At Queen Elizabeth’s School, while we are proud of our academic achievements, we also want all our pupils to be both happy and resilient. We therefore have carefully structured pastoral support and guidance to nurture good mental health among our boys.
Great efforts are made to promote boys’ wellbeing by means of our programme, which is delivered through weekly Personal Development Time sessions, through bespoke tutorials with tutors and senior staff, through peer mentoring and through a host of extra-curricular activities.
Our aim is to assist boys to make a smooth transition to adulthood and to build resilience to enable them to thrive in the modern world, where they must contend with pressures that older generations did not have to face.
When boys do experience difficulties, staff, older boys and, if necessary, external professional counselling and other support will always be on hand to help them through, and they will be treated with great care and sensitivity.
A similar approach is taken in providing academic support. Each year, boys are set personalised targets in every subject and are given individual support to ensure they progress. Many tools are employed to help boys reach their full potential including bespoke interventions, differentiation and additional one-to-one work in subject clinics.
More generally, an atmosphere of positivity is created by a culture of celebrating success. Boys are praised for their efforts, service and achievements, whether through merits, good notes, commendations or, more publicly, through our formal Junior and Senior Awards evenings. In so doing, we motivate pupils, spurring them on to still greater success and creating a virtuous circle in which success becomes a habit.
