Pastoral Care and Support for students

Pastoral care is central to the ethos of the College. Most of our teachers, managers and senior managers at College have a pastoral role. Pastoral care is integrated into everything we do.

You will be supported by a Personal Tutor in a particular tutor group. Under normal circumstances, you will meet with your Personal Tutor each day. If you have any queries or problems about your course or any other aspect of College life, the first person to consult is normally your Personal Tutor. S/he will also review your progress regularly with you, based on assessments received from your subject tutors, and will guide you on course choices for Year 2, Higher Education and progression matters. Your Personal Tutor will put you in touch with more specialist advice if it is needed.

You are also supported by a Senior Tutor. You may need to see your Senior Tutor about such matters as a change of course, applications for jobs or Higher Education or other significant issues. You may be referred to your Senior Tutor for advice and guidance by your Personal Tutor. You can make an appointment to see your Senior Tutor via our Senior Tutor Support Staff. Their office is on the third floor (Room 337). Make sure that you know the name of your specific Senior Tutor and the location of his/her office. Each tutor group has a number and the first digit indicates your Division, e.g. Tutor group 209 is in Division 2.

If you have a problem relating to a course, remember you can talk to your subject tutor, your Personal Tutor or your Senior Tutor, the relevant Head of Department or the Assistant Principal in charge of pastoral support (Jo Cadman).

Your Wellbeing

The Welfare Hub, room 124, provides a variety of support services to help with health, welfare and well-being. You can drop in to access services or ask for information; you can also request appointments for one to one help from the Welfare Coordinator or one of the Welfare Assistants. email: welfare@colchsfc.ac.uk

We can help you to get support from outside agencies when that is appropriate.

We have a counselling service, which you can access via your Senior Tutor or Jo Cadman or via email: counsellor@colchsfc.ac.uk.

Our Chaplain also offers help and advice to students of all faiths and none, on a wide range of matters: chaplain@colchsfc.ac.uk

The College also hosts a Mental Health Support Team, employed by Mind, called the WARMS team, who provide programmes of one to one support and groups to provide early intervention for issues such as anxiety and low mood. Referral is via the Welfare Hub.

Child Protection and Safeguarding

The College has a legal duty of care. This duty includes ensuring that students have a safe environment and highlights a need to be aware of any possible ‘child abuse’ and take action to keep all our students safe. A child in this context is defined as any young person under the age of eighteen but we treat all our students equally, including our 18 and 19 year old students. “Safeguarding” involves not just protecting students from harm but also promoting wellbeing, giving students the ability to keep themselves safe as they reach adulthood.

Please share any safeguarding concerns you may have, to help yourself, a friend or another student if you are worried about them. You should talk to your Personal Tutor, Senior Tutor or to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Jo Cadman room 126C. (See also the main Safeguarding page of this website.)

Your Health

Health and Safety

Health and Safety is very important. Everyone should help to establish and maintain a safe environment, like all users of the College, students are expected to take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others. You are asked to bring any hazard to the attention of staff. College safety rules and procedures should be observed at all times, including procedures established for specialist activities e.g. Sport, Science, and staff instructions must be followed at all times. You must not wilfully misuse, neglect or interfere with any item provided for safety. If you have an accident or a near miss in College, no matter how trivial and even if it was your fault, please see any member of staff who will help you complete an Accident Form so that the College can monitor accidents and investigate causes.

The College Health and Safety policy is issued to all members of staff and is available from Graham Rayner (Assistant Principal) or Helen O'Halloran (Health and Safety Officer), both of whom have roles to support students on Health and Safety matters. Students who are not willing to co-operate with Health and Safety requirements established by staff will be immediately excluded from activities.

Fire and Emergency Procedures: In the event of a fire or any other emergency, an alarm will sound and you should leave the building immediately, using the nearest exit. Evacuation practices will take place periodically. Evacuation notices with maps of fire assembly points are displayed in every room in College. Please ensure that you have read these carefully in each room you regularly use.

First Aid: If you require first aid, go straight to Reception, and a first aider will be called for you. The College's medical room is located at Reception.

