Wellbeing & Pastoral Care

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Wellbeing & Pastoral Care

Wellbeing

At The British School of Barcelona we want to affirm to every student that their whole wellbeing matters, that’s Mind, Body and Spirit, aspects which are intrinsically connected to their academic progress.

We know that we can’t separate Academic Health from the Physical and Emotional, that when students are emotionally well it positively impacts their engagement in class and the wider world around them. “Who am I”, “Who and I to you?” and “Who am I to the Wider World?” are key questions we want every student to be able to answer and that starts with every student knowing and having confidence in who they are and who they can become.

Our wellbeing coordinators in both Primary (Wellbeing Leads) and Secondary and Pre-University (Wellbeing Mentor) are responsible for establishing the necessary support mechanisms and resources to help students develop skills such as resilience, creativity and determination that will allow it to face in the future the demands of the complex and constantly changing world in which we live.

Wellbeing is embodied through our pastoral system and at the heart of the student-tutor relationship. Wellbeing is also the foundation of a Cognita Education and it is integral to our overall purpose of ‘Providing an inspiring world of education: building self-belief and empowering individuals to succeed’.

Wellbeing Award for Schools

In January 2022 we achieved the Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS). This is a wellbeing related accreditation which formally recognises that BSB has met very high standards of provision for emotional wellbeing and mental health within our school community.

The verification report highlights our effective approach to wellbeing, the strategies we equip students with to support their own wellbeing, the whole-school engagement, and the calmness that pervades the school.

BSB is the only school in Catalonia that has been accredited with the Wellbeing Award for Schools, and one of the only two schools in all Spain.

BSB, a place of emotional wellbeing and support

At BSB we have been working very hard over the last few years to raise the profile of emotional wellbeing and mental health across school. The Wellbeing Award for Schools provided us with a rigorous framework to self-evaluate our provision with a whole-school approach and create an action plan to target specific areas for improvement.

With this award, we demonstrate our commitment to:

Promoting mental health as part of every day school life
Improving the emotional well-being of our school community
Ensuring mental health problems are identified early and appropriate support is provided
Offering provision and interventions that matches the needs of our school community
Promoting the importance of mental health awareness
Capturing the views of parents, pupils and teachers on mental health issues

We will continue to develop practices to ensure that wellbeing is embedded in the long-term culture of our school, creating an ethos where mental health is regarded as the responsibility of all.

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“It is clear that the school is committed to supporting the wellbeing of all its stakeholders. It is also evident that BSB takes a thoughtful and informed approach to its provision which is both needs led and evaluated for effectiveness. ”

The report highlights that it is evident that at BSB we take a thoughtful and informed approach to our wellbeing provision and that there is a clear accountability framework for wellbeing, with well-developed recording and reporting mechanisms.

The award verifier points out that pupils are confident about reporting concerns and where they can go for help. They can all site examples of opportunities they have had to learn about wellbeing as well as talking about strategies they have learned to support their own wellbeing. He also states that “Students enjoy a range of leadership opportunities with regard to emotional wellbeing and mental health”.

The report also recognises that BSB staff are aware of a significant increase in the number of wellbeing concerns since the beginning of the pandemic and have a broad range of strategies in place to address these concerns.

There is clear evidence that the school analyses key stakeholder feedback (pupils, parents, staff) carefully to ensure a whole-school approach.

Outdoor spaces are attractive and include ‘natural areas’ to provide additional calm spaces and promote social interaction.

Wellbeing is a priority across Cognita and BSB is actively sharing its knowledge and skills around emotional wellbeing and mental health with partners in the organisation.

Global Be Well Day

Global Be Well Day is an annual groundbreaking initiative promoted by Cognita worldwide to raise awareness about the importance of physical and emotional wellbeing.

BSB Be Well

Resources for the whole family

Pastoral Care

The British School Barcelona pastoral care system relies on the informed supportive structure in which all teachers play an active part in the welfare of our students. The principal duties of BSB School tutors are to see each student in their tutor group, both formally and informally, to develop a relationship of trust and confidence, and be closely and continuously aware of individual tutee’s problems providing practical and moral support.

The British School of Barcelona Tutorial system has many purposes; we try to foster our students’ personal and social growth, so that they develop a sense of individual responsibility and an awareness of health-related issues. We also supervise their academic progress and encourage them to develop sound habits of work and study.

BSB School encourage students in small groups to express themselves confidently and articulately by developing students’ critical thinking, expression of opinion, self-confidence, leadership qualities, initiative and public-speaking skills. We aim to broaden students’ cultural and intellectual interests through our vibrant PSHE programme (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education).

Weekly tutorial sessions take place in all years groups,from Nursery to Year 13.