Pastoral Care and Support Network

Each year 9 student is placed in a house and tutor class at the beginning of each year. Family connections are considered in the house placement. Tutor classes are vertical, i.e.: there are 18 – 20 boys across all five year levels in each class. Your son will stay with the same tutor and tutor class for his time at the school.

The role of your son’s tutor is to:

Be the first point of contact for parents or the student regarding school matters
Be the one staff member who should know your son best
Monitor your son’s academic progress, guide his goal setting and mentor him where needed
Monitor your son’s attendance and organisation with regards to homework completion and assignments
Make referrals to Deans where necessary

A House Dean at Napier Boys’ High School provides the necessary support for all students in that house. Their role is fundamental to student achievement. Communication with students, staff, particularly guidance and senior management, and parents are key aspects. Deans have a genuine working relationship with students in their house.

Key Pastoral Care responsibilities:

To counsel students who have concerns about school life
To promote personal excellence and promote appropriate awards or recognition for their students
To evaluate student referrals from classroom teachers or parents and take remedial or
disciplinary action as required
To monitor attendance in conjunction with the attendance officer

The school Guidance Counsellors provide assistance and support for issues either at school or at home. Any student can access the guidance counsellor by leaving a note in the container outside their office door or directly making an appointment. Any staff member or caregiver can also refer students to a Counsellor. Any conversation which takes place with a Counsellor is confidential. Exceptions to this include cases where confidentiality may allow a significantly harmful situation to either arise or continue.

If you have a referral to make please use 06 833 5900, 021 109 4820, rsilver@nbhs.school.nz. The latter 2 contacts can be used any time but responses will be limited by counsellor availability (e.g. counselling someone else/sleep/…)

Learning support is designed to help junior students who are struggling with a particular subject or across the curriculum. It aims to make the curriculum achievable for all students. Learning support operates over a cycle of lessons, where the Learning Support Teacher observes the student in the classroom environment, and then designs an appropriate programme for the student concerned.

In addition Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) specialists work in the school in a variety of programmes. The RTLB service is integrated with the larger network of special education services and is designed to address moderate learning and/or behaviour difficulties. RTLBs work as itinerant, collaborative consultants assisting teachers to meet students’ needs