Meet the Pastoral Team:
Mrs Brownlee - Pastoral Lead
Mrs Brownlee oversees the pastoral team and the pastoral support assistants. She has worked in Education for over 15 years. She specialises in children's wellbeing and looks at the holisitc needs of children. She has a primary school background and is passionate about yoga, meditation and the positive effects it can have for children. She has also completed the TQUK counselling Diploma and is one of our Mental Health first aiders. Mrs Brownlee leads Wellbeing club after school, which provides a calm and safe environment for the children to relax and talk to each other.
Miss Allan - Year 5 Pastoral
Miss Allan has worked at Westacre in the pastoral team for almost five years. Before joining Westacre, she completed her studies, where she gained her degree, qualifying as a children's social worker. Miss Allan has a background of supporting and caring for looked after children. Miss Allan is our Autism awareness mentor. She is able to provide specialist support to children, parents and staff. Miss Allan is also trained Lego Therapy and is one of our mental health first aiders, providing support to children to promote their mental health. Miss Allan has the responsibility of lunch club at Westacre, ensuring that our children have a safe, nurturing environment at lunch times.
Mrs Barlow - Year 6 Pastoral
Mrs Barlow has been working at Westacre for seven years and supports our year 6 children. She is currently working towards her degree in Primary Education. Mrs Barlow has superb expertise supporting children with complex needs. She ensures that the classroom is an inclusive, nurturing environment for all children. Mrs Barlow in particular has knowledge and experience of working with children with ADHD. Mrs Barlow is also trained in Lego Therapy and provides this intervention to children in her year group.
Mrs Burke - Year 7 Pastoral
Mrs Burke has worked at Westacre as a teaching assistant for 15 years. She has very recently joined the pastoral team and is delighted to be supporting the year 7 children. She has completed her apprenticeship in supporting learning and teaching, and has a great deal of experience helping children with language and communication difficulties. She is a keen artist who is eager to share her passion for all things arts and crafts with the children in her care.
What do the pastoral team do?
The Pastoral Team provide nurture and support to the children at Westacre. They also implement social and emotional interventions to support your child, if they need additional support at Westacre.
These interventions include:
- Coping with my worries
-Managing my emotions
-Art Therapy,
-Lego Therapy,
-Social Skills,
-Lunch Club,
-Positive Journalling,
- ADHD Awareness,
- Autism Awareness,
-Self Esteem
-Protective Behaviours,
-Structured Play
Wellbeing Club
The Pastoral team also run their own Wellbeing Club, taking place on a Wednesday from 3-4pm. This provides our children with the opportunity to have a weekly check in with both peers and the pastoral team, develop new friendships and learn strategies to help promote their wellbeing.
Lunch Club
As a pastoral team, we understand that for some children, lunch times can be a loud and busy place. The pastoral team therefore offer a specialist intervention to support our children who may require some nurture and support at lunch times. This is discussed with your child's class teacher, our pastoral lead and pastoral TA.
School Counsellor
Debbie Grice-Griffin is qualified and an accredited membership of the National Counselling Society. (NCS)
Debbie works to the National Counselling Society's Code of Ethics and incorporates these in all of her counselling work and holds an enhanced DBS. Working with children, Debbie helps them explore their emotions and feelings, using toys, books, art, or talking therapies, this enables children to understand, talk and be open.
Wellbeing and Emotional Support Practitioner
Charlotte works for the charity Onside, who provide children and young people with the skills and techniques to better manage their own emotional wellbeing. This helps the children improve their confidence and self-esteem. Charlotte is predominately based at Droitwich Spa High School, however, has weekly time with us in providing 1:1 support with our year 7 children, who would benefit from additional help.