We have a whole range of pastoral care events and activities at PLC Armidale. Some of the activities aim to build support for students, establish and reinforce good relationships; others are about reaching out to and being part of, the school and the wider community. We spoke to the Pastoral Care Co-ordinators Robyn Hadfield, Anita Brown and Kate Clynch about some of their initiatives.

What are some of the pastoral care activities that PLC Armidale offers?

We have a whole range of pastoral care events and activities at PLC Armidale. Some of the activities aim to build support for students or establish and reinforce good relationships. Others are about reaching out to and being part of the College and the wider community:

Friendship Camp

Year 11 Leadership Day

Peer support

Regular pastoral care sessions, where we discuss the meaning of a concept such as ‘responsibility’

Social Service is viewed as an ongoing commitment

Students collect for Red Cross, Red Shield, participate in the World Vision 40 Hour Famine, donate blood through Red Cross, support teenage cancer and visit nursing homes
We have an Activities Week in Term 4, where we all participate in community service

Year 7 knit squares for donation to charity

Letters to our sponsor child

Weekly prayer meetings

What is meant by a whole school approach to pastoral care?

Pastoral care at PLC Armidale is closely associated with our Christian values. We are a loving, inclusive community, where no student walks alone. This means that pastoral care is the responsibility of all at PLC Armidale. This includes staff and students, as we aim for all at the College to feel confident and secure in their school environment. Pastoral care is not separate from school life, but is an integral part of every day at PLC Armidale.

The pastoral care structure includes classroom teachers, Stage Coordinators, the Pastoral Care Coordinator, Chaplain, Head of School and Deputy, Boarding House Staff, the Head of the Junior School, and Director of Student Learning and Support.

What are the objectives of pastoral care at PLC Armidale?

The objectives of pastoral care are to support students as they progress through the College – through the various stages of their development – and consciously educate them in complex issues of contemporary life such as cyber-safety, managing stress and anxiety and living a balanced, honest, purposeful life.

Pastoral care is organised to give students access to staff, such as their pastoral care teacher and their Stage Coordinators, to allow them to develop positive relationships.

How do you achieve the ojectives of pastoral care?

Pastoral care sessions are held three times a week. Students are in pastoral groups based on their year groups and meet with their two pastoral care teachers during this time. Coordinators meet frequently to work together on the pastoral care issues that arise. All staff are involved in pastoral care, and all staff work hard to ensure that they know their students.

PLC also liaise with parents and family, because we believe in working with the students and their families to solve problems.

A detailed pastoral care programme is devised for each year group and then individualised by pastoral care teachers according to the needs of their group.

How does your pastoral care programme focus on values?

A values focus ensures that core values are an integral part of the everyday school life at PLC Armidale. This focus allows us to develop the individual and educate girls about Christian values that underpin education at PLC Armidale. Each semester we choose a value to explore. This semester in pastoral care we are focusing on responsibility. We are discussing and reflecting on practical ways that girls take responsibility in their own lives, in families and communities.

What are PLC Armidale’s core values?

PLC Armidale is a Christian community where values of love, truthfulness, compassion, inclusiveness, setting and reaching goals and forgiveness permeate teaching and learning.

What are the challenges you face in your pastoral care role?

The teenage years themselves are challenging for many girls, and our aim is to support them during this time.

Pastoral care can be difficult to define and the needs of the students are constantly changing, which means that my pastoral care role is also constantly changing. We see ourselves as being responsive to their needs – and non-judgmental.

What role does good pastoral care in schools play in the wider community?

Students who feel supported at school are able to participate effectively in the wider community and contribute in a positive way. The skills learned through our pastoral care programme are skills for life and benefit students long after they have left the classroom. All schools are concerned not only with educating our youth, but with their total well being. When girls enter Year 7 at PLC Armidale, they become part of a peer support group. All students in Year 11 receive leadership training at the end of Year 10, and a number are selected to act as peer support leaders for the incoming Year 7 students. In groups of six or seven, the Year 7 students are led by two Year 11 students. Throughout the year, groups meet informally to chat, celebrate birthdays and so on.

In early Term 1, all of Year 7, their Year 11 peer support leaders and a number pastoral care leaders participate in Friendship Camp. This is an important time, when friendships are made and the focus is on activities which explore the qualities of a good friend. Year 11 students gain leadership experience and Year 7 students not only form friendships, but form a bond with a senior student whom they can be assured will help them through the first few years of Senior School.

On a day-to-day basis, pastoral care works like this: a group of around 15-25 students from the same year group are led by two pastoral care teachers. They meet formally three times a week. Pastoral care time is used for a range of activities: discussion, games, addressing values, planning and undertaking social service, problem solving and so on.

How we want our PLC Armidale community to work is made explicit – with messages in assembly, chapel talks, the way we relate to each other in lessons and behavioural expectations. Pastoral care reinforces the same messages of community, care, kindness and an intelligent, flexible response to problems.