Wellbeing

The Clan (House) system develops a strong sense of belonging, facilitating encouragement, support, interaction and community spirit. Every pupil and member of staff is a member of one of our three Clans: Cameron, MacDonald and Macneil. The Clans at Abbot’s Hill provide a wide range of possibilities for pupils to work across a diverse age range; pupils come together as part of their clan from reception to Year 11 to participate in meetings, competitions, working and playing collaboratively. The Clan System has been in place since the early days of the School, in recognition of the Scottish roots of our founders Miss Katrine, Miss Alice and Miss Mary Baird.

A dedicated team is in place to support Year 7 pupils with a smooth transition to Senior School, and each Year 7 class has a Year 11 mentor to help guide them through the first year of life at Senior School. Mentors will help the new girls find their way around, give advice on tackling homework, ensure girls are happy and making friends, and generally act as a sounding board for information and guidance.

From Year 8, there is a dedicated Head of Year for each cohort who remains with them for the duration of their time at Abbot’s Hill. This means that each pupil becomes very well known to staff so that any concerns are quickly dealt with, the appropriate level of challenge and support is given to each pupil and parents are kept up to date with their child’s progress.

PDE (Personal Development Education) and Tutor Time activities help prepare our pupils for transition throughout the School and beyond. The programme is divided into six key topics: Being Me in My World, Celebrating Differences, Dreams and Goals, Healthy Me, Relationships and Changing Me, therefore allowing age appropriate content to be delivered and discussed in a safe environment.

A full Parent Education Programme is developed annually to ensure that parents have up-to-date knowledge of issues that children are facing and the resources to support their child at home and school. Talks are held face to face and over Zoom to allow easy access for our whole parent community. Parent Education events range from Phonics Workshops to Ensuring you have a Safe and Robust Home Internet.

Abbot’s Hill is proud to collaborate with Tooled Up Education. This is an online digital library of evidence-based resources, for parents and teachers, on all aspects of parenting, education and family life. The founder, Dr Kathy Weston has collated the best and most up to date research from around the world and distilled it into usable resources. Parents benefit from the entire library of articles, videos, tips to try, worksheets and podcasts.

Pupils in the Senior School have access to the School Counsellor. Pupils are able to access the service and do not need to be referred by staff or a parent. Conversations remain confidential unless there is a safeguarding issue raised.

Nutrition is key to wellbeing and performance, and our in-house Catering Team provides a wide range of notoriously nutritious home-cooked food. An optional Breakfast Club is available for a healthy start to the day, and all pupils receive a choice of mid-morning snacks and a varied lunch menu.

Our Surgery, located in the Main House and staffed by fully qualified School nurses, provides medical care to Prep and Senior pupils who may be unwell during the school day, and also provides first aid for minor injuries.