At Framlingham College, pastoral care lies at the very heart of all we do, ensuring that each and every child feels happy, safe and secure as we help them to navigate their way through adolescence and into adulthood.
There are many layers of support in place for every boy and girl. Pastoral care is about forging a strong understanding of each individual through close relationships and regular communication between members of the Senior School staff, the parents and the boys and girls themselves. This allows us to provide pupils with absolutely the best education both within and beyond the classroom.
Each Sixth Form pupil is assigned to a tutor group. Their Tutor, along with their HM, is a very important person in their life. The Tutor oversees the day-to-day aspects of their tutees’ schedules, with particular focus on their academic progress. The tutor is there to support, coach and encourage. Pupils have regular one-on-one tutorials which help each pupil to reflect on their progress and set targets. The conversations that pupils have with their Tutor are often some of the most important conversations that they have in their week.
We have a strong pastoral team headed up by the Deputy Head, Pastoral, Oliver Lloyd. He brings with him almost twenty years’ experience as a senior pastoral leader. Oliver is a teacher of History, Classical Civilisation and Art History and has worked at Harrow, Hong Kong as well as King’s College, Taunton before joining Framlingham College.
Development is psychologically and physiologically hugely complex at this stage. We believe it is really important to make time for our teenagers to talk and for them to be listened to, so that they can set the world alight in their chosen field with confidence.”
Katy Williams, Deputy Head (Sixth Form)
Pastoral care at Framlingham College is broken into three components:
The FLOW Programme
At Framlingham College, our pastoral care is not only reactive and supportive in nature. We have devised a proactive skills programme based on the concept of ‘FLOW’. It originates from psychologists Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (a co-founder of Positive Psychology). Their ground-breaking work is the guiding principle of our Flow Programme.
Put simply, FLOW is a point at which a human being is so ‘in balance’ that they move effortlessly through the challenges of life. It is the middle ground between boredom/your comfort zone and a reasonable level of challenge or stretch – in other words, a place where you are in your optimal ‘flow’ thus heightening creativity, performance and fulfilment. We want all Framlinghamians to understand and experience the benefits of FLOW, so they can use it as a powerful tool to enhance their wellbeing at school and indeed for their life to follow.
The FLOW Programme at Framlingham equips pupils to proactively maintain their own optimum state of flow. It is delivered in the following five areas:
Each pupil from the ages of three to 18, is taught a range of age-appropriate skills so that they can confidently and creatively face any challenge or adversity life throws at them.
Wellbeing
The provision of wellbeing is firmly embedded within the whole system of the school. Every member of staff – be it a Housemaster/Mistress, Tutor, Classroom Teacher, Matron, Medical Professional or Support Staff – makes it their priority to ensure that personal growth, self-belief and resilience are all encouraged and developed in each and every child, setting them on the road to become thriving, global citizens.
We believe that the fine balance of pastoral support provided to each of our pupils plays a vital role in the creation of their individual story. Each layer of support has a slightly different focus, but they all combine to provide outstanding pastoral provision.
Behind all these layers are systems that help us to track and monitor every child to ensure that each is known, and no-one slips through the pastoral net.
Wellbeing through our House Structure
Pupils spend a good deal of time in their Houses – it is home, after all. It’s where pupils share accommodation and facilities, as well as unforgettable experiences. Houses are structured either as Day and Flexi Boarding Houses or as Full and Weekly Boarding Houses.
The House system fosters deep values of House loyalty and identity, teamwork and mutual support and provides the foundations for long-lasting friendships. It encourages House spirit, which stems from living and learning together and is bolstered by a good dose of healthy competition! Take a look at this video to experience House spirit at its best.
Peer Mentoring
This is a powerful part of our pastoral provision. Older pupils support younger ones in their Houses or in different areas of school life. This occurs informally through the Prefect, Head of House and Buddy systems in each House, but also more formally through a select group of Sixth Form pupil volunteers who are trained by mental health professionals as Peer Mentors.
Peer Mentors act as a bridge between staff and pupils and are a good first port of call for younger pupils who might be struggling. They take on specific roles depending on their own areas of strength – for example, someone who is passionate about drama might help to guide a younger pupil in their preparation for an audition for the school production, or a top-level sports person might offer advice and guidance to a new, budding sports scholar.
Parent Workshops
We offer these on a regular basis to ensure strong relationships are forged with our valued parents. Pastoral care is at its best when the College and parents work together for the benefit of the children. Recent workshops have included webinars with world-renowned authors and psychologists and topics have included e-safety and digital media, body image, resilience, nutrition, drugs and alcohol awareness.
Teen Tips
Founded by Child Psychologist Alicia Drummond, Teen Tips is an online portal to support parents in creating a healthy environment for their teenagers. We are also training every member of our staff in teen mental health, so this resource enables parents and teachers to work together to support our teenagers in this often-challenging time in their life.
Chapel
Framlingham College Chapel is at the very heart of the College – both spiritually and geographically. As a school with a Christian Foundation, we honour our heritage, but also embrace and celebrate a modern world that is inclusive and supportive of all faiths, creeds and philosophies.
The Chaplain, Rev Canon Brynn Bayman, serves the entire community of pupils on both sites, parents and all staff. He plays a vital, supportive role in the pastoral care of the community.
“All that we do is to foster kindness in our community, spark a search for the Meaning of Life and to feed off the company of others. I am and always will be there to support, encourage and inspire our pupils, staff, parents and the wider community.”
– Rev Canon Brynn Bayman, Chaplain
Broadening Horizons
“Broadening Horizons enables pupils to develop their world view and find their place in the global community, giving them an edge in an ever more competitive global work force.”
Oliver Lloyd – Deputy Head, Pastoral
A crucial element to our pastoral care provision is giving pupils exposure to additional elements of school life lie beyond the curriculum or opportunities for the curriculum to be explored outside of the classroom. Pupils are encouraged to look beyond Suffolk and understand their place in the fast-moving international landscape. By broadening their horizons on a global scale, Framlingham pupils develop a world view and find their place in the global community, helping them identify as global citizens.
Through educational, cultural and sporting trips, lectures and challenges we open pupils’ eyes to the world and help them find their place in it. As they progress beyond school this will give them an edge in an ever more competitive global workforce, helping them to thrive as adults.
Recent Highlights
Some of the recent Broadening Horizons highlights have been:
- Residential trips including Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) excursions;
- Going away from home for Mental Health Week;
- Sports tours to Europe and South Africa;
- Journeys of self-discovery to Peru, Vietnam, India, Uganda, Nepal and many more;
- Choir tours to Europe – Prague, France and Italy;
- Leadership Challenge Cup and Entrepreneurial Festival – supported by parents and local entrepreneurs and business owners.
Social Events
Our Sixth Form programme is packed with fun social events such as Bar nights in the Sixth Form Centre, Music nights in the Café (with our impressive BTEC pupil band), Sixth Form Dinners, trips, concerts and the Summer Ball. At the weekends, boarders have the opportunity to go to London and Cambridge to enjoy cultural, artistic and musical events not to mention trips to the seaside or other activities – just for fun – such as paint-balling or paddle boarding.
