Pastoral Care

The Boarding and Day Experience

St John’s is a boarding and day School where our community is defined by very strong pastoral care. Pastoral care, or the well being of each boy and girl, is based upon a House system. There are six boys’ Houses, three boarding Houses and three day Houses and a Sixth Form Girls House. Each House has 70 boys with approximately 14 boys per year group. The Sixth Form Girls House contains 60 girls. The house provides the base for pupils during the school day, each having a place in their House where they can keep their belongings. Upper Sixth Formers can use their studies during private study lessons.

The House System

Each House is run by a Housemaster or Housemistress with a team of tutors who are allocated to each year group. Sixth Formers are routinely given the opportunity to help and support younger pupils through the prefect system or through running teams for House competitions. The Housemaster or Housemistress leads and manages the House and he or she is the first point of contact for parents for any advice or guidance. There is a Tutor for each year group and the Tutor sees the boys and girls at the beginning and end of each day.

Daily Life in the House

All pupils register with their Tutors at the start and end of the day. The Tutor will also go through their reports with tutees in order to help them fulfil their potential in their academic work. Tutors are also there for support and advice on a whole range of issues, from subject choices to more personal matters. Sixth Form Tutors (the Housemaster or Housemistress) also fulfil an important role in helping tutees with the university application process.

The strength of the House system is through establishing a very clear identity, a physical place in which the boys and girls feel a sense of belonging and are valued. Throughout their time at the School they will be supported and encouraged within this environment without condition. The House is a place in which the values of the School are communicated and reinforced. The boys and girls represent their Houses in a variety of activities ranging from sport, drama, debating and music, and many others. The House is a place in which the nurture they receive is an extension of that they might experience at home.

The boarding Houses offer a high standard of facilities and residential care in a School which possesses all the advantages of a boarding and day school on the same site. The boarders usually remain at School from Monday until Friday, returning home on a Saturday evening. This means that the boarders are able to benefit from the very full educational experience, whilst sharing their lives with their parents at the weekend. The boarders are able to take advantage of a close knit and vibrant community in which there are many activities and facilities available beyond the formal School day

The girls are part of South House which offers accommodation for boarding and day pupils. There is a Housemistress and a Tutor, who see the girls at the beginning and end of each day. There are approximately 60 girls in the House.

The strength of the House system is evident not just in the care which is offered to each pupil, but in a place where each pupil is valued as an individual. Beyond St John’s the friendships made in each House endure for many years, if not for life.