Castle Primary School

Pastoral Support

At Castle Primary School we are fortunate to have a full-time  Pastoral Leader.

Zoe Gibson is based in our Sunshine Room every school day (8am-4pm).   She can be contacted via the school office. Zoe is on the school gate nearly every morning, available to parents for general chats or, if more privacy is required, there is a meeting room available in the Office area. 

Our Pastoral Leader is here to offer support for your children with any worries or anxieties they may be experiencing, and she can also offer parents confidential support with issues they may feel are affecting their children (including attendance). She is able to signpost families to a wide variety of services including parenting groups, the school nurse, counselling and other voluntary support groups.

Our Pastoral Leader helps reinforce the nurturing and supportive environment that we provide at Castle Primary School. She is an experienced practitioner, and can support children with their mental health and well being and: build resilience, self-regulation, self-confidence or improve their emotional literacy or relationship skills. 

Please feel free to contact our Pastoral Leader if you feel she could support your child or your family.

Thrive

We are a ‘Thrive’ School and use the ‘Thrive Approach’ to nurture and emotional support. The Thrive Approach supports children’s emotional and social development and helps them feel happy and secure, able to enjoy friendships, relate well to others and be ready to learn.

We do whole class, group and individual Thrive sessions at Castle Primary and Mrs Vanessa Rogers is our Thrive Leader.

Thrive is embedded throughout the school. In YR and through to Year 2 thrive and nurture  is part of the continuous provision . In Key Stage 2  we timetable ‘Thrive Fridays’ where nurture activities are provided in to all children in small groups. The groupings are chosen to ensure all children have the right focus in their groups.

We have 3 Thrive practitioners who offer 1-2-1 sessions with individual children in our ‘Thrive Room’ by the library. These children are identified through our own assessments, or through ECHPs, Core Groups, TAF (team around the family) Meetings or requested by other professionals. Sometimes children require 1-2-1 Thrive following a significant event in their lives (change in family situation, loss of  a family member or significant friendship issues).   

Our Thrive practitioners are:

Fred Lacey (Brighter Futures): Mondays

Vanessa Rogers (Castle Primary) Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

Emma Harvey (Brighter Futures) Friday

The Thrive from Fred and Emma is funded by St Johns Foundation, Bath (as part of their Primary Empowerment Programme.

For more information:

Thrive www.thriveapproach.com

Brighter Futures www.threeways.co.uk/brighter-futures

St John’s Foundation www.stjohnsbath.org.uk/2023/08/29/exploring-how-our-three-year-programme-has-empowered-schools-families-and-their-communities/