The 5 Houses have developed their own distinctive identities well through identification with their own colour; name; motto; chosen charity; area of the school; engagement with inter-House competitions and assemblies.
We have taken this opportunity to completely change our school atmosphere and ethos; to create a proper ‘House System’ based upon more than just sports; to move as a school to academic monitoring; reduce tutor group size; build support for younger students from older ones; facilitate proper student mentoring by staff; improve corridor behaviour of students; and improve understanding of other year group events and issues for all students; increase staff awareness of what is going on across the school for all year groups; to mimic life after school where adults work with people of all ages.
PDL’s liaise effectively with a number of external agencies and successfully access a variety of support sources both within and outside of the school. These include: School Counsellor; child psychologist; school nurse; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the Rosewood centre; Educational Welfare Offices (EWO); attendance officer; Alternate Education packages through local colleges and EOTAS; Fairbridge (charity) support for students with challenging behaviour; Local Authority (LA) inclusion officers + KARA family support. This support is planned and accessed as a result of consistent and effective Pastoral Support Plan (PSP) monitoring and implementation of agreed plans.
