JAPS is a very happy community where there is an absolute commitment to providing the children with first-class pastoral care. Our pastoral system has the following aims:

to produce an atmosphere in which all pupils are confident that they are liked, valued and respected, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses

to enable pupils to learn how they can help each other in their personal and social development

to offer sympathetic, effective guidance and counselling to the pupils as and when it is required

to contribute towards strengthening the links between the parents and the School.  This recognises that the education of a child is a shared task involving positive contributions from parents/guardians, pupils and teachers.

Buddy Groups meet once every half term and allow further personal and social development.  While class teachers invariably change each academic year, a Buddy Teacher at JAPS remains constant and girls will stay in the same Buddy group with the same Buddy teacher for the duration of her time in the middle school.  This enables close bonds to be forged and a high level of care and individual understanding to develop, providing another layer of pastoral care at JAPS.

Through team-building and often fun similar activities, a sense of belonging to a team is encouraged.  Recent Buddy Activities have included:

• Creating an Easter Basket for a buddy
• Designing 'good bye' cards for Year 6 buddies
• Making tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows
• Creating a poster on 'what makes a good buddy?'
• Planning a fundraising event that the Buddy Group can hold.

The School Council, chaired by the 2 Head girls and attended by the Form Captains from each class, has a three-fold vision: to give every girl at JAPS a 'voice', to help improve the school and to encourage everyone to become active and a responsible citizen.  Weekly meetings are held, following an agenda prepared by the Head Girls, to discuss current issues, read suggestions placed in the suggestions box and decide any course of action that can be taken.  While undertaking a project, the girls learn the importance of teamwork and communicating with everyone involved in the school - from the Head Teacher, the cooks and dinner ladies, the teachers and cleaners, the Parents Association and parents to the girls themselves.  Through practicing appropriate diplomatic methods for running meetings effectively and delegating responsibilities, the School Council has recently been involved in choosing charities for the school to support and setting up Wet Play boxes for each classroom.

All staff in teaching and non-teaching positions are involved in the pastoral care of all pupils in the school. Throughout the school the most important link in the pastoral chain is the Class Teacher: he or she is concerned with each child's overall welfare and makes huge efforts to ensure that all pupils feel happy and valued. All staff tell the Class Teacher if a child in the class has done something particularly noteworthy. In addition, the Class Teacher invariably gets to know the children's parents quickly, as there are many opportunities to meet on a formal and informal basis.

In the Middle School, each class has a Deputy Class Teacher, who provides an extra level of pastoral care for the pupils.  In the Pre-Prep, the same effect is achieved by the Nursery Nurses and Classroom Assistants.


Please click here for more details on School Council Constitution.