Pastoral Guidance
Personal tutors and Heads of House provide guidance, monitoring and support through each stage of the sixth form journey, for every student.
Tutors act as a first point of contact for any concerns or queries about progress or wellbeing at college, for students and parents. The tutorial programme, delivered weekly, helps students to settle into college, develop independent learning skills and supports students in making decisions about the future.
Regular one-to-one meetings allow tutors to provide individual advice and to set targets when needed to help a student achieve their potential.
More specialist support is available when required from other teams such as Student Services, Study Support, Student Wellbeing and Careers
Wellbeing Support
The College offers additional well-being support, either on a short-term or long-term basis. Students who have concerns about their mental health and/or emotional wellbeing are encouraged to inform their tutor and/or Head of House who can signpost support both within the College and via external agencies. Also, the College has a Wellbeing team who may be able to refer the student to more tailored or specialist advice and guidance.
.b Mindfulness Course
Mindfulness is a mind-body based training that enables people to change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful experiences. This 10 week course aims to help students understand how they can train their minds to focus on the present and break unhelpful mental habits. The course is run by the Mindfulness sin Schools Project (MiSP), a leading provider of mindfulness classroom curricula in the UK.
Last year 179 students actively participated and completed the .b course. Feedback highlighted that students found the course to be most helpful in ‘coping with difficulty’ and ‘taking in the good stuff’.
There is a strong evidence base highlighting the positive impact mindfulness can have on well-being. Feedback MiSP has received from schools and colleges about the .b course highlights the wide ranging benefits to young people. MiSP Feedback
Weekly Student Meditation Sessions
These sessions run every Friday during the Enrichment period and are led by our Mindfulness Coordinator.
The Counselling Service
Counselling at Collyer’s is provided by the ‘YMCA Dialogue’ service.
The service is led by a Lead Counsellor and three Honorary Counsellors. The counselling service operates in college four days a week and routinely they offer a course of between six and eight counselling sessions.
Student Feedback: ‘I accessed the counselling service and it was very helpful and connected me to other resources such as Find It Out and the Youth Hub team who have been a constant support through my college years’. (2018)
Mentoring
Mentoring is provided by members of the college’s well-bring team all of whom have experience and expertise in supporting vulnerable students. It can be accessed as an alternative to counselling or whilst a student is waiting for their counselling to start.
For further details regarding our offer please see our Supporting Learners Policy
More specialist support is available when required from other teams such as Student Services, Study Support, Student Wellbeing and Employability and Progression. A personal tutor will often play a key role in identifying this need.