Schools with fantastic pastoral care

[Idoliketobebesidetheseaside]

Hello,

DD(8) has been bullied and the school have been rubbish about it. Her school also has big class sizes and a lot of disruptive behaviour in class (windows broken, shouting during lessons etc).

So, we're planning to move her - but there's only any point in doing that if it's to a school with really great pastoral care. Any recommendations? We hadn't ever previously thought of going private but are now considering it, and will be going round St George's, ESMS and Heriot's in the next couple of weeks.

If your DC are at any of these school, or at another school (state or private) where you think the pastoral care is great, I'd love to hear about it. Thank you!

There is praise on here for St George's and Watsons, less for Heriots at the moment. I've also heard mixed reviews of ESMS. Less favourable about MES but praise for Stewarts and mixed for ESMS Juniors.

Statewise - Tollcross and James Gillespies always get positive reviews.

Regarding visits...think of some searching questions to ask. Not straighforward ones like 'What does the school do about bullying?' but 'In which areas can the school improve?'.

Thanks tubularfells - that's a good questions suggestion.

Personally in my opinion Heriot’s have amazing pastoral Care, this is coming from my own personal experiance. I’ve also heard amazing things about Mary Erskine and St George’s and I know people who have children at both schools.
I have friends at Watson’s that love it and I have friends who are moving their children this year due to the bullying being so bad, I believe it featured in the papers again.

Any school can have its ups and downs, I do believe the smaller schools have the best pastoral care, they can watch over everything that is going on easier.

From experience Tollcross is a very supportive and inclusive school. If memory serves they had one of the best if not the best result for pupils' perception of safety in the city. It was something along those lines.

I was chatting to a parent recently who had moved one child out of Heriots as they felt the child wasn't getting the right support. That said their was an older sibling who was happy at Heriots. Might depend on year group or class teacher.

Thanks KingLooieCatz.

I have to say that we’ve found the pastoral care at Heriot’s to be excellent. My child struggled with friendship group and self-esteem problems for a time, and she received so much help and understanding from the pastoral care team - they were wonderful.

Check the staff to child ratio

Tells you how much extra hands and additional time which may be available

TA in class?
All helps

Thanks GinUrgentlyRequired, that's good to know - and yes, GreenTulips, I think the staff to child ratio is crucial. DD has a good classroom teacher at the moment but she's just stretched too thin.