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Pastoral Care
The Whitby High School places great importance on attendance and punctuality. It has been proven through numerous studies that students who have good attendance achieve well and develop important social skills. The Whitby High School expects that students will have at least 97% attendance.
Frequent absence is a serious problem for students, as much of the work they miss is never made up, leaving these students at a significant disadvantage for the remainder of their school career.
At present, the main reason for a student absence at The Whitby High School is illness. Think carefully before keeping your child from school for medical reasons. If they wake up saying they are unwell, consider whether the symptoms mean they have to stay at home.
Do not keep your child away from school ‘just in case; when they could be in a class learning with their friends.
If a child should feel unwell, parents/carers need to contact the school office by telephone, e-mail or via the Arbor app at their earliest opportunity. The school must be informed each day thereafter. Please ensure the school is contacted about the absences. If the school is not notified of the reason for the absence, it will be ‘unauthorised’.
Students are registered electronically. If a student is absent without explanation, automatic texts will be sent to parent/carers. This is an important part of our safeguarding procedure within school. To avoid any mistakes, good communication is vital.
Medical Appointments
Every effort should be made to arrange appointments outside of school hours. If this is not possible, the appointment card or letter should be shown to reception. If possible, try to attend school up until/or after the appointment in order to maintain good attendance and not miss vital learning time.
Type of Letter – What does it Mean
The school has a clear set of procedures to monitor attendance. The government classes any student with an attendance rate of less than 90% as ‘persistently absent’. Should a child’s attendance fall persistently below 95%, a series of letters will be sent out and different procedures put into place.
Stage 1 – there is a general concern about your child’s attendance, this letter is designed to alert you to this, and the effects absence has on a child’s education.
Stage 2 – This means your child’s attendance is becoming a concern. Further absences will not be authorised unless the school receives medical evidence. This may be a copy of a prescription or doctor’s note.
At any stage you may be invited to meet with the Pastoral team (or Senior Staff in their absence) and a member of the School Attendance Team. Targets and support plans will be developed in the meeting.
A Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued if parents/carers fail to attend these meetings.
Cases, which move beyond ‘Stage 2’, may trigger Local Authority Proceedings.
Please remember an attendance rate of 90% equates to one day of absence per fortnight. Even a rate of 95% equates to ten days every school year. This is considerable and in the world of work, employers would be concerned about such a figure. We realise that some students do have genuine illnesses and medical conditions. The school will do whatever it can to support such students. Again, good communication is the key.
Punctuality
Students are expected to be in the classroom to be registered at 8.40 every morning. If they arrive after registers close, they will not receive their AM session attendance mark, this will impact students’ attendance levels and result in them missing important learning time. Students will also receive sanctions for poor punctuality. Students will be issued a break time detention for arriving at school late (after 8:40). Persistent lateness will lead to further sanctions.
Remember, every minute counts. If a child is ten minutes late every day, this equates to nearly seven days of absence from lessons over a school year.
Leave of Absence from school (namely holidays)
The school does not encourage any leave of absence to be taken during term time. We recognise that holidays can be much cheaper during term time and that work commitments can make taking holidays during school breaks difficult but doing this can be disruptive to both children’s learning and the school. The government has issued strict guidelines to schools regarding leave of absence for students. Under these guidelines, Head teachers are not able to grant leave of absence for students during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances and please be advised there are very few exceptions.
Should parents/carers wish to seek leave of absence for their child, please complete the below form and return to school. Please include the form fully, adding any evidence to support the application. Each case will be considered on its merits. The Head teacher will determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted.
ESBN – Emotionally Based School Non-attendance
Emotionally based school Non-attendance refers to severe emotional upset experienced by a child at the prospect of attending school. EBSN is different from truancy where a child ‘won’t go to school’. Children experiencing EBSN often want to go to school however; it can be emotionally too difficult for them. They then try to avoid the emotional distress by not going to school, which then makes it harder day after day.
‘It’s more like “I can’t cope” …. I could not cope with big situations’ (Yr10 student).
CYP with EBSN typically experience high levels of emotional distress or anxiety in relation to attending school. They may present with one or more of the following behaviours:
- crying or pleading refusal to get up, to get ready for school or to leave the house
- excessive worry around school-related issues
- sleep difficulties
- complaint of illness which may be psychosomatic (e.g. headache and tummy ache, occurring when no underlying medical cause can be found and the basis is thought to be emotional)
- Defensive aggression, usually at home.
Expectations of student behaviour
The school has high expectations of student behaviour and conduct. The overall aim of the school policy is to ensure consistency and fairness across the school.
The Positive Relations Policy is currently under review and will be replaced by the Behaviour for Learning Policy in due course.
