The purpose of Oakes College’s Safeguarding and Pastoral policies are to provide a secure framework for the College in ensuring all students are safe and their welfare is considered at all times. As part of our safeguarding policy, students are required to wear a lanyard to make it easier for everyone to identify and challenge anyone who comes onto the school site without permission, as well as showing you belong to the Oakes College community, something we are very proud of.

At Oakes College we understand the demands and sometimes overwhelming challenges faced by young people today and we pride ourselves on providing excellent pastoral care.  We have a highly skilled team of experienced, specially chosen tutors who offer bespoke one-to-one support, closely monitoring wellbeing and academic performance. Our main aim is to establish the right balance between independence and support for our students, helping them to gain confidence when confronting issues and learning to solve problems themselves, developing resilience during the process.  This is achieved by our tutors, guided by the expertise provided by our dedicated Pastoral Team.   Students and tutors can access this support either by referral or self-referral to this service, which can range from an informal chat with a member of our Pastoral team, weekly mentoring sessions with the Pastoral Lead, or appropriate referrals to external agencies where necessary.

If students require any form of academic support, they should contact their subject teachers or tutors in the first instance.  If the situation is unable to be resolved, then they should make contact with the Director of Studies responsible for academic progress who are able to refer students to our academic support team.  Our academic support team can help using a variety of different interventions ranging from essay planning, revision schedules to file organisation.

If students have a wellbeing concern they can either contact their tutor or a member of the Pastoral team.

If any student has an immediate serious concern about their wellbeing or that of another student,they must contact either of the Designated Safeguarding Leads, the Pastoral Lead or the Head of College.

At Oakes College we value student voice and understand that at times students may not wish to share their concerns with staff. Students can self-refer to the following organisations should they require support: