The Pastoral Care
Pastoral Care at John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School
The overall well-being of each individual person is of paramount importance in the Anglican tradition of Schooling. It is the responsibility of all members of the school community to promote this in their formal and informal dealings with one another.
To create an environment where each individual can flourish, John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School endeavours to establish compassionate connections between all members of the school community.
The school has specific staffing and organisational structures that facilitate the nurturing of all its members. While sound structures form the backbone of our Pastoral Care system, they do not operate at the expense of the wholeness of each individual who may have quite special needs.
Primary
Pastoral Care is ensuring every child is provided the care, support and encouragement required to develop fully in all aspects of themselves - cognitive, physical, emotional and creative. By providing the opportunities to develop the ‘wholeness’ of each child, they are able to explore their own interests and have opportunities to celebrate their successes and uniqueness.
Pastoral Care in the primary years is the predominant domain of the classroom teacher. Teaching staff members maintain responsibility for the pastoral care needs of students, including but not limited to day-to-day care and control, as well as the mental and emotional development of all students.
A student’s assigned classroom teacher takes a particular interest in the welfare and academic progress of students in his or her care. The classroom teacher is best able to provide the care and support individual students require. Particular information relative to a child is disseminated through the classroom teacher to other staff, as is deemed necessary, to fully support a student.
Further academic support may be provided through the School’s Education Support staff. An Education Support teacher to assist teaching staff and parents in responding as necessary to a student’s particular needs is located in the primary section of each campus. Further support may be forthcoming via early intervention programmes and the School Psychologist, through assessment and diagnosis of learning, emotional or behavioural problems.
School structures and regulations dictate staff ratios, with Kindergarten working in a 3 group structure comprising approximately 20 students per grouping and 2 staff members. Pre-Primary groups increase to 30 students working with two staff members. Year 1 comprises 30 students, with an equivalent of 1.5 staff members. From Year 2 class groups may increase to 32 students with 1.5 staff members per group. From Year 3 to 6 class sizes can be up to 32 students working with a classroom teacher. Additional Education Support is provided in the classroom or by withdrawal, dependant upon the identified needs of individual students.
Middle School and Secondary
In terms of student welfare, the person directly responsible for pastoral care of any given student in Years 7 to 12 is the Pastoral Care Tutor. He or she is in close daily contact with each student and is best able to monitor the child’s academic progress, attendance, behaviour and general physical and emotional well-being and be the first response person if a need is identified. When a student does ask for help, the Pastoral Care Tutor may seek support for the student from a number of sources. These will progressively include the House Coordinator and relevant Assistant Principal. Other support staff include members of the Chaplaincy team, Education Support Services and Heads of Department. As a matter of procedure, the Principal is kept informed by the Assistant Principal Pastoral Care on a weekly basis regarding the pastoral care needs of individual students and the School’s response to their needs.
The House System
For the purposes of Pastoral Care and Administration the school has six Houses. On enrolment, a student is placed in one of the Houses and remains a member of the designated House through to Year 12. Siblings are placed in the same House. The House system also plays a significant part in school sporting events with students participating in inter-house events including cross-country, swimming and athletics carnivals. The House system and structure comes further into play during the middle and senior secondary years of schooling.
In the primary years the Managing Student Behaviour Coordinator coordinates House Activity competitions in a vertical fashion to enable students within a phase of learning to interact with older and younger members of their House group. Students participate in Inter-school sporting events to accumulate points towards their respective primary campus House Shield.
In middle and secondary, each House has two House Coordinators, one for each of the Middle and Senior Secondary schools. The House Coordinator is given the special responsibility of overseeing the Pastoral Care Groups (PCGs), supporting and promoting the welfare of each student assigned to their House.
The House Coordinators frequently visit the PCGs and work closely with each of the PCG tutors to ensure that any matters of concern about a student are dealt with and resolved. PCG tutors will often refer students to the House Coordinator for a variety of pastoral, behavioural and educational reasons and some of these concerns will be passed on to the Assistant Principal Pastoral Care to whom the House Coordinators are responsible. A key role of the House Coordinator is to promote the activities of the House and to encourage students to develop a sense of belonging to their
House and to participate in inter house activities. The names of these Houses have their own history and origin.
Durham House
Thomas Hobbes Scott was a Church of England clergyman. He was ordained deacon in 1821, became a priest that same year, and in 1822 was appointed rector of Whitfield, in the diocese of Durham. Between 1824 and 1829, he held the position of archdeacon of New South Wales with authority in the dependencies of New South Wales, including Van Diemen's Land. He tried to establish schools that would be funded by investments from land given to the Church but he faced strong opposition from many government sectors and other religious traditions. He resigned this role in 1829. He was delayed in Perth for some months as the ship taking him home hit a reef and had to be repaired and he became actively involved in Church life in the newly founded colony. Scott returned to his parish at Whitfield in England, was appointed archdeacon there in 1841 and became an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral in 1845.
