At Kildwick CE VC Primary School we are extremely proud to have a Pastoral and Welfare support worker. We believe that children’s mental health is a priority. We ensure that children have support to help them develop strategies to improve their mental health. This is intrinsically woven through our curriculum. However, we are also aware that, for a number of reasons, some children may need additional support and/or intervention to assist them in this area.
Our Pastoral and Welfare support worker is Mrs Kym Swales. Mrs Swales works in school as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant alongside her role in Pastoral and Welfare. She works within the Inclusion team alongside Miss Akrigg (Special Educational Needs and disabilities co-ordinator and Inclusion Leader).
Mrs Swales’ role is to provide high quality and effective pastoral and welfare support across the school. She ensures that plans and strategies are in place to support pupils and their families. This includes small group or one to one interventions to meet the needs of individual pupils.
When required, Mrs Swales provides immediate pastoral care for students coping with a range of emotional or social issues. Where appropriate Mrs Swales deals with behavioural incidents as they occur in school. These can be ‘one off’ contacts with a child or can be followed up with planned sessions to meet the needs of individual children.
Mrs Swales is often involved in the EHCP process, including reviews. This ensures that the children have a voice and that mental well-being is part of any review process. It should be noted that Mrs Swales works with all children requiring her support, not just those on the SEN register.
Having a Pastoral and Welfare support worker means that children at Kildwick CE VC school have someone to listen to them, help them identify barriers to learning and develop skills and strategies to help their future well-being.
If you have concerns about your child or feel that your child would benefit from some additional support in this area you should speak to your child’s class teacher or email Miss Akrigg [email protected]
