PASTORAL CARE AND SUPPORT

Shrewsbury is a warm, friendly and caring school that welcomes children from all cultures, backgrounds and experiences. It is important to us that we maintain an ethos where each child is happy, and feels secure, valued and fulfilled, and that we create an environment where their individuality is recognised and respected.

Our school prioritises the wellbeing of our students, placing their needs and happiness at the centre of everything we do, and everything we ask our students to do. Our teachers pride themselves on the individual attention and pastoral care that they provide to students and on the partnerships they develop with parents.

We work hard to build a professional yet caring rapport between the students and staff. In this way all students know that there are adults in the school they can trust. Every student has a teacher dedicated to overseeing their social, emotional and academic progress through the school (their class teacher in Junior School, or their Form Tutor in Senior School).

As an additional level of support for individual students, the School also has a dedicated Wellbeing Team for both Junior and Senior Schools. The role of the Wellbeing Team is to support children in overcoming barriers to learning and to help these students reach their full potential. These barriers may be caused by social, emotional or behavioural issues and the Wellbeing Team will, based on their deep understanding of the student and the pressures they face both within school and beyond, work with them to help establish a positive and productive approach to their school life.

When more complex issues arise we work closely with local services and specialist providers to ensure that we are offering the most appropriate care and support for all of our students.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Shrewsbury International School is committed to Child Safeguarding; a commitment that is underpinned by strong safeguarding systems and processes, and a team of dedicated support staff. Shrewsbury has three Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL), who together ensure that these systems are fit for purpose, and maintained and adhered to at all times. All DSLs are trained to UK standards.

These systems allow students to feel safe, to feel empowered to talk about their concerns, and to feel that their concerns will be heard. The systems are understood by everyone in our community and we all recognise our responsibility towards building an environment in which our students can grow into confident, caring and compassionate adults.

The wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance and is fundamental to the way we operate.

Our Commitment

Shrewsbury International School is a school fully committed to fulfilling its responsibilities for safeguarding students. In order to meet this commitment to Child Safeguarding, the school:

• will create an atmosphere within the school which helps students to feel safe and able to talk freely, believing that they will be listened to and valued;
• will ensure children know that there are adults in the school whom they can approach if they are worried;
• will raise the awareness of all staff about their responsibility for identifying and responding to possible concerns of abuse;
• will provide support and guidance to all members of the school community;
• will dedicate time in the curriculum to help students understand how to stay safe from abuse and to give them the confidence to seek help.

Our standards

Our Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures are informed by three documents: The Child Protection Act of Thailand (2003), Keeping Children Safe in Education (2017 - UK), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Following this guidance, the school aims to strike a balance between:

• the rights of students to express their views on decisions made about their lives;
• the rights of parents to exercise their responsibilities towards the child;
• the duty of the interested agencies to intervene where the child’s welfare requires it.

Health, Safety and Medical

Healthy, active lifestyles, supported by good nutritional choices are essential to the wellbeing, happiness and development of our students. These principles permeate many aspects of school life at Shrewsbury, from the range of opportunities for physical recreation and play, to food provided in our canteens and the education that surround students’ meal choices, and crucially, to the partnerships that we form with parents to ensure they have the information and guidance they need to ensure that the same principles are continued in the home environment.

The physical health of our community is supported by specialist staff at our on-site medical centre. We also employ a full-time health and safety manager to ensure that the operational aspects of the school are conducted in accordance with the highest international standards and best practice.