Pastoral Support 

At Our Lady’s RC High School, we prioritise the holistic development of our pupils and strive to ensure that our pupils are supported to be happy and healthy individuals during their time with us. We appreciate that high school and the teenage years can be challenging for pupils and their families and that is why we have established support networks in place for all students.

Year Groups

At Our Lady’s RC High School, all pupils are allocated to a form group with other members of their year group. This is the group that they will have registration with every morning and their year team staff act as consistent sources of support and guidance throughout their five years at Our Lady’s. Each year group is led by a Head of Year, Assistant Head of Year and SLT Link. Details of these can be found below:

If you have any general concerns about your child, you can contact the above individuals. For more information about the year groups, please see here

Marian House System

At Our Lady’s RC High School, our Marian House system is an integral part of school life and is fundamental in developing the strong sense of community that we pride ourselves as having as a school. Upon joining the school, every pupil and member of staff is placed in one of four houses:

• Lordes

• Fatima

• Walsingham

• Mount Carmel 

These houses span across KS4 and KS4 and by being a member of a House family, pupils and staff are encouraged to show team spirit and support those throughout the school, not just those within their year group.  

Each pupil has a house badge that represents the house that they are in and enables them to be easily recognised by their house families. Throughout the academic year, the houses are incentivised to come together to celebrate and compete against the others houses, including in events such as:

• Grow a fiver entrepreneurial challenge

• Sports day

• E-coin reward challenges

culminating in one House being awarded the House Cup for that year. We believe the Marian House system further embeds the biblical teachings and gospel values that we promote at Our Lady’s RC High School and is another way in which we offer support and a sense of belonging to everybody within our community.

Keeping Your Child Safe

At Our Lady's RC High School, we are committed to keeping your child safe whether that be with us on site, online or in the community. There is a dedicated safeguarding team on site who work with pupils and their families to provide universal support in the form of advice, signposting, onward referrals, in school meetings and home visits. As a safeguarding team we also work closely with a range of statutory and voluntary agencies to better support young people and their families; including Children and family services, Barnardo's workers, the Protect Team, NSPCC workers, Early Intervention Team workers and the Police; supporting to get the best out of our young people by ensuring there are no barriers to accessing education. Details of key members of this team can be found below:

Safeguarding Team:

If you would like to discuss anything with any member of the safeguarding team, please email us on: welfare@olsc.manchester.sch.uk. Alternatively, you can find the contact details for the people listed above, as well as  more about our safeguarding procedures, systems and policies, on the designated area of our website for safeguarding here (link to safeguarding section of website once updated)

Additional support teams:

SEMH

At Our Lady’s we acknowledge that pupil’s ability to maintain their social, emotional and mental health is decreasing and as such we have systems in place that offer tiered and structured support for those who may be struggling: 

Tier 1

Pastoral enrichment

These are activities that are used to enrich the school life of pupils and are considered a universal offer. Whilst certain pupils may be chosen based on personalities or experience, places on these interventions are not necessarily dependent on a pre-identified need or concern of a pre-identified need.

Examples include: Boxing on/off site, Meditation, Fr Nicholas guidance and the wider enrichment/clubs offer (link to enrichment part of website)

Tier 2

Targeted intervention

These are targeted interventions that are used to support pupils previously identified as needing support e.g. through safeguarding, EdPsych referrals, pupils who are on current waitlists for 1-2-1 intervention, are accessing 1-2-1 intervention but require additional support or who need a specialist piece of one off work but do not hit the higher threshold/ need further exploration or investigation of need 

Examples include: Trauma Creative Arts project, Hair and Beauty course, small intervention groups, Rainbows and 1-2-1s

The SEN team also offer: Lego Therapy, Zones therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, 

Tier 3

Specialist intervention

These are specialist interventions that are used to support pupils currently identified as needing support e.g. through safeguarding, EdPsych referrals in the immediate term. 

Examples include: M Thrive; Manchester Mind + 42nd Street, School counsellor, School nurse, Early Help referrals, Social services referrals, Family support (e.g. food packages)

Tier 4

Individualised support

These are individualised holistic support plans that are used to support pupils identified as needing a personalised approach. These interventions should be offered on a case by case basis, in agreement with all teams, to ensure the support is targeted to the most appropriate places 

Examples include: Reduced timetables, specialised qualifications, 1-2-1 support 

If you feel as though your child would benefit from any of the above support, please contact our safeguarding team on: welfare@olsc.manchester.sch.uk

School Health Advisor

At Our Lady's, we have a school health advisor in school every Thursday morning who can support pupils with any health concerns that they may have. If you would like your student to access this service, please encourage them to attend the lunch time drop-in, or alternatively please contact a member or the safeguarding team on: welfare@olsc.manchester.sch.uk with your concerns and we can make any necessary onward referrals.

School Counsellor

On site we have our own independent counsellor, Miss Ambrose-Simpson, who is able to offer 1-2-1 and group support to address a range of difficulties including low self-esteem, separation and attachment difficulties. If this is something that you feel your child would benefit from, please contact a member of the safeguarding team on: welfare@olsc.manchester.sch.uk with your concerns and we can make any necessary onward referrals.