Wellbeing

Our Positive Programme is a GDST initiative and raises pupils’ awareness of how and why they think, feel and behave. It helps our young women to recognise that negative feelings are normal and introduces coping strategies.

The effective programme enables the child to identify her ‘inner coach’ in order to counter-balance her ‘inner critic’ and teaches techniques to help develop emotional intelligence.

The aim is to help the girls reduce anxiety, increase focus and to stay positive; enabling them to communicate better, to take control of challenging situations and to learn from past experiences.

Your daughter will be a member of a Form and of a House. Through the House system there is frequent contact with older and younger girls and these links across the school years are an important part of our community.

The House system fosters a sense of belonging, creates opportunities for leadership and is part of our pastoral care structure. It is also the source of fierce competition on the sports field and elsewhere, where girls can win points towards the annual House Cup or other House events.

Sisters are always allocated to the same House and we normally accommodate special requests to join a particular house for historical family reasons, as we have a long tradition of daughters, nieces and cousins attending Northwood College for Girls.

HOUSES:

Briary (Red), Buchan (Blue), Endsleigh (Green) and Heathfield (White)

Each form has one designated lesson per week but pupil well-being issues are dealt with throughout the school day, not necessarily in lesson time. Pupil well-being lessons take the form of discussions, role play and debates.  Our aim is to always:

•   develop a sense of social responsibility and concern for others
•   encourage pupils to think for themselves and reach considered decisions
•   promote self discipline and independence, bearing in mind the needs of others
•   widen girls’ horizons – educate them on social issues which are not covered elsewhere in the curriculum
•   provide opportunities for developing interpersonal and organisational skills
•   improve study skills and enable pupils to reach their full potential
•   prepare pupils for future decisions and choices

Northwood College for Girls is a selective school; we offer places to girls with a range of specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorder, who meet our entry criteria and for whom we are able to provide appropriate support. The SENCOs in Senior and Junior School and the Learning Support Teacher in Senior School are qualified to teach and assess students with dyslexia/specific learning difficulties.

We also offer places to children with physical disabilities and/or long term medical conditions if we feel that we are able to support for their needs. We try to ensure that, wherever possible, all pupils have the same access to all areas of the curriculum. Differences in programmes of study only occur on rare occasions, where they are in the best interests of the pupil.

In accordance with our Admissions Policy, prospective pupils are assessed on the basis of their academic suitability for the school. Our admissions criteria and policy will not disadvantage applicants with special educational needs or disabilities. Discussions about the support required for such pupils will be independent of the admissions assessment. Where a girl has already been identified with a specific learning difficulty and/or disability and is normally allowed special arrangements in exams, the school will follow the Consortium guidelines outlined on page 5 of this booklet. Parents are requested to forward relevant reports to the Registrar who will pass them to the SENCo to confirm the pupil’s eligibility for exam access arrangements.