As part of my duties as assistant head, I was assigned the pastoral care of the year 9s. This is a very enriching experience but also very exhausting and stressful. But what is exactly pastoral care of the students? According to Konu, Alanen, Lintonen and Rimpela (2002), it is the awareness of the health and wellbeing of students which is increasingly being attributed to school conditions, school relationships, means of fulfilment and health status.
At our school, the wellbeing of our students comes first and foremost. We value them and heed to them. However, students and their parents/guardians also have to do their bit. A case in point is a special meeting for students and their parents/guardians in which they had been warned that students must not touch each other. They must not indulge in playing with their hands. Fights were not to be tolerated.
This week was highlighted by several issues such as a couple of fights between rival gangs of students in my year 9. At my school, we pride ourselves on our efficiency. These have been dealt with swiftly and thoroughly. Students involved were given a one day exclusion. This was done to the utmost chagrin of some of the parents, who insisted, sometimes vociferously, that they had not known about these rules as they had not attended the meeting. Others threatened to go to the Education Department. They felt that it was unfair that their child, who had not started the fight, but had just retaliated, would be excluded.
In this second week at the helm of my year 9s, I also had to attend a two day course about the school finance - how it is structured, how the computer programme works and a vast array of other paraphernalia.
However, nothing beats the satisfaction when I see the smile of a student who, after talking to me, leaves the office with a smile. That surely makes my day!
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