Pastoral Care is at the core of the Somerset Experience, for our students, our staff, and our community. This week, we are proud to share insights from two perspectives: our Deputy Head – Pastoral, Mrs Allison Foster, on how our Pastoral Care programme helps develop the whole child and how it continues to evolve to meet the needs of our students. Our Head of Junior School, Ms Rebecca Collie, continues the theme, with how the Junior School’s Pastoral Care focus has been through Ubuntu, an African philosophy UBUNTU – “I am because we are.” Together, these perspectives demonstrate how we are fostering a culture that brings together the academic and pastoral care spheres across the College as we develop character and give our students the opportunity for personal success with a global outlook.
Pastoral Care in the Senior School – A Message from the Deputy Head – Pastoral
Pastoral Care is embedded in everything we do at Somerset. It is alive in our classrooms where teachers are finding ways to optimise student understanding, providing feedback and encouragement. It is visible in interactions between staff and students during Pastoral Care Group time, Year Level Meetings with Heads of Year, on our sporting fields and woven into our co-curricular programme. Caring for students, and people, is the scaffold of all that we offer at Somerset.
The Senior School wellbeing and student care programme continues to evolve and will be a strategic focus for 2026 and beyond. What we are committed to, above all else, if the personal success of our students. There is often the misconception that there is inequity between academic and pastoral care spheres. In reality, neither can be successful without the other. The research continues to demonstrate that strong academic outcomes are linked to a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging.
For Year 7, their academic and care journey is based on transition and belonging, exploring how to manage new and unfamiliar environments, friendships and the importance of feeling valued by peers, organisation and study habits, managing performance anxiety and the complexity of the online environments and digital literacy.
Year 8 work through our Women of Valour and Men of Honour programs, with a focus on independence and identity. Themes including self-esteem, shifting and evolving friendships, the power of comparison, and online safety.
Year 9 students begin our Rites of Passage program as part of the Outdoor Education experience with Year 9 Camp. Students also consider purpose and risk-taking, peer influence and consent and respectful relationships.
Year 10 students continue the Rites of Passage journey, commencing in Term 3 and throughout the Personal Project and My Career Pathway process consider future pathways, sleep hygiene, balancing commitments and resilience.
The focus for Year 11 is pressure and performance, stress management, healthy habits and leadership readiness. Year 12, throughout weekly year level meetings and QTAC sessions focus on opportunity, post-school identity, vulnerabilities and safe celebrations.
Our student care framework is augmented with the work of guest speakers we engage to further educate our students, and importantly, encourage them to ask questions. Madonna King, Glen Gerreyn, Dr Tessa Opie, Paul Dillon, Daniel Principe and Emma Tarabacu have added depth and expertise to our bespoke programs in 2025.
Student care is enhanced when there is a strong synergy between home and the College. In order to help share our work with families, our In Conversation Evenings have provided an insight into the work of our staff and the messages we hope are received. We warmly welcome our parents on Wednesday 8 October at 5.30pm in The Design Centre to hear from Wait Mate – an organisation that promotes the delay of smartphones for young people. We are looking forward to welcoming the Wait Mate team to Somerset.
The student care framework at Somerset includes teachers, College staff, House Coordinators, Heads of Year and College Psychologists. Students are supported to become responsible, discerning and compassionate members of Somerset, and the communities they inhabit into the future. The Code of Student Conduct and student-related policies are designed to guide student interactions and affirm the impact positive engagement can have on the broader student population.
Junior School Pastoral Care Focus Through Ubuntu – A Message from the Head of Junior School
This year in the Junior School, our focus for pastoral care and learning has been inspired by the beautiful African philosophy of UBUNTU – “I am because we are.” At its heart, Ubuntu reminds us that our identity is shaped not just by who we are as individuals, but by the way we connect, contribute, and grow within community. Across the year, we have explored four themes of Ubuntu, each building on the other and linking to our College Vision of Personal Success – Global Outlook. The focus has supported our year-long unit of inquiry across the Junior School, ‘Self-awareness facilitates wellbeing’.
Term One – I am who I am
We began the year by encouraging students and staff to explore their own strengths, interests, and values. In doing so, we nurtured the IB Learner Profile attributes of Reflective and Balanced, helping each child and adult understand that personal success starts with self-knowledge and self-respect.
Term Two – Because of who we all are
Our second theme highlighted the importance of belonging. Students and staff explored how communities thrive when we value diversity, show respect, and recognise the contributions of others. The Learner Profile attributes of Open-Minded and Caring came to the fore, reminding us that our global outlook begins with the relationships we form in our own classrooms and playgrounds.
Term Three – We rise by lifting others
In Term Three, our focus has been on empathy, encouragement, and service. Whether through collaborative learning, or acts of kindness, students have been learning that true growth happens when we help others to succeed. The IB attributes of Principled and Communicators are lived out daily as our young learners use their voices and actions to support and uplift others. Staff have shared the same focus, rising by lifting others.
Term Four – We are part of a greater whole
Looking ahead, we will celebrate the interconnectedness of our world. Staff and students will be encouraged to see themselves as active global citizens with a responsibility to care for our environment, our communities, and our future. This theme connects strongly to the attributes of Inquirers
and Knowledgeable, reminding us that our personal success finds its deepest purpose when it contributes to something beyond ourselves. Global outlook!
Through the journey of Ubuntu this year, our students and staff alike, are discovering that success is not measured by what we achieve alone, but by how we grow together. This is the essence of pastoral care and learning in our Junior School: a place where each child, staff and community member is valued for who they are, celebrated for the way they contribute, and prepared to step confidently into the world with both personal success and a global outlook.
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