Pastoral
At The Forest School, the well-being and personal development of our students are at the heart of everything we do. Our dedicated Pastoral Team provides comprehensive support, ensuring every student feels valued, safe, and encouraged to reach their full potential. Each form group is led by a form tutor who serves as the first point of contact for students and parents, offering guidance and fostering a sense of belonging. To help you connect with the right member of the team, we have provided detailed information, including the tutors assigned to each form group. Together, our Pastoral Team and form tutors work tirelessly to create a nurturing and inclusive school environment.
At The Forest School, we value open and effective communication with parents and guardians. To ensure your queries are addressed promptly and by the right person, we have created a comprehensive communication chart. This guide outlines the key contacts for various concerns, from academic progress and pastoral care to extracurricular activities and administrative matters. By following the chart, you can quickly connect with the appropriate staff member, helping us work together to support your child’s success and well-being.
Assemblies play a vital role in fostering a sense of community and shared values at The Forest School. Our assembly rota for the 2024-2025 academic year outlines a diverse program designed to inspire, educate, and engage our students. Covering a range of themes—including personal development, cultural awareness, and key school initiatives—the rota ensures every year group has regular opportunities to come together, reflect, and celebrate achievements. This carefully planned schedule supports our commitment to developing well-rounded, informed, and empowered young people.
The PSHE is a programme of study designed to help students to develop their knowledge and understanding of skills which will support them through all areas of their future lives. PSHE is currently taught to Year 7 and 8 through a 100 minute lesson bi-weekly. Year 9, 10 and 11 have dedicated PSHE time during 3 Tutor periods per week. The RSHE curriculum is taught within Jigsaw PSHE, please refer to the RSHE drop down to find further detail of how RSHE is implemented across a wider curriculum.
The JIGSAW PSHE Structure has 6 Puzzles. There are 6 half-term units (Puzzles) in each year group from ages 11-15 (Years 7-10), and 4 units (Puzzles) in ages 15-16 (Year 11) (to allow for the reduced teaching time because of examination season).
The Puzzles are sequenced and developmental from the beginning to the end of the school year:
Autumn 1: Being Me in My World
Autumn 2: Celebrating Difference
Spring 1: Dreams and Goals
Spring 2: Healthy Me
Summer 1: Relationships
Summer 2: Changing Me
Ages 15-16, the 4 Puzzles:
Being Me in My World
Dreams and Goals
Healthy Me
Relationships
Each Puzzle has a Big Question, encouraging a philosophical approach as well as providing a focus to be reflected upon as the Puzzle progresses, another way to assess learning progress and become aware of how opinions may be changing with added learning.
All the statutory requirements for RSHE are met across the ages 11-16 programme.
The PSHE programme encompasses SMSC development, Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG). Daily PHSE sessions cover:
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Health: healthy lifestyles; healthy eating and exercise; mental and emotional health; sex and relationship education; drug, alcohol and tobacco education.
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Risk: financial and career choices; personal safety and internet safety.
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Relationships: developing and maintaining positive relationships; dealing with negative relationships which may include bullying.
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Loss: bereavement, separation and divorce.
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Change: managing transition; adversity and developing resilience.
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Career choices: enterprise, business and finance.
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Personal finance: savings, debt and finance.
School Assemblies mirror and enhance The Forest School core ethos of Aspire and are planned throughout the year to follow a programme that includes e-safety, British Values, national observance weeks and all of the above.
To view the schedule - Assembly Schedule 2024-2025 (3).docx
Students are served well outside the timetabled curriculum because there is wealth of well attended extra curriculum activities from homework club to cooking club, as well as community volunteering in the 6th Form. The school has a strong heritage in sports and successful extra curricular fixture programme, and therefore helping students' well being.
Please find a number of relevant PHSE presentations, relating to First Aid, are available to download:
The Forest School RHSE programme is designed to equip students with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships as well as preparing them for successful adult life. We want ensure that our students are happy, healthy and safe and able to manage the opportunities and challenges of life in modern Britain.
The following grid (see below) demonstrates how we as a school embed the following strands of RHSE within our curriculum.
The Forest School is committed to serving its community. It recognises the multi-cultural, multi faith and ever-changing nature of the United Kingdom. It also understands the vital role it has in ensuring that groups or individuals within the school are not subjected to intimidation or radicalisation by those wishing to unduly, or illegally, influence them.
The Forest School is dedicated to preparing students for their adult life and ensuring that it promotes and reinforces British values to all its students.
The Government emphasises that schools are required to ensure that key ‘British Values’ are taught in all UK schools. The government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy. Information from Department for Education can be found here
British Values are taught in each year group, the image below gives a snapshot of how we implement British Values across each year group
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development is the overarching umbrella that encompasses personal development across the whole curriculum.The following graphic shows an overview of how we implement SMSC within PSHE within each year group.