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Care of children is central to the work we do at St James’ because each one is a unique person of God and worthy of respect.

Pastoral care at St James’ is of the utmost importance to us to ensure the welfare of every child. The Senior Leadership Team, Pastoral Managers, Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, SENCO, Heads of Year, Form Tutors and the Attendance and Family Liaison Manager are all involved in the planning and delivery.

Every child joining St James’ becomes part of a tutor group. The Form Tutor will have an overview of the child’s academic progress, spiritual and social welfare. The Form Tutor will be your first point of contact and will be able to deal with the majority of your questions and concerns.

The Year team is led by a Head of Year and supported by our Pastoral Managers. The team ensures a high level of contact with parents and carers and is there to support you and your child in any serious or urgent pastoral issues that may arise. It is essential that our pastoral staff are informed about any changes to health or changes in circumstances at home. In all matters of support and discipline, parents are involved at an early stage and are welcome to contact school whenever there is a concern.

Our Pastoral Managers have non-teaching roles and are based in our Pastoral office, Emmaus. Pastoral support provides the link in the educational chain between home and school as they work closely with children throughout the school offering advice and support both in curricular and extracurricular time. In addition to this we also have a Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator who meets with specific children who need additional support for their mental health and wellbeing.

For students who are struggling with their mental health and need additional support in school. This includes students who are awaiting a referral to local mental health services, including CAMHS or Counselling. Students can access this support through a referral by one of the pastoral managers or their Head of Year. Within a seven day turn around, the Mental Health Coordinator will then begin to have regular check in’s with the student depending on their need. St.James’ also offers low level therapies depending on the child’s needs through the Mental Health Support Team who come into school each week. This referral is made through the mental health lead.

Our Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO) supervises our provision throughout the school with the support from external agencies including the Learning Support Service (LSS) from the Local Authority and other external support agencies. St James’ is designed to accommodate children with physical impairments and accordingly the school has no stairs and all areas of the school are accessible by wheelchair users.

Our SENCO is responsible for any children who may have medical needs. They work seamlessly with our admin member of staff for SEND and Pastoral to ensure that any children who have any medical needs are catered for in school time and also on school trips. The children also benefit from a part time school based nurse who meets with children who have been referred by our SENCO and/or Pastoral team.

The Pastoral Managers also work within our Damascus room where they work with our children and demonstrate one of our most important Catholic values of forgiveness. Within our inclusion room children are afforded the opportunity to reflect on decisions where they have made the wrong choices and have restorative conversations with other staff or children.

At St James’ we value the home school partnership and look forward to working closely together to ensure that your child succeeds.

Young Carers

A ‘Young Carer’ is a child or young adult who spends time looking after or helping a member of their family who because of an illness or disability, mental health problem or drug and alcohol issue is unable to take care of everyday tasks themselves without some help. The help you may give could be shopping, making meals, doing the laundry, or perhaps you help out with nursing care, e.g. giving medication or lifting someone up and down stairs or in and out of bed. Maybe you give your time just to be with someone when they need company.

How many carers are there?

  • There are about 700,000 young carers in the UK
  • That’s about one in 12 secondary-aged pupils
  • There are likely to be young carers in every school and college.

What might a young carer do?

  • Practical tasks, such as cooking, housework and shopping
  • Physical care, such as helping someone out of bed
  • Emotional support, such as talking to someone who is distressed
  • Personal care, such as helping someone dress
  • Managing the family budget and collecting prescriptions
  • Helping to give medicine
  • Helping someone communicate
  • Looking after brothers and sisters.

Being a young carer can have a big impact on the things that are important to growing up. It can affect a young person’s health, social life and self-confidence. Many young carers struggle to juggle their education and caring which can cause pressure and stress.

  • In a survey, 39% said that nobody in their school was aware of their caring role
  • 26% have been bullied at school because of their caring role
  • 1 in 20 miss school because of their caring role.
  • But young people can learn lots of useful skills by being a young carer.

If you think you or someone you know at school is a young carer and not coping, please inform Emmaus.

Who to contact:

The Emmaus Team:

Pastoral Managers, who can support with any pastoral concerns you may have

Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, who will support with any mental health or wellbeing concerns

Attendance and Family Liaison Manager, who will support with any absences or requests for leave

SENCO, who can support with any Special Educational Needs or medical needs that your child may have

Heads of Year, who can support with any general concerns you may have about your child

Deputy Headteacher for Pastoral and Designated Safeguarding Lead, who can support with any safeguarding or pastoral concerns

Assistant Headteacher for Behaviour and Attitudes, who can support with any behavioural concerns

Stockport Family Hubs
St James’ also works closely with the Early Help Teams and the Family Hubs within Stockport. You can find more information on how the Family Hubs work and more support through the Stockport Family Hubs website

“With God all things are possible”

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”

Matthew 19:26

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