Why Pastoral Provision matters
Sandra McManus, Educational Consultant and former Deputy Principal at The Sixth Form, Bolton • April 15, 2025
Some examples of high-quality pastoral care
(Written by Sandra McManus, Educational Consultant and former Deputy Principal at The Sixth Form, Bolton)
Whenever there is a tragedy reported on TV relating to young people, be it knife crime, suicide, radicalisation, drug or alcohol addiction, the cry from government and the public is to make it mandatory for that topic and its prevention to be delivered in colleges and schools. Such topics are already central to pastoral provision in most or all colleges, alongside ever-increasing external requirements for what ‘must’ and ‘should’ be provided.
As a senior leader at The Sixth Form, Bolton until 09/24, I always ensured that despite funding challenges, high quality pastoral provision was at the heart of the student experience, that academic and pastoral staff worked in tandem and that pastoral initiatives and topics were seen as central to academic achievement, as well as wellbeing, citizenship, employability and preparation for independent living.
At Bolton we tried to do all the essentials well, such as exploring issues relating to ‘Keeping Safe’ and ‘Sustainability’, developing study skills, encouraging involvement in enrichment and volunteering opportunities, work experience, to name just a few. Here are some specific initiatives:
- Project Based Learning: Deployed evidence based and PBL approaches, where-ever possible, placing a lot of emphasis on employability skills and University-ready skills. Students would be guided to produce high quality resources, art work, digital media and if they were presenting to peers, they would be taught appropriate skills, techniques and behaviours associated with presentations.
- High quality one to one emotional support: All pastoral staff are trained as MH First Aiders by Sarah Ball, the AP Pastoral, who also trains around 100 over 18s annually in the award. For those learners planning to go into careers where understanding mental health is important, such as nursing, medicine, social work and care professions, the universities see this as a clear benefit to them when young people apply to study with them.
- One to one Performance Coaching for students ‘At Risk’: All students who are underachieving at specific assessment points throughout the year are offered one to one performance coaching. The focus of this is not on the learning of academic subject matter, but rather on things like study skills, note-making, time-management, focused attention, rather than multi-tasking, interleaving, spaced practice and other things associated with ‘how’ to learn. These are led by pastoral staff and supported by Bob Craig, an external consultant
- Focusing on the entire learner journey: e.g., CPD for staff and group tutorials with students about transitions from one thing to another, such as from school to college, Yr 1 to Yr 2; comfort zone to uncertainty; overcoming adversity and coping with setbacks; foregrounding examples of how ‘successful’ students managed transitions in college and on leaving
- Alumni talks from previous students: students who are now at university, in the workplace or at a more advanced career stage
- Parental Engagement: inviting parents to attend interactive training on topics like ‘understanding the teenage brain’, ‘effective student routines, habits and practices’, ‘initiating conversations about sensitive topics’. Bob Craig helped to train staff and deliver sessions himself to parents, on such issues.
- ‘Pathways’ programmes: providing students with opportunities to develop essential work place skills for their future. This includes the mastery of basic digital skills such as the Microsoft suite, how to use AI appropriately and to support learning, research for employment, recruitment, CV creation, essential communication skills, presentation skills, applications, creation of a LinkedIn profile and considerations of ethical business to name but some topics. Whilst each learner builds their own profile, they do so within an economic or career sector of their choice. Local employers, charities and other organisations set some of the tasks to be completed and oversee the modules delivered. This programme has supported some students to gain really high calibre Degree Apprenticeships with Rolls Royce, HP and Land Rover Jaguar
- Live briefs set by employers: The Art Department at the Sixth Form Bolton, for example, have worked on several art commissions. Their most recent commission has been with Bolton Council (see below).
High quality pastoral provision can be akin to being a parent. Young people might not always recognise aspects of pastoral provision as being important and given the choice would give them a miss! At The Sixth Form, Bolton we made sure pastoral staff were trained in coaching skills and other approaches to enable them to persuade, inspire, cajole, mentor, nudge and teach students to develop essential skills and experiences for college life and beyond. In meeting these needs, institutions are using public money wisely and giving excellent value for money.
With DJ Trump back in the White House and his uncompromising, transactional negotiation style in full swing, I got to thinking about the metaphor of bridges and walls in relation to student learning and human relations. Narratives based on binary opposition - this is right, that’s wrong; it’s this way, or no way, we’re the good guys, they’re the baddies - are sometimes appropriate and can be associated with being assertive, focused and determined. Students, staff and leaders can achieve success when we stick to the plan and are unwilling to be distracted, derailed or discombobulated (love that word!). However, in most learning, workplace and leadership contexts it’s prudent to listen, be adaptable, compromise and be prepared to alter your course when the evidence changes. Building bridges in learning contexts, implies movement, progress and connectivity. Idea for teaching, pastoral or organisational contexts It could be fruitful to explore the metaphors of bridges and walls. We could share examples of our ‘red-lines’, convictions and carefully considered walls. For students, these could be deliberate behaviours related to study routines, habits and choices, such as never studying and ‘watching’ a TV programme at the same time or always being detailed and specific when writing instructions for AI software. We could also students to identify walls which they’d rather not have and which hinder their learning or affect their wellbeing. These walls could be things like mindset barriers, self-belief issues, fear, procrastination, skills gaps (real or perceived), access to information and other factors. With these unhelpful walls, we could continue the metaphor and ask how they navigate around the wall, get over the wall, avoid the wall, chip away at or demolish the wall completely. The bridges might relate to learning how to become more self-aware, being kind to ourselves, learning how to frame powerful questions, think critically and creatively, know how to ask for help, learn from others and a whole range of other things. Examples of workplace walls: ♦ Unresolved differences, or misunderstandings between individuals or groups ♦ Personal grudges, personality clashes, differences of values or work ethics ♦ Autocratic, passive-aggressive, passive or aggressive interaction styles ♦ Lack of empathy and emotional intelligence (self or others) ♦ Not feeling valued, being disrespected or losing one’s sense of purpose ♦ Unclear, vague, overly complex, missed messages or the absence of communication ♦ Lack of consultation on policies, projects or key strategic decisions ♦ Unclear vision, mission or goals ♦ Lack of skill or will to do the job (in self or others) ♦ Fixed mindset and limiting beliefs (e.g. “Stick to what I know, because it always goes wrong when I try something different”) ♦ Anxiety and fear (of success, of failure, of making mistakes, disapproval, embarrassment, being reprimanded, not being able to cope if things don’t go to plan, not being good enough, being exposed as an ‘imposter’, a charlatan, a fake, a loser, a bullsh***er) ♦ Procrastination (i.e. getting started) ♦ Boredom, lack of variety, stagnation, ‘dopamine-deficient’ environments ♦ Actual walls and poor layout of workspaces ♦ Silo working, no opportunity for sharing of ideas, experiences, challenges, achievements or resources ♦ Underdeveloped or inflexible communication skills (e.g. in resolving conflicts, being assertive, moderating own moods, inspiring others, promoting thinking, problem solving, demonstrating curiosity) ♦ Interpersonal communication based on interrupting, telling and imposing rather than employing coaching and mentoring skills and approaches
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