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Caterham School’s approach to wellbeing

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This article has been published as part of the Rethinking Curriculum project, kindly funded by The Helen Hamlyn Trust.

 

 

 

 

Sarah Print-Griffiths, Senior Deputy Head, Caterham School

Context

Caterham School is a large independent co-educational school in Surrey, educating children aged 4-18. As a high-achieving school, we adopt a whole-school approach to wellbeing, underpinned by the principle that everyone in the school community has a shared understanding of, and responsibility for, promoting wellbeing. This collective commitment fosters a culture in which all members of our community can thrive, supporting pupils’ holistic development and success both within school and beyond. Our aim is to equip our pupils with the resilience, emotional literacy and leadership skills they need to thrive in the wider world and to lead and serve within their communities.

Our Wellbeing curriculum

Wellbeing is embedded within the curriculum, from Reception through to the Upper Sixth. This curriculum is centred around five pillars —readiness, awareness, spirituality, health and community—designed to help pupils thrive both now and in the future. These lessons might be described as ‘PSHCEE plus’, with an emphasis on healthy relationships, emotional literacy and self-awareness, as well as practical life skills, including first aid and political and financial literacy. For the vast majority of our pupils, a focus on wellbeing forms part of their weekly timetable, covering an array of age-appropriate topics that are revisited and reinforced over time. Figure 1 provides an overview of the topics covered in wellbeing lessons at the various stages of a pupil’s school journey. The yellow ‘circle’ line details topics that are revisited and reinforced over time, both through lessons and through interactions between staff and pupils. We use this graphic to communicate the intentionality of our curriculum to parents, showing how topics are revisited in age-appropriate ways as pupils progress through the school. It also illustrates our whole-school approach to wellbeing, demonstrating how our values are embedded in both the curriculum and the wider school culture.

Figure 1: A visual overview of Caterham School’s Wellbeing curriculum

Our Wellbeing curriculum provides space for discussion and reflection, skill development and the sharing of information, equipping our children and young people to navigate both school life and the world beyond it. While these curriculum experiences are important, the greatest strength of Caterham School’s approach lies in the culture that permeates everyday school life. This culture is shaped through countless daily interactions: an older pupil helping a younger pupil, a teacher recognising a pupil’s positive behaviour, or a bus driver ensuring a child is met at the bus stop. These seemingly small moments collectively create an environment in which pupils feel known, valued, and supported, with colleagues across all roles sharing responsibility for their care and development.

Developing a whole-school approach to wellbeing is not for the faint-hearted. Investing in this work requires commitment, rigour and attention to detail to ensure that its underlying principles are embedded in pupils’ everyday experiences. Rather than relying on specialist facilities or significant financial investment, this approach relies on school leaders understanding and intentionally shaping existing cultures and practices, including the curriculum. High levels of care and responsiveness, combined with high expectations in all areas of school life, need to be actively promoted; wellbeing should not be confused with being indulgent. Instead, it requires intentionality in every interaction, including behaviour management and discipline, the use of rewards and the training and support provided to staff. A commitment to working collaboratively with parents is also essential.

When wellbeing is embedded in this way, it can foster both strong academic outcomes and a connected school community characterised by trust, shared purpose, and belonging.

How did we get here?

I joined the senior team at Caterham School as Deputy Head (Pastoral and Wellbeing) in 2017, having previously been Head of Wellbeing and teacher of Maths at a large, independent school in London. It was during my time at this previous school that the term ‘wellbeing’ began to gain traction in education. The school was among a small number of pioneers in developing a wellbeing curriculum for all pupils, mapping provision from our youngest pupils through to those completing A-levels. However, promoting pupil wellbeing through the curriculum was only the beginning. Over time, a wider philosophy developed, connecting the whole school community and ensuring that both pupil and staff wellbeing was prioritised.

I moved to Caterham School with a clear mandate to build on its strong culture of kindness, formalising and enhancing this into a whole-school approach to wellbeing. Pastoral care was rebranded as ‘wellbeing’, reflecting a more proactive approach, informed by evidence and supported by interventions delivered by staff across the school community.

Over the last nine years, we have undertaken the Wellbeing Award for Schools three times, using each cycle to critically review our provision, acknowledge our strengths and refine our strategy. We were also one of a handful of schools that took part in an 18-month trauma-informed practice programme delivered by the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (2026). This programme included training for all staff, a comprehensive audit of our provision and research projects undertaken by two members of staff: one focusing on boarding pupils and the other exploring the role and impact of language in supporting pupils.

All our staff receive training in pastoral care and are encouraged to adopt an authoritative, trauma-informed and positive approach to supporting pupils (see Figure 2). This has helped our pastoral team to grow in confidence and develop a more consistent approach to promoting pupil wellbeing.

Figure 2: A visual tool to help staff understand how to interact with pupils across the school. The image presents four approaches to behaviour management: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Indifferent and Indulgent. The Authoritative approach is highlighted in yellow to emphasise the balance of high expectations and responsiveness.