Medical needs: If you have a health condition which you have not already disclosed to us on application or at interview or on your risk assessment, be sure to let your Personal Tutor know, and we will make a medical care plan with you if necessary.

Other health issues: staff in the Welfare Hub (room 124, email: welfare@colchsfc.ac.uk) can help you if you have a health query.

Promoting good health: There are healthy food options in the College refectories; water is available from water fountains around College and there is a broad range of facilities and activities to increase physical fitness.

Financial Support

Parents can continue to claim Child Benefit whilst students attend the College. If they have not already done so they can contact HMRC to report that you are continuing your studies by going to: https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit

Child Benefit Helpline    0300 200 3100

                                       8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm Saturday.

                 Text phone    0300 200 3103

                 Outside UK   +44 2890 538 192

The College administers the Government Bursary Scheme for vulnerable students and will also award discretionary bursaries to eligible students. Details are distributed at enrolment. In addition, students should contact their Senior Tutor in case of financial hardship for help with College-related expenses.

Learning Support

Full details of the support offered can be found in the Learning Support document. If you believe you should have examination access arrangements and have not already discussed these needs, please speak to your Personal Tutor or email: learningsupport@colchsfc.ac.uk

Ensuring that the College is a fair and safe place

The College is committed to creating a teaching and learning environment that is free of harassment and which protects the dignity of all students, staff and visitors. We will respect each other and value the differences between us. The College will not necessarily treat everyone the same but instead we will meet people’s needs in different ways to ensure fair outcomes for everyone. We all take responsibility for making sure that students, staff and visitors are protected from harm, including bullying and discrimination. Students and staff all contribute to making the College an enjoyable, inclusive and personalised learning environment.

We will treat students and staff fairly and solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential. The College values diversity in respect of race, ethnicity or national origin, gender, religion and belief or none, socio-economic background, gender variance, marital status or family circumstances, political opinions and affiliations, physical attributes or appearance, disability, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy and parenthood. The College is a diverse, international and multicultural community. We are developing a teaching and learning environment in which each and every member has an equal opportunity to participate. Supported by the public sector equality duty of the Equality Act (2010), the College is working to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.

Protection from bullying, victimisation and harassment

The College is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all members of the College. We do not tolerate bullying, victimisation and harassment, including hate speech. The College has a Protection from Harassment and Bullying Policy. Our Protection from Harassment and Bullying Policy can be found on the College website.

Student Representation and Feedback

In order to ensure that we remain a very successful College it is important that you have the opportunity to provide feedback on all aspects of College life.

We hope that you feel sufficiently confident to inform us of your feelings about, and experiences of, College. You have a number of ways in which your views can be heard:

• through a Tutor Group representative on the College Council
• through direct access to your Subject Tutors, Personal Tutor and to Senior Staff to discuss issues of concern
• through the College Governors either directly or through elected Student, Staff or Parent Governors
• through the annual student questionnaires and department surveys

The College is very keen that students have the opportunity to play a full part in determining how the College is run. Students have their own organisation, the College Council, to represent student views and ensure that students’ needs are met. You have the right to vote in the elections for the College Council Executive Committee roles: Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary, Public Relations Officer, Social, Arts, Sports, Culture, Environment and Charities Committee Chairpersons. You are represented by your Tutor Group representative on the College Council, which holds the Executive to account and meets about five times each academic year. To keep you informed of its work, an agenda is published at least one week prior to the meeting and copies of the minutes from that meeting are circulated to Tutor Group reps. The Chairperson of the College Council joins the Governing Body of the College as a member and is supported by the Vice-Chairperson who is an observer. Members of the Executive also sit on other committees such as the Culture Committee and Library Committee to ensure that your views are being properly aired. They report back regularly to College Council meetings and answer any of your questions. If you have any queries about the role of Tutor Group representatives, the College Council, the College Council Executive, or any Committees, then please refer to the College Council Constitution, or its Code of Practice, or see the Head of Student Services, Chris Throup, in the Geography department.