Pastoral roles are changing in schools. Maybe the discussion
of non-teaching pastoral leaders is for another day, but today I’d like to
share the relatively-rare system which is at the core of all we do in my
school.
I teach in an all boys comprehensive in Coventry. We’re a
good school but pretty much straight down the middle in most criteria, with
boys coming from challenging areas, affluent areas and all across the city. We do
some things really well, have challenges which all similar schools have, and
challenges which are unique to us due to our set up. We’re also one of the
oldest built comprehensive schools in the country, constructed in the 1950s. More
and more schools are recognising the importance of the House system and are
reintroducing it; for us, it never went away, and as a result, it retains a special
feel.
Our Houses all exist in separate buildings. These buildings
each contain a House room, lockers and cloakroom, staffroom, toilet block and
office. Students go to their Houses before school, at break time, eat their
lunch in there with the House staff, and return there after school if
necessary. Each House contains one group from each year, and so there are about
130 pupils in each House. There are weekly Inter-House competitions after
school and House points allocated and trophies awarded. Boys belong to a House
and this sense of belonging remains with them for life. It’s a House, because
it’s a family.
I have the privilege of being a Househead. I have a team of
tutors and we meet daily. The students have a full House assembly twice a week,
three tutor registration sessions, four afternoon formal full House
registrations, and a year-based SLT Assembly. I, or the team, address the House
ten times a week and the students and staff spend up to two hours a day in the
House.
That’s a huge amount of potential face to face contact
between staff and pupils and leads to the underpinning ethos of the school,
which is all about the importance of relationship, loyalty and respect. It’s
hard work—non-contact time is precious and break and lunch is usually spent
surrounded by pupils—but in terms of setting the standard, the House system
simply works.
My job description calls me a ‘Learning Leader’, and this
has been a fundamental shift in focus over the last few years. My role is not
to discipline (although this happens); my primary function is not to reconcile
or advocate or find solutions (although these are major parts of the job). My
role is to place learning and achievement at the heart of all we do, and pass
on the understanding that everything has an impact on the learning community.
Every time I stand in front of the House I am reminded what
a precious role we have as teachers. The importance of setting standards, of
role modelling, of presenting to students the possibilities that there is more
to life than their experiences; the ability to start the day off positively,
the opportunity there is to inspire young people...how much the House matters.
In all the battles of everyday classroom teaching and
pastoral leadership it is easy to lose sight of what we’re in it for: because
we love teaching, and we love seeing lives changing. And let’s be honest—if it
was simple, we wouldn’t enjoy it as much would we?
As a former student, I can agree that the House system is one of the best things about the school. The ethos the pastoral system created allowed me to have working relationships with teachers that students from other schools used to find incredible. It's a truly unique school, with the House system as its cornerstone.
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