King Edward VI Five Ways School
Scotland Lane, Bartley Green,
Birmingham, B32 4BT
Tel: 0121 475 3535
Form Time Programme and Assemblies
Form Time
Given our pastoral vision, the role of form tutor is arguably the most significant one in the school. Tutors become the consistent support for their tutees, an essential bridge between home/school and shape student experience. Although tutor time is brief in the school day (8:35-9:05 every morning) and is not measured using outcomes, the progress that a student makes in school is inevitably linked to the pastoral support that they receive by their tutor. We believe that our pastoral vision is underpinned by staff (namely tutors) deliberately practising the 4 Pillars (the 4 R’s):
Relationships
Routines
Reinforcement
Rigour
The role of the form tutor is vast and varied and it is difficult to capture it as a specification; however, students and their families need to know what they can expect from their tutors, and this needs to be a consistent approach across the school. We have developed a tutor charter that we use to constantly develop, monitor and evaluate the impact of form time.
Years 7-13 follow a very specific programme and each session has a very distinct purpose:
Form Time and Assemblies
Week A
Week B
Assemblies
Our assembly programme serves to create frequent opportunities to gather as a whole school or micro-community. When gathering, we aspire to celebrate achievement; further understand contemporary issues; advertise opportunities; or increase our awareness of what our Five Ways virtues look like in action. Assemblies are also integral to supplementing the work that we do within the curriculum to cultivate Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural (SMSC) understanding and an appreciation of Fundamental British Values (FBV).
Every week A brings our key stage communities together; led by their Director of Key Stage, students receive messaging relevant to them and their Five Ways experience. In Week B, we hold a half school assembly, allowing us to create a vertical identity with year groups from across the school coming together in a formal setting.
As part of a wider programme, there will also be a Year Group and Whole School Assemblies, allowing the entire community to come together to recognise key events. In addition, each term we celebrate achievements from the breadth of our school community through our Celebration Assembly – a wonderful opportunity to enjoy all of our students hard work and accomplishments.