Know me. Support me. Care for me.

At St John’s, the Tutor role is central to how we care for our pupils. Its purpose is to ensure that every child is known, supported, and cared for as a whole person. Tutors know their pupils well so that every child feels seen, understood, and has a strong sense of belonging. Tutors support pupils by maintaining high expectations, removing barriers to learning, strengthening positive habits, and guiding them through both success and challenge. Tutors care by building warm, trusted relationships with pupils and their families, ensuring that no child feels unseen, unheard, or left behind.

Daily Rhythm

Tutors see pupils at the start and end of every day, providing consistency, care, and structure.

• Morning tutor time (20 minutes) is structured and purposeful, supporting readiness to learn.
• End-of-day tutor time (10 minutes) is reflective, helping pupils reset and end the day well.
• Each morning, Tutors:
  • are available from 8:25
  • welcome pupils warmly
  • ensure phones are handed in
  • check uniform
  • reinforce punctuality and attendance
• Pupils begin and end each day feeling settled, prepared, and supported.

Weekly Rhythm

Tutor time follows a consistent weekly structure built around a shared theme, providing regular opportunities for collective worship while also explicitly modelling the habits pupils need across school life.

• Monday – Everybody Listening (Whole School): The theme of the week is introduced, creating space for stillness, calm reflection, and attentive listening as the whole school reflects together, ending with an invitational prayer at the close of the assembly.
• Tuesday – Everybody Reading (Tutor Groups): Pupils explore the weekly theme through a text, article, or story, reflecting on meaning, values, and shared understanding, with an invitational prayer in the final moments of the school day.
• Wednesday – Everybody Talking (Tutor Groups): Pupils reflect together through structured discussion, exploring different perspectives and ethical questions in a respectful and inclusive way, with an invitational prayer in the final moments of the school day.
• Thursday – Everybody Thinking (Tutor Groups): Pupils take part in a class quiz linked to current affairs, encouraging curiosity about the wider world and helping them make sense of events beyond the classroom. They then have time for individual reflection, reasoning, and personal response, considering different viewpoints and what these issues might mean for themselves and others, with an invitational prayer in the final moments of the school day.
• Friday – Everybody Celebrating (Whole School): The week concludes by bringing the community together to express gratitude, celebrate strengths and successes, and affirm a shared sense of belonging, ending with an invitational prayer at the close of the assembly.

Pastoral Support

• Tutor time is the primary pastoral touchpoint, creating trusted opportunities for pupils to be heard, while clear routes exist for them to access wider support beyond this.
• Day-to-day concerns (e.g. organisation, punctuality, friendships, low-level behaviour) are supported at Tutor level through calm, restorative conversations.
• Pupils who receive an R2 (Reflection) during a lesson attend a 1:1 end of day conversation with their Tutor (3:00 - 3:15), focused on:
  • What happened?
  • What were you thinking or feeling at the time?
  • What was the better choice?
  • What will you do differently next time?
• R2s can also be triggered by patterns of lateness, uniform, equipment or attendance concerns. 
• Examples of escalation routes
  • Phase Lead – Ongoing pastoral or behaviour concerns
  • SENCO – Emerging needs, reasonable adjustments, or support plans
  • DSL – Safeguarding or welfare concerns
• Tutors play a key role in supporting pupils at transition and vulnerable points, including the start of the year, exam periods, and reintegration following absence or suspension.

Safeguarding and Emotional Wellbeing

• Tutors remain alert to changes in mood, behaviour, attendance, or presentation.
• Concerns are logged and shared promptly using school safeguarding systems.
• Tutor time provides space for pupils to share worries, concerns, or successes.
• Emotional wellbeing is prioritised alongside routines and behaviour.

Targeted Interventions 

• Tutoring sits alongside targeted academic interventions:
  • Monday mornings: short-term, Faculty Lead interventions to close emerging gaps or provide stretch.
  • Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings: English and Maths interventions for carefully identified pupils, delivered over a sustained period (at least one term), starting at 8:30am (arrival from 8:15am allows for additional time to support).
  • Breakfast club: Runs from 8:15 for identified pupils, with the POD team welcoming and supporting students.
• Tutors understand which pupils attend interventions and reinforce engagement, while remaining the key relational anchor.