Pastoral Support for Children & Families

At Riverbridge we understand that children can only achieve their best when they feel safe, happy and secure.  Consequently we work hard to ensure our children's pastoral needs are considered as carefully as we consider their academic needs.  

What can I do if I think my child needs help?

Sometimes our families may need the support of our pastoral team for a variety of reasons. These can include:

• As a sounding board about something worrying your child which is not of an educational nature;
• Help to complete forms for outside agencies;
• Signposting to advice and assistance teams in the wider community;
• Advice on how to manage particular home situations as a parent, enabling your child to be ready and prepared to learn. 

Our Pastoral team consists of:

• Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) - who works on a one-to-one or small group basis with children on a weekly or more than weekly basis.
• Home School Link Worker - who supports parents and families in a raft of different ways, runs parenting workshops, coffee mornings etc as well as 'checking in' with those children needing particular support from time to time.
• Pastoral Co-ordinator - who line manages all of the ELSAs, Home School Mentors and Home School Link Workers across our five schools.  She is able to implement more support from additional colleagues for particular families and children when needed.
• Designated Safeguarding Leads - who meet weekly to consider all of the children who might be vulnerable for one reason or another, and together they decide on what support could be offered either from within the school or from an outside agency.