Pastoral Structure and Support

All children have the right to feel safe and happy at school and this includes their mental health and wellbeing. We are committed to their welfare and pastoral care at our school and ensure we provide this through a variety of channels and support. This extends to family support.

We are fortunate enough to be able to offer full time pastoral support to our school community and pride ourselves in providing a nurturing environment in which all children can excel, succeed and thrive. As a small school, there is a real sense of family. 

At Monkseaton Middle School, the children are all taught in their form class. They spend the first 30 minutes of each day with their Form Tutor and this enables them to build a positive relationship with an adult in school. The Form Tutor is the first point of contact for any child or family queries, and Form Tutors can be contacted through the main reception. Each morning, tutor time is spent supporting children with their reading, wellbeing, or in assemblies.

The year groups are split into three houses; Celts, Romans and Vikings. As well as fostering healthy competition throughout the year for our termly sports and reading challenges, the Houses promote a sense of teamwork and identity across the year groups.

We believe strongly in recognising achievement and progress, and rewarding successes each lesson, day, week and half term.  Children are rewarded with House Points throughout the day; this can be individually and as a group or class. Points are then collected on a weekly basis with a half termly challenge for the form class with the most House Points. We also award children with Golden Postcards when they’ve demonstrated an aspect of the school ethos: We Excel, We Succeed and We Thrive. 

Each half term, we invite families into school to be part of our Rewards Assembly. The winning children are presented with a subject based certificate or for demonstrating aspects of the school ethos. 

Our full-time pastoral team consists of our Assistant Headteacher, Mrs Fluskey, our Pastoral Support Lead, Miss Black, and 6 Learning Support Assistants. Together they have many years’ experience of supporting young people and their families. Our team have worked in a variety of school environments and are highly qualified in supporting children and families through a range of school-based interventions, as well as leading on Early Help Assessments, and referring to external partner agencies throughout North Tyneside.

The pastoral team are here to lend a guiding hand when times are challenging for children and their families. The breadth of experience in the team means that we can support on issues from attendance and punctuality concerns, right through to getting outside help and intervention when it is needed. 

We work with an extensive list of agencies to support children and families, such as:

  • Barnardo’s
  • Acorns
  • Art Psychotherapies
  • Care and Connect
  • Family Partners
  • Children’s Public Health Service (including school Nurse)
  • Harbour
  • Young carers

We pride ourselves on our close working relationships with carers and families and believe that it is through working together to support children, we can all ensure that they have the best possible outcomes in life.

Miss Black is available throughout the day to answer queries and questions from children and families alike, and can be contacted by telephone on 0191 2532335 and [email protected]

Hayley is our school nurse and is with us weekly. She is a fully qualified school nurse who has great deal of experience in supporting children with their mental and physical health

For more information on the services Hayley and the team provide you can visit her website at www.myschoolhealth.co.uk If you or your child would like to speak to Hayley, please contact the school and we will make the appointment for you.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Victoria Vasey is our SENDCo. We believe in a holistic approach to child support and development at Monkseaton Middle. We recognise that all children are unique and the level of support they require throughout their school life will vary 

Mrs Vasey is supported by Miss Gets our Senior Learning Support Assistant and a team of highly qualified Learning Support Assistants, each with their own area of interest and expertise, including dyslexia, ASD, Social Skills and ADHD. Learning Support Assistants act as key workers for SEND children and are the link between home and school, working with the child, family and teaching staff to set targets through SEND Support Plan and put additional support in place to help the child meet these targets.

This is a continual process and may require the support of external professionals from education and healthcare. These may include:

  • North Tyneside CAMHS
  • Educational Psychology Service
  • HIVE
  • EMTAS
  • Language and Communication
  • Speech and Language
  • Occupational Therapy
  • North Tyneside Dyslexia Team

SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service) is a specialist service available to help parents and carers navigate the special educational needs framework. They are impartial, and can offer advice and help, including with the planning and assessment process of an education, health and care (EHC) plan.  SENDIASS can be contacted on 0191 6438317 or [email protected]

Those children who are identified as in need of extra support and who have not yet made appropriate progress despite further, more intensive interventions, may be put forward for a formal statutory assessment of their needs within or across the following categories: *

  • Communication and Interaction: those children with speech, language and communication needs that prevents them accessing the curriculum fully or restricts their communication with others.
  • Cognition and Learning: Those children whose literacy/numeracy fall on the lowest percentile scores and who are failing to access the curriculum
  • Sensory and/or Physical Needs: Those children who have specific needs that restrict access to the curriculum including those students who require additional ongoing support or equipment
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties: Children who are failing to match the emotional and social development milestones of their peers or whose mental health is a significant barrier to their learning

The North Tyneside Local Offer for Special Education Needs and Disabilities can be found here: https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/1243/local-offer-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send