The journey to a whole-school approach

Whether you use a tool like The Wellbeing Award for Schools framework (Optimus Education and National Children’s Bureau, 2019), or develop your own process, the key ingredients will likely be the same.

  • Define what ‘wellbeing’ means in your setting. Establish a shared understanding of wellbeing that reflects your school’s values and priorities. In my setting, concepts such as flourishing, thriving, proactivity and intentional pastoral care are central to how we understand and promote wellbeing.
  • Audit current provision. This should involve all departments and colleagues, encouraging them to reflect on how they promote both pupil and staff wellbeing. Each time I have undertaken this process, it has been a heart-warming experience, revealing a wealth of small but meaningful acts of service and activities that strengthen our community.
  • Understand the habits and needs of your pupils. Whole-school surveys and other forms of pupil voice provide valuable insights to inform both curriculum content and wider wellbeing provision. Be prepared to be surprised! The first time I did this, I asked pupils how safe they felt at school. I was struck by how many answered ‘no’. On probing further, this result related to the open school site and the possibility of intruders. This insight enabled us to take action and allay these fears.
  • Understand parents’ needs and views. I often say that our parents are experts on their own child, while teachers and school staff bring expertise on child and adolescent development. When we combine this knowledge, something powerful can happen. Sharing your approach to tackling a difficult topic, or your knowledge of the latest trends, can enhance trust and support effective home-school collaboration. Recently, we joined The Wellbeing Hub for parents in the senior school and Tooled Up for parents of our younger pupils. These online platforms provide on-demand access to resources on a wide range of topics related to raising children and young people.
  • Audit staff wellbeing provision. You cannot pour from an empty cup; dysregulated adults will struggle to co-regulate with the children in their care. Promoting our wellbeing pillars among staff, as well as our pupils, has empowered colleagues to take care of themselves and seek support when necessary, without embarrassment or stigma.
  • Review use of language, policies and mission statements. Wellbeing should be visible and consistent across the school, embedded in documentation, policies and communications. Like a stick of rock, it should run through the entire organisation—present wherever it is ‘cut’.
  • Strengthen systems for recording and sharing information. When I arrived at Caterham, the school had recently developed its own information-sharing system ‘CHIP’ (Caterham Holistic Online Portal), a centralised tracking tool that is used extensively across the school. Similar to CPOMS or MyConcern, this tool allows for confidential and reliable information-sharing among colleagues. It is used to record a wide range of information and observations, alongside attendance figures and other relevant data, providing a detailed picture of each pupil. This allows for issues or concerns to be identified, before a crisis develops or significant pastoral intervention is needed. It also supports a whole-school approach to pastoral care by ensuring that tutors and teachers have timely access to information relevant to the pupils in their care. Crucially, this helps to ensure ALL pupils are seen and known, rather than support being focused solely on those with the most complex or immediate needs.
  • Keep behaviour logs. Recording patterns in behaviour (e.g. incidents of microaggressions) will help shape the wellbeing curriculum and topics covered in tutor time.
  • Invest in staff training. Equipping all colleagues with the knowledge and confidence to support pupils’ pastoral needs enables specialist staff to focus on more complex cases. Developing a shared understanding of the issues affecting children and young people is therefore essential to a whole-school approach. This is fostered through professional development, including Mental Health First Aid, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training, and a range of other targeted courses.

Does it work?

Delivering pastoral care proactively and positively through a whole-school approach to wellbeing can have a profound impact on the culture and ethos of a school.  Although it is difficult to measure success in terms ‘how many crises have been prevented’, a range of indicators can provide evidence of the impact of this approach. These include:

  • Increased self-referrals to support services, alongside reduced stigma surrounding mental health
  • A shift from reactive crisis intervention to early, preventative support.
  • High staff and pupil retention.
  • Greater parental trust.
  • Reductions in bullying and behavioural incidents.
  • Greater confidence among pupils to speak up for peers.
  • Positive trends in behaviour, attendance, and other indicators of pupil wellbeing.
  • Consistent positive inspection ratings and feedback from the school community, including:

 

‘Such caring and involved teachers who really know my children. The staff want what’s best for the pupils and you can feel this.’ Caterham Parent

‘I can honestly say all your team does to create an environment as positive and nurturing as the one we have at Caterham School is one of my favourite aspects of our school.’ Caterham Parent

‘Leaders have created an atmosphere and culture that very successfully promotes pupils’ self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence…This is a significant strength.’ Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) (2023)

Concluding thoughts

The roles of schools go far beyond academic instruction, fundamental as this is. The cultures we create in our schools shape the adults of tomorrow. Schools occupy a unique space in society, acting as the ‘glue’ that unites a community by providing connection, structure, aspiration and a safety net for young people. Investing in a whole-school approach to wellbeing helps create the conditions in which pupils can succeed academically, develop the skills and resilience they need to navigate life’s challenges, and flourish both during their school years and beyond.

 

References

 

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