Pastoral Care
Pastoral care will be a hallmark throughout the Academy. We want a professional, safe and caring environment. We would aim to care for our pupils and vulnerable groups by providing a safe environment for them to learn and work and by helping to identify children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm so that appropriate support and action can be taken to keep them safe, both at home and in the Academy.
Every student will be part of a tutor group, which in turn will become part of a House system as the new school grows. The tutor will be responsible for the pastoral care of those in their tutor group and will act as an extremely important point of contact between the Academy and parents.
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School Nurses
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Please see information provided by Swindon Borough Council School Nurse Team
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Programme of Support for Families
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We are pleased to introduce our programme of support for families for 2023/24 at Great Western Academy. Our core value of care extends beyond the classroom door, and we would like to offer families this programme of support to help and encourage parents and carers to engage in their own learning, as well as supporting their child even further.
Below is our programme of support for 2023/24. Each session explains how you can join. If a session is sign up, a link will be sent out shortly in advance of the event. If a session is invitation only, but you feel it may benefit yourself or your child, please do get in touch. Sessions highlighted in yellow will also be open to some of our local primary schools and information will be sent out a week prior to the event.
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If you would like any further information, please email: SFF@gwacademy.co.uk.
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Supporting Your Key Stage 4 Child To Revise For Exams
Following the session, run by Mrs Rodway, please find information from the session and some resources to support you.
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock meeting members of Aderin House at our official opening on 22nd October 2018
Anti-Bullying Ambassadors at GWA
What is an Anti-Bullying ambassador?
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Anti-Bullying Ambassadors believe that bullying behaviour is not acceptable and should not be part of everyday life at school.
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help educate their peers on bullying, lead on Anti-Bullying campaigns, promote a culture which celebrates and tolerates difference and help keep their peers safe both online and offline.
Our Values:
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Help peers understand what bullying really is
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Create Anti-Bullying campaigns
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Promote people to tolerate other people and their differences
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Keep our peers safe in all places, especially online
We are proud to have achieved our Diana Award Badge for Wellbeing. We are now working hard to ensure our school community are aware of the risks associated with online safety.
Our Purpose:
To help protect and raise awareness for victims of bullying and encourage people to speak up when something happens.
To make sure we build a safe and secure environment for everyone within our school.
Definitions (More on Bullying):
Bullying- seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable). - Google Definition
In other words, seek to cause a negative mental or physical harm to a more vulnerable person or group of people. It must be repeated several times with purpose (intent to cause harm).
Perpetrator - Someone who carries out harmful acts towards more vulnerable people.
Victim- a person harmed, injured, as a result of bullying (could be physical, mental or cyber bullying)
Bystander – Someone who is present at an event but doesn’t take part in abusing or protecting the victim.
Different types of bullying and how to identify them:
Physical Bullying - hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property.
Verbal Bullying - name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse.
Social Bullying
- lying and spreading rumours
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negative facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks
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playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate
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mimicking unkindly
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encouraging others to social exclude someone
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damaging someone’s social reputation or social acceptance.
Cyber Bullying
- abusive or hurtful texts, emails or posts, images or videos
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deliberately excluding others online
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nasty gossip or rumours
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imitating others online or using their log-in.
What you should do if you witness bullying:
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Report it to a trusted adult
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Make the victim aware of the fact that they are not alone in this time
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Don’t take part
What we do when bullying is reported?
Step 1: Report the bullying incident
Step 2: Statements from students involved
Step 3: investigated by the relevant house teams then given the equivalent sanction on the ladder of consequences
NEED SUPPORT?
Contact the school email: aba@gwacademy.co.uk
NSPCC email: help@nspcc.org.uk
Child Line Number: 08001111
Victim Support Number: 08081689111
Anti-Bullying Ambassadors advice on how to be safe online
Here is a link to a guide of potentially dangerous apps for parents to be aware of:
E-Safety Rules:
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Be careful what you download off the internet
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Don’t post everything, think before you do so
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Keep your privacy settings turned on
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Have a strong password, keep it a secret
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Don’t share your personal information online
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Don’t meet up with strangers from the internet
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Don’t click on unknown links
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Update your anti-virus
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Try to use different passwords on the sites you use
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Update all apps
CYBER SITUATIONS
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Tell an adult about what is happening
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Leave the website
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Do not open links you are unaware of
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Don’t log into accounts and websites you are unaware of
If messaging someone you do not know or is a person met from online DO NOT:
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Open any links
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Open any websites
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Share any personal information
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Share any bank details