Durham House is represented by the colour blue and by the emblem of a Knight.
Kelmscott House
In November 1829, just five months after the founding of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia, an exploring party led by Governor Sir James Stirling and included surveyor John Septimus Roe, chose a site for a new town on the banks of the Canning River. In the new colony at the time was Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott who had just completed some years of service in New South Wales trying to establish church directed schools. He was on his return voyage to England in H.M.S. Success when the ship struck a reef off Fremantle in November and Scott was marooned at the new Swan River settlement. For the first two months he was the only ordained minister in Perth. With help from settlers and particularly the garrison, he built a temporary church, where he held the colony's first Christmas service and the first Holy Communion.
When the colonial chaplain, J. B. Wittenoom, arrived Scott gave him brotherly assistance and unofficial advice, and won much popular regard in the new community. In 1830, the Kelmscott Town Site was promulgated as one of the first towns in the State. The Governor named the new town Kelmscott, as a tribute to Archdeacon Thomas Scott who freely gave his services to establish the Anglican Church in the new settlement. The name Kelmscott honours Scott’s birthplace in England.
Kelmscott House is represented by the colour green and by the emblem of a Cougar.
Newbury House
Newbury is named after the town of Newbury in the county of Berkshire, England where John Septimus Roe was born in May 1797. Newbury was founded late in the eleventh century following the Norman invasion as a new borough, hence its name. Although there are references to the borough that predate the Domesday Survey it is not mentioned by name in the survey. Doubt has been cast over the existence of 'Newbury Castle', but the town did have Royal connections and was visited a number of times by King John and Henry III while hunting in the area. Newbury was also the site of two Civil War battles; the nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle.
Today, Newbury town has a population of about 33,000 and serves as the major commercial and retail centre of West Berkshire. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF airbase at Greenham Common.
Newbury House is represented by the colour purple and by the emblem of a lion.
Parmelia House
Parmelia is named after the barque (boat) that John Septimus Roe and his wife travelled from England on 3 February 1829. They arrived at the swan River Colony on 1 June 1829.
The Parmelia was built in Quebec, Canada in 1825. She was 117 feet (36 metres) long, 29 feet (9 metres) wide and 20 feet (6 metres) deep in the hold; and she was rated at 443 tons. Parmelia was sent to London and in 1826 she was used as a troop carrier. For the next year, she operated under charter to the British East India Company, carrying goods and passengers between London and Bengal.
In 1828 the British government, at the urging of Captain James Stirling, decided to establish a colony at the Swan River in Western Australia and the Parmelia was responsible for carriage of the civilian officials and settlers. Later that year, Stirling chartered the Parmelia to bring food supplies from Java. In 1830, she returned to England. For the next nine years, Parmelia was used to transport convicts to the penal colonies on the east coast of Australia.
She made nine such voyages, each of them carrying at least 200 prisoners. On 3 May 1839 she was destroyed by fire, five days later, Lloyd's of London wrote her off; any remaining timbers were probably salvaged for other purposes.
Parmelia House is represented by the colour black and by the emblem of an eagle.
Roebourne
Roebourne House was named after John Septimus Roe who was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia.
John Septimus Roe and his new wife embarked on the Parmelia on 3 February 1829. When he arrived at the Swan River on 1 June 1829 he immediately set about making preliminary surveys of the harbour, river and surrounding land. The sites of Perth and Fremantle were chosen on his recommendation and he was responsible for doing the survey for many of the main towns outside of Perth.
Arguably the most significant legacy left by Roe was the setting aside of Kings Park. Whilst Malcolm Fraser and John Forrest were most instrumental in the establishment of Kings Park it was clearly Roe who was responsible for the initial setting aside of the park.
Roebourne House is represented by the colour red and by the emblem of a Dragon.
Sandleford House
Sandleford was named after Sandleford Priory which was situated in Roe’s home town of Newbury.
John Septimus Roe was born in Newbury, in the country of Berkshire in May 1797. He was the seventh son of Reverend James Roe who was the Rector of Newbury Parish. Nearby was Sandleford Priory, a grand residence, in the chapel of which Reverend Roe sometimes held services. The Roe family background was deeply rooted in the Church, and it was a heritage that they cherished.
Sandleford House is represented by the colour yellow and by the emblem of a Shark.