The ‘BFL’ system is used in lessons and is displayed in every classroom. The idea is that students are given chances to correct their behaviour, but if they don’t, a staged system is used which will ultimately lead to them being removed from the lesson by a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Students are awarded BFL points that accumulate throughout the school day for good behaviour, but also accrue negative points when behaviour falls short of our expectations.
Should a student cause concerns in school, they will be placed on ‘report’ in order to monitor progress and behaviour. It is important to recognise that appropriate support is offered at each review stage within this process to provide strategies which enable students to make the right choices in terms of their behaviour.
There are a number of different stages to this system:
Stage 1
General concern report (across different subject areas). Report is managed by the form tutor or staff within individual subjects.
Stage 2
Should a student not improve on Stage 1, they will be moved onto Stage 2. A student who is excluded from school will automatically go onto this stage.
Stage 3
This is a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) report and students will be placed on this if the Pastoral Leader feels satisfactory progress is not being made on Stage 2. This will be for a period of 4 weeks.
Stage 4
If improvement isn’t made, or if the student is causing major concerns in school, an Individual Support Plan will be drawn up. This involves a number of key staff and Parents/Carers. The Plan will be reviewed regularly, amended as necessary, and copies sent home to identify support that has been offered along with any progress that has been made.
For a small number of students who find mainstream schooling very difficult, alternative provision will be sought before taking the step of permanent exclusion.
From Stage 3 onwards, students may be placed on a ‘Behaviour Contract’. This lays out a clear set of expectations and sanctions if the contract is broken.
Behaviour for Learning
Students receive a ‘Behaviour for Learning’ (BFL) score for every lesson. This is on a 1-4 scale, with 1 being the best score.
Detentions
Detentions are issued for a variety of reasons. These are recorded on Arbor and parents are notified with a reason for the detention. Once the detention is issued, it is the student’s responsibility to inform parents/carers. We do reserve the right to keep students for up to 30 minutes after school if they are late or have been involved in misbehaviour.
It is vital that parents/carers support the school over disciplinary matters. Should you have a concern about a detention, please contact the member of staff responsible to discuss the matter.
Please Note: Notification of a detention is to inform you about it, not to seek approval. The school’s decision on the matter will be final.
At The Whitby High School, we aim to support each student with their emotional health and wellbeing. This includes promoting positive mental health. As a school we approach this in various ways, including through our pastoral support system, tutorial programmes and PSHE lessons. We know the benefits of positive mental health and research has shown that children and young people with good mental health:
- Do better at school
- Develop good relationships with friends and family
- Learn and play appropriately for their age and understanding
- Develop a sense of right and wrong. Learn from their experiences. Have the confidence to try new things
- Develop resilience to face life challenges
A child with good mental health when they’re young is much more likely to have good mental health as an adult
For any student who may be experiencing poor mental health we have pastoral staff who are available to listen, offer advice, mentor or signpost parents/students to agencies who can offer guidance.
If you are in any way concerned for your child and would like more information, please see the sections specifically relating to those conditions most common to secondary school aged children and young adults. You will find information on the condition, what signs to look out for at home, and links to agencies offering support.
Addiction
It’s common amongst young people to feel pressured to experiment with drugs and alcohol, even though you don’t want to.
It might not be clear what to do, or who can help. So we’ve teamed up with UK Addiction Treatment Centres (UKAT) so they can provide our students with expert advice and support.
We want all students at The Whitby High School to feel happy, healthy and safe. If you ever need support and want to talk to someone, please know that our doors are always open.
Helpful Resources
STEM4
We are committed to supporting the wellbeing of all our students, and we want to ensure that families have easy access to high-quality mental health guidance and tools. To help with this, we have created a dedicated section on our school website where you will find links to STEM4’s trusted mental health resources and apps. These tools are designed specifically for young people and cover areas such as anxiety, low mood, self-care, healthy habits, and digital wellbeing. You can access the resources by visiting STEM4
We encourage you to explore these apps and materials with your child. They are simple to use, evidence-informed, and can provide valuable support both in and outside of school. If you have any questions or would like further guidance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
School Drop In
Year 7 & 8 – Wellbeing Drop-in (Interview Room on D Corridor) MONDAY – 1:30pm
Year 9 – 11 – Wellbeing Drop-in (Interview Room opposite Sycamore toilets) MONDAY – 1:30pm
Rainbow – LGBT+ Club – WEDNESDAY Lunchtime in H3 – 1:30pm
We believe in creating a positive, motivating culture where students are encouraged to engage in kind and respectful behavior. To support this, The Whitby High School actively recognises and rewards students who demonstrate behaviours that align with our corevalues and expectations.
We do this through:
- The BfL system – 30 Points per week!
- Values Awards
- Praise Postcards/Phone calls
- Student of the week – identified weekly by the Pastoral Leader
- Recognition Assemblies
- Rewards Activities
BFL points will be totalled up each week.
Students with 30+ points per week are entered into the weekly draw