Buxton Community School staff up for top national award

The team are through to the finals of the prestigious National Awards For Pastoral Care In Education.

The award acknowledges it is not just teachers who help shape a student while at school but the whole staff team.

Assistant head teacher Alex Garner said: “The effort of the pastoral team is amazing but their dedication through the pandemic has been herculean.

"They have gone above and beyond to check in on our students’ welfare in difficult times.

"Only if a child is happy, safe and secure can they learn properly and the pastoral team do everything to ensure students are doing okay with life’s challenges.

"I’m so pleased their efforts have been recognised by the awards team.”

The awards are to recognise outstanding achievements across pastoral care in education settings.

Greg Smith from school pastoral team said: “The past two years of education have been difficult for staff and students.

"Normally you would see a pupil walking down the corridor and you would be able to assess if they were having a good or bad day.

"But when lockdown came most of our students were working from home and although there were emails and calls it wasn’t the same.

"We knew we had to step up and do more to connect with the students.”

The school provided meal boxes for those who would normally receive free school meals and reached out to those they feared would slip through the cracks.

Another pastoral team member Julie Wood said: “When people think about school they think about teachers but we are a great team providing care, support and even teaching life skills to every child from Year 7 to Year 11.”

Five schools have made it through to the final and the winner will be announced on Thursday September, 23.

Alex added: “I know we don’t know if they have won yet but I want the team to feel proud and the community to have a sense of pride that the work the team does here really does make a difference to students.”

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