Check-ins, Pastoral, Inclusion and Safeguarding Support
At Benton Park School, pupils meet with their check-in tutor four mornings each week as part of our check-in programme. These sessions provide an important opportunity to build relationships, celebrate success, reinforce expectations and ensure that pupils are ready to learn. They are a key part of our commitment to ensuring that every pupil is known, valued and supported.
Check-ins focus on the things that matter most to pupils' success in school. This includes attendance, punctuality, organisation, rewards, wellbeing and engagement in learning. Regular conversations allow staff to identify concerns early, celebrate improvements and provide timely support where barriers to learning begin to emerge. Our rewards systems also play an important role, recognising effort, resilience, responsibility, kindness and achievement, helping pupils to feel proud of their success and motivated to do their best.
While check-ins provide an important touchpoint at the start of the day, support at Benton Park extends far beyond a morning registration session. We know that young people achieve their best when they feel safe, supported and connected. Our approach is therefore built around ensuring that pupils have access to trusted adults throughout the school day who know them well, understand their circumstances and can provide support, encouragement and guidance whenever it is needed.
Our support is delivered through a highly skilled network of pastoral, inclusion and safeguarding professionals who work together to remove barriers to learning and ensure that every pupil can fully access their education. This includes Key Stage Leaders, Year Leaders, Pastoral and Welfare Officers, Inclusion Leaders, SEND specialists, safeguarding professionals and senior leaders responsible for behaviour and wellbeing.
Importantly, these teams are not office-based. They are highly visible across the school, working directly with pupils in lessons, during social times, around the school site and at key transition points throughout the day. This proactive approach enables staff to identify concerns quickly, respond effectively and provide support at the point it is needed. Pupils regularly see and interact with the adults who support them, helping to build trust, strengthen relationships and create a strong sense of belonging.
Our pastoral, inclusion and safeguarding teams work seamlessly together because we recognise that barriers to learning are often interconnected. Whether a pupil requires support with attendance, behaviour, friendships, emotional wellbeing, SEND needs, safeguarding concerns or wider family circumstances, staff collaborate to ensure that support is coordinated, responsive and tailored to individual need.
The goal is simple: to ensure that every pupil feels safe, valued and supported, and that no barrier prevents them from accessing learning, participating fully in school life and achieving success. Through strong relationships, visible support and a culture rooted in kindness, resilience and responsibility, we help every pupil develop the confidence, character and skills they need to thrive both in school and beyond.
