Together we care

Pupil Care

Pupil Care

We are not a school where one size fits all. We advocate that all children should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. We take every aspect of pupil care very seriously which is why keeping your child safe and ensuring they are happy at school is our biggest priority.

As the world is ever changing your child needs to learn to adapt and change with it. We pride ourselves on our exceptional pastoral care, our integral learning support department and our first-class medical centre. These three elements are fundamental for ensuring your child is truly happy at Highfield and Brookham. We have no doubt that when your child’s physical and mental health are at their peak they learn best. We are here with them, and you, every step of their educational journey ready to catch them if they ever fall.

Wellbeing Programme

Our wellbeing programme will equip your child with a unique emotional toolkit. Children gather by age and by interest at lunchtime and after school to indulge in some ‘me time’. Activities include journaling and Lego as well as more tailored activities such as Listening Club, run by our trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA). Our three fully-trained ELSAs help children understand their feelings and help with issues such as of working together, expressing empathy and recognising facial expressions.

We champion the power of conversation and encourage your child to recognise how they feel, talk about their emotions and accept that it is okay to feel as they do. Your child will learn how to manage the peaks and troughs of emotions and seek support proactively.

Wellbeing Hub

The Beehive is the latest addition to our pastoral provision. It is a safe and welcoming wellbeing hub at the heart of the school site. Children are able to self-refer and the hub is a place where your child can relax, reset and regulate their emotions when they need to. It is a friendly and positive space which will also be home to some of our popular wellbeing activities.

We have eleven teachers who are expertly trained in mental health first aid. These teachers ensure The Beehive is open and staffed throughout the day for your child to access when they need to. You will also benefit from the expertise of our trained staff who offer mental health first aid training to parents in order to support their children at home as well.

Our Form Tutors and Heads of Year are instrumental in helping pupils develop their sense of independence, resilience, self-awareness and self-esteem.

Peer Listeners

Two special clubs – Be With the Boys and Go With the Girls – are run by our Peer Listeners. Our peer listeners scheme involves a group of our dedicated and trained Year 8 children who will offer your child a friendly face, a sympathetic shoulder or a kindly listening ear. The Peer Listeners are selected by a robust interview process involving Mrs Cryer and our Head of PSHE and Wellbeing. It gives our Year 8 children a sense of pride in their responsibility as they help the whole school community, informally deal with any issues such as friendships, siblings and exams

PSHE

Inside the classroom your child will understand how to be mentally healthy through our in-depth and nationally-endorsed PSHE curriculum. Children from Nursery through to Year 8 have one lesson per week dedicated to understanding themselves and each other. They will learn what connects them and, just as importantly, what makes them unique.

We focus on helping our children build an awareness of the world beyond Highfield Prep School, on developing grit and resilience and, most importantly, a sense of self-awareness

Learning Support

Our teachers meet the needs of every child through differentiation helped by the Learning Support Department where needed. We have highly-experienced and knowledgeable staff responsible for supporting gifted and talented pupils, those with specific educational needs or disabilities, and those for whom English is a second language. We ensure that through our work all children have access to extra support and learning techniques if and when they require it.

Our team of specialists offer a range of support, from regular, short interventions to individualised learning plans that address specific learning needs. Interventions may include provisions such as touch typing, speech and language and occupational therapy and additional costs may apply. We help foster positive and constructive attitudes towards learning so that your child can succeed at school and beyond.

Health Centre

Our health centre is operated by two trained paediatric nurses, ensuring your child receives the very best medical treatment while they are in school. It’s spacious with ample room for medical consultations as well as providing a comfortable area for rest and recuperation. Our nurses are available throughout the day and into the evening until 7.30pm to support our day children as well as our boarders. From 7.30pm we can call on the services of a regular out-of-hours doctor to ensure our children have access to round-the-clock medical care.

Our caring nurses also work closely with families who may have children with ongoing medical conditions to ensure the greatest level of care and to ensure they can access everything that Highfield and Brookham has to offer.

A huge thank you for looking after my boys this year. I know they have been rather frequent visitors, which makes me chuckle as I know its because they like popping in for a visit and a few kind, gentle words just to reset them and for that I do not have enough words to thank you

Facilities

Academic Ambition

Extra-curricular Excellence