Boarding Philosophy of Care
"We work hard to create an environment that is nurturing, stimulating and enjoyable for our boarders..."
We work hard to create an environment that is nurturing, stimulating and enjoyable for our boarders. We are aware of the importance of ensuring our students feel safe and have a positive environment to live in, as on a very blunt level this is needed for our students to progress and achieve. The care management team tasked the residential staff workforce to go ‘back to basics’ and design a philosophy of care for each boarding house. Each boarding house created its own identity, character and philosophy of care as follows:
Astor House Philosophy of Care: “Astor House is a 6-bed mixed gender house with a higher staff support ratio. It is a calm, kind and quiet house which adopts a very supporting and nurturing environment. Respect for both the staff and students is of the upmost importance and we understand each other’s needs meaning we are always willing to support each other through difficult times. We welcome visitors in Astor House, but we still like it to remain a quiet environment. The children and young people really value their own personal space and quiet time and ask that this is respected. So, there may be times when visitors are asked to come back at a different time. The children and young people like to eat dinner as a house and dinner is usually cooked by the staff. Staff gently encourage the children and young people to work on their independence skills, such as food shopping and laundry. The children and young people are also encouraged to attend activities - although this is something that can be quite difficult for them, and they can instead often be found relaxing and socialising within the house”.
Esther House Philosophy of Care: “Esther is a 4-bedroom house with female students, it is a quiet and calm house which supports semi-independent students who are keen to learn new life skills. They support each other living together by making progress in daily tasks and routines, building resilience to help each other as they grow into mature adults. Staff can offer support to help with choosing their menu for the week, then shopping and budgeting for the food, the girls cook for themselves and sometimes cook for each other. The students enjoy each other’s company but also like some alone time in their bedrooms, their rooms offer a calm safe space for them with many personal belongings. Students enjoy activities that are offered, and this gives them a chance to mix with the other boarders”.
Hunniford House Philosophy of Care: “Hunniford house is a vibrant, semi-Independent house where students are encouraged to find themselves, build their skills and learn something new every day. Within the Hunniford walls is a positive atmosphere where students blossom together, support each other and their individual needs through understanding each other. Hunniford is for teenagers who are looking to understand what it takes to become civilised young men and functioning members of society, through furthering their independence. Students in Hunniford house are expected to stick to their own regular hygiene regime and keep their bedrooms tidy to a good standard. Also, within this bracket of independence are such things as cooking, washing, and cleaning up, which are semi- supported to help teach a regularity and importance of doing this. Hunniford house can be a loud environment, where visitors are always welcome as long as they first ask the permission of students who reside within. In Hunniford house, the children and young people try to be as outgoing and sociable as possible, taking part in regular exercise and activities, getting involved and mixing with other students and houses were possible and always welcome new suggestions for potential trips out, to experience new things”.
Ruth House Philosophy of Care: “Ruth house has a comfortable, caring, and homely environment, other students enjoy visiting Ruth house and are most welcome to come and socialise, at times it can be rather loud. The students are all around a similar age, they are either at college, in HEART or in the main school. The variety of students is working well, they value one another, and this helps them co-exist. Ruth house provides a safe space and is proud to say the students feel it’s an extension from their home. The students feel “its home from home” and “loud.” Ruth house students prefer not to have the standard group house meetings, so these are performed individually during the course of the week. Ruth house students like to be independent, and they know staff are there to help and guide them as and when they need it”.
Sissons House Philosophy of Care: “Sissons House is a 4-bed house for Upper School students from 16yrs to 20yrs preparing for adult hood focusing on college course, community inclusion, paid/volunteer employment, and independent living skills (budgeting, food shopping, cooking, self-administration of medication, laundry, going into the community alone, travelling independently etc.). Sissons House is the only boarding house with bigger bedroom sizes, double sized beds, Wi-Fi broadband for the students to differentiate between them being the older mature students to the other 4 boarding houses”.
