agreement. In particular, the school operates after-school detention as a sanction. We know that this can be inconvenient for parents, as it is your responsibility to arrange transport for children involved in such a detention. However, we value your support for this very effective sanction. We must also emphasise that the detention is applied to all pupils who warrant it regardless of whether they live near the school or at a considerable distance from it.
However, at Chepstow School, we recognise that prevention is better than cure. The aim, therefore, is to create conditions which discourage ill-discipline in the first place. Every effort is made to make lessons interesting and purposeful and there is also a system of rewards. This recognises good behaviour, effort and achievement by awarding chip points, issuing certificates and informing parents. A copy of the full Behaviour and Discipline Policy is available on request.
Bullying
At Chepstow School, we aim to create an atmosphere which is caring and protective, where pupils can learn in a secure and safe environment.
Learning to respect and care for each other is part of that learning process but we do recognise that some bullying may occur.
Bullying affects everyone, not only the victim and bully. It also affects other pupils who may not only witness violence aggression and the distress of the victim but who may also be drawn into the taunting and tormenting of the victim by group pressure and other psychological factors.
We, therefore, investigate any claims of bullying most vigorously and we take immediate action when necessary. If you suspect that your child is being bullied or is bullying another child, please contact a member of the wellbeing team immediately.