At Carmel College, we are deeply committed to providing exceptional pastoral care, rooted in our ethos of nurturing every student as a unique individual created in the image of God. Our pastoral system is designed to offer you comprehensive support, ensuring each of you feels valued, understood, and empowered to achieve your full potential.
We place a strong emphasis on the wellbeing of our students, understanding that mental and emotional health is as important as academic success. We believe in nurturing the whole student, providing a supportive and inclusive environment where every individual feels valued, understood, and cared for.
Our dedicated pastoral team is led by our Vice Principal of Pastoral Care, Mrs Sarah Thornton, each year group has a Pastoral Learning Manager and an Assistant Pastoral Learning Manager. They aim to monitor and support your academic progress.
Our Assistant Vice Principal with responsibility for behaviour, Mr Kevin McCann co-ordinates ClassCharts and is an additional layer of support for all students, he works closely with Mrs Lin Julian our Assistant Vice Principal for Learning Support.
Emmaus, our inclusion base is at the heart of our College and plays a key role in the support we offer creating a safe, inclusive environment for students. Emmaus is named after the Gospel account of the Road to Emmaus,
Emmaus has been designed to support you on your journey, staff walk with students and help navigate the best path, this may be offering support during a period of Illness or longer periods working alongside our SEND department.
Our comprehensive wellbeing program includes a range of initiatives, like peer mentoring and resources designed to promote positive mental health, resilience, and overall emotional well-being. We are fortunate to have appointed a student well-being teacher, Miss Sarah Stollery who acts a key worker for many students including young carers.
We offered a tiered support programme at Carmel, Universal Support – accessed by all pupils. All pupils are supported by our caring and hardworking pastoral team. You will see your Form Tutor twice a day for a check in and received regular visits from your Pastoral Learning Manager. You Classroom Teachers are also there to help in the lesson and at break and lunchtimes. Your weekly PSHE sessions will focus on how to support yourself and peers and how to keep safe in your environment and online. Assemblies, guest speakers and Whole Year Group Sessions will also provide specific foci throughout the year to help support you.
Targeted – Support in College. For Pupils needing some extra support in college, our Inclusion Team run a wide range of interventions through Emmaus. From Emotional Wellbeing support to DOVE Self-Esteem, we have created bespoke packages to support the difficulties some pupils face at secondary school. Emmaus also offers a place to make friends and a quieter environment during free time and support with homework.
Specialist – Professional Support. We also have close working relationships with a wide range of specialist support who can work with you in college or at home.
These include the Mental Health Support Team, The Growing Healthy Team, MIND, the Building Stronger Families Team and the Listening Post. Through discussion with the Pastoral Learning Manager, we will ensure that all pupils received the right levels of support during their time at Carmel.
The following SIGNPOSTS can be used to find further information and support.
Kooth: Your online mental wellbeing community https://www.kooth.com
NHS: Children and Young People Services https://www.tewv.nhs.uk
Childline: Online, on the phone, anytime https://www.childline.org.uk
The Anna Freud Foundation: National Centre for Children and Families https://www.annafreud.org
The Samaritans: There for you during difficult times https://www.samaritans.org