Exceptional, no other prep comes close, it understands that the physical and emotional welfare of it’s pupils is the foundation for learning. The teaching staff are understanding and have a wealth of experience of different needs, the pastorial care is woven into school life.
Parent, 2024
At Bruern pastoral care is at the heart of the whole school ethos. Daily pastoral meetings involving all staff allow us to share successes both big and small as well as track and resolve major and minor pastoral concerns. Furthermore, the teaching and boarding staff are ably assisted by a Bruern network of professionals including cognitive behavioural therapists, educational psychologists, school counsellors, bereavement counsellors and psychiatrists.
Your boys will see their tutor every morning (the juniors also see their tutor after lunch) and they should be the first port of call if there are any worries. We have a whole staff briefing every morning to discuss any issues for that day or reports from the day before and a nightly boarding diary to keep everyone in the loop as to what’s occurring. We also meet once a week to discuss any ongoing worries and care strategies as well as look ahead to any potential flashpoints such as potentially stressful exam periods.
Sometimes your child will need something extra. This may be part of their EHCP, for instance Occupational therapy, Speech and Language therapy or something that you or the school thinks they may benefit from.
We offer CBT (cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and this is fundamentally about changing your reaction to various triggers and obstacles. We also offer Social thinking groups and Lego therapy (social skills in disguise). Another Bruern staple is drawing and talking therapy; several of our teaching staff are qualified in this very low impact intervention for which there is no charge.
In addition we also have a school counsellor who is here twice a week and can scoop up a boy if perhaps there has been a bereavement or a parental absence, or for weekly sessions if a child is particularly aggrieved, sad or anxious. Furthermore we offer Positive Psychology coaching which has proved very popular. This is definitely not therapy, but coaching, drawing on the child’s strong points and using them as hooks to move forwards and gain resilience.
Most of these take place in our beautiful Hobbit huts and we try hard to make the least impact on core subjects as possible when we take them out.
Bruern has always provided exceptional pastoral care. At its simplest, pastoral care is the provision a school makes to ensure the physical and emotional welfare of its pupils. The staff at Bruern go above and beyond. We believe it is the essential foundation upon which learning can take place.
Please note some additional charges may apply but always discussed beforehand.
