Our 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.
Pastoral Care is ensuring every child is provided with 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, thorough 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.
In terms of student welfare, the person directly responsible for the 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 as well as 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 Year Coordinator and relevant Director of Pastoral Care. 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 Director of Pastoral Care of any pastoral issues that arise in the School community.
JSRACS has six Houses which are the basis or our Pastoral Care system. On enrolment, a student is placed in one of the Houses and remains a member of the designated House through to Year 12. Once students enter high school and are allocated a Pastoral Care Group (PCG), they will remain with this group of students and PCG Tutor for the remainder of their time at JSRACS. By structuring our Pastoral Care in this way, we ensure that students always have a safe place within the school. A place where they have a constant connection to a staff member who will see them twice a day and is available for both parents and students to reach out to should they have any concerns.
The House system also plays a significant part in school events with students participating in inter-house events including cross-country, swimming and athletics carnivals along with theatre sports and music competitions.
In the primary years, House Activity competitions are coordinated 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 Senior School, each House is allocated staff members as the House Leader and Year Coordinator. They are responsible for overseeing the Pastoral Care Groups (PCGs), supporting and promoting each student’s welfare assigned to their House. The House Leader frequently visit the PCGs and work closely with each of the PCG tutors to ensure that any student concerns are resolved with care and support. PCG tutors will often refer students to the House Leader for various pastoral, behavioural and educational concerns, with only a few of these concerns being passed on to the Director of Pastoral Care. A key role of the House Leader is to promote House’s activities and encourage students to develop a sense of belonging to their House and House pride.
Expression of interest
