Pastoral Care Update

We are off to a busy start this term in the Pastoral Care team. Recently, we had a visit from ySafe, who spoke to Year 10 students about online safety, talking through some helpful case studies and sharing tools to help the boys interact constructively online. Additionally, this coming Monday 8 May, Year 11 will participate in the Building Connections Day with Roseville College and Queenwood. This day will involve external speakers on the topic of resilience and respectful relationships. We are also making some big steps forward with our student digital resilience strategy.

Our approach to Pastoral Care has many ways to build character and social and emotional capacity. Engaging with external speakers like ySafe and Your Choicez, who will be addressing Year 10 and 11 boys over the next few days, focuses on being safe and respectful online. With the introduction of student devices across the school, we now require further tools to help us to guide and support our boys. This week I emailed parents with information to begin rolling out the parental control application Qustodio. The product offers daily alerts and insights into student use of devices and empowers parents with more information and control. Qustodio allows parents to engage in more timely, informed, and open conversations with their children about their online activities, including discussions about potential risks they may encounter while using the internet. All Shore parents now have the information, and I encourage you to register and download the Qustodio app. The information will also soon be available through our digital safety hub.

Most importantly, these new tools give us the opportunity for more open communication and discussion about the online behaviour of our students. We want to continue to partner with parents to best support the boys in the digital space. Helping them to develop self-control and sound decision-making will allow them to successfully navigate online learning and interact with others safely and respectfully.

Mr D Champion
Acting Deputy Head Pastoral Care