Pastoral System

Aureus School is split into Year Group Teams, each of which are led by our Heads of Year (HOY) and who are overseen by Assistant Headteachers with responsibility for each of the Key Stages. 

Each Year Group Team is made up of the Head of Year,  a number of coaches (tutors), who lead coaching groups, each with about twenty-five students.  Each Year Group Team also has its own non-teaching member of staff known as the Pastoral Welfare Leader (PWL), and who has the experience of more complex needs and who has the time to work with students and be in contact with their families when there is a more immediate need that cannot be met by a coach, who may be busy with their teaching commitments. In addition to this, the Teaching Assistants, who work with teachers in each Year Group are also included in the Year Group Teams in order to ensure that the communications between the academic and pastoral teams is fluid and effective and that the support in and out of class is of the very highest quality.

The main function of each of the Year Group Teams is to support the behaviour, attendance and pastoral welfare of students, and that begins first and foremost within their coaching groups which meet at the start of each school day. Coaches provide targeted support for students that struggle to meet Aureus high expectations of behaviour and attendance. Coaches discuss any barriers or issues that the students in their coaching group have and then either provide or signpost appropriate support and guidance and involve their parents and carers to ensure that the adults that care for them understand and play a part of the support they receive.  Should a student have any needs that could benefit from more intensive support it will be offered by the appropriate specialists. 

We also have a number of non-teaching specialists, who work within the Pastoral Team and as such with the Year Group Teams and, who specialise with areas of need common to adolescents. These are our Attendance Officer, who works with Oxfordshire County Council to ensure that students attend school, our Designated Safeguarding Lead and Student Welfare Manager, who both deal with safeguarding and welfare concerns and our SENDCo, who is an expert in provision and interventions for students with special educational needs.

We also work with External Agencies specialist in supporting higher levels of need when appropriate. 

We are proud that our Pastoral Structure enables us to support students quickly and effectively and means that Aureus students learn that becoming excellent global citizens means that when we face challenges we should seek and accept relevant support from those around us .