Pastoral care forms an integral part of The Westgate School. It is vital for any student to succeed that they feel safe and happy in their learning environment, therefore, we have gone to great lengths to ensure that the school is run as a community in which young people have the opportunity to interact with all age groups and share learning experiences and best practice.

Within the four school communities of: Hackett, McGowan, Peters and Thomas, young people have the opportunity to meet and work together promoting such things as mutual respect; having pride in what they do and achieve; making positive contributions to their school and the wider community; raising money for charities and learning about the world in which they live and issues that impact them.

The school has a fantastic pastoral team who are extremely pro-active in the role, ensuring as far as possible that they can resolve potential barriers to learning before they become significant issues. Communication between home and school is vital in this process and, therefore, we welcome open and honest communication between parents and school to ensure we work collaboratively in the best interest of the students.  For The Westgate School, ‘no question is too small to ask’.

As we value this care so highly, all pastoral staff are non-teaching so are available throughout the working day. The pastoral team are supported by school based counsellors. We are very proud how often visitors comment upon the wonderful atmosphere as they walk around the school.

At The Westgate School, we know that in order for your child to reach their potential that they will need ongoing support and help.  One of the many ways that we have chosen to do this is by providing a Counselling and Mentoring Service within the school. 

There may be issues that are creating pressure or stress for a student, which they might find difficult to work through alone.  For this purpose Sashi Sehgal and Sandra Powell whom are both qualified Counsellors, are on hand to meet with students. 

The aim of Counselling is to help relieve distress; this can take place by talking through problems in order to make sense of them.  We also provide some Mentoring at school, which is a similar process to Counselling.  It is aimed at helping students develop goals and work towards them to further aid their personal development.