Student support at Chipping Sodbury School

 Our Aims 

• To provide excellent communication between school, students, parents and carers
• To create a structure that provides pastoral support for your child with a wide range of trusted adults available to them
• To develop strong house identities and competition that promotes our school values
• To provide a varied and engaging tutor programme and life curriculum to support your child's personal development
• To provide opportunities for your child to develop leadership, communication and teamwork skills
• To include opportunities for your child to benefit from mixing with students in different year groups, preparing them for adult life

Your Child’s Tutor

Your child's tutor or pair of team tutors will be the first port of call if you have any queries about your child's wellbeing, attendance and behaviour.  Please email enquiries@chippingsodburyschool.com and ask for your email to be forwarded on to the relevant member of staff.

Your child's tutor will check that they are meeting the basic standards every day and reward excellence with House Points.  Students need to arrive at line up on time, dress smartly in correct uniform and come prepared with at least a pen, pencil and ruler.

The tutor programme is designed to be informative and inspirational, it includes the following activities below:

(Please note the days will vary depending on the year group).

Literacy Legends involves your child being read a fiction book by their tutor.  Please see Chipping Sodbury School - Literacy for more details.

If your child is currently in or going into the Sixth Form, they will have a full-time tutor, but will also benefit from a personal tutor (likely to be a part-time member of staff) who will meet with them once a fortnight to monitor their progress.

Pastoral Progress Lead (Head of Year)

All students at Chipping Sodbury School have a Pastoral Progress Lead (PPL).  This member of staff is responsible for ensuring your child is supported with their attendance, behaviour and academic progress, inspiring students to reach their personal goals whilst at Chipping Sodbury School.  PPLs lead the tutor teams and meet regularly to discuss student successes and students in need of further support.  PPLs will invite parents and carers in to school if they wish to discuss a matter in more detail or plan support for a student.  This could be through a pastoral support plan, behaviour support plan or Early Help Assessment Plan (EHAP) in conjunction with Compass, part of South Gloucestershire Council support services.

Once a fortnight on a Wednesday morning Pastoral Progress Leads hold our special 'Well Done Wednesday' rewards event whereby tutors nominate their top tutee to join their PPL for an edible prize and receive House Points!

Contact details for the Pastoral Progress Leads can be found on our Contact page by clicking HERE.

Heads of House

Heads of House are responsible for leading the whole-school House programme of enrichment activities and competitions whilst promoting our school values of respect, responsibility, integrity and aspiration.  They also lead the House Council and support the Senate; student leadership is an integral part of student support.

Mentoring

Academic mentoring is based on need, identified following progress or behaviour reviews and through staff referrals.  Students identified as likely to benefit from mentoring will be spoken to individually, parents are informed and are involved in the process and a suitable programme of regular sessions will be set up.  These sessions are likely to run once a week for a period of time (6-10 weeks).

Assemblies

At CSS your child will attend house assemblies and year assemblies every other week.  The assemblies will be mainly delivered by your child's Head of House, Pastoral Progress Lead and Senior Team.  The assemblies will focus around the school values and promote a growth mindset and resilience.  There is a rich assembly programme that covers a range of topics including mental health, online safety, celebration, inclusivity and diversity.  

Life Learning Lessons

At CSS each child has “life lessons” on their timetable which covers personal, social, health, citizenship and enterprise education (PHSCE) and relationship and sex education.  These lessons aim to complement their other subjects and provide a curriculum that has a very positive impact on all students’ behaviour and safety, as well as contributing to students’ academic achievement, their physical wellbeing, and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
The whole school will have their “Life” lessons at the same time on Wednesday Week 2 during period 1.  The reason for this is so that your child's 'Life' lesson can be taught by a member of staff from their House team.  This teacher will deliver a Life curriculum that is year specific and not only complements what they do in tutor time but also what is delivered to them during assemblies. Having a member of staff from their House team teach them allows them to build strong relationships with the other staff in their House and also with students in their particular year group.