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Pastoral Care Structures

TAS believes that relationships built around understanding, empathy and support provide the framework that will best help our students develop academically, socially, and emotionally.

The TAS Middle and Senior School Pastoral Care system fosters and promotes positive relationships between students and staff with two keys structures:

  • Homeroom teachers for Years 6-8 (Middle School)
  • Advisors for Year 9-12 (Senior School)

Four times a week, students meet with these members of staff, who become the key School stakeholders in the various ‘worlds’ of each adolescent.  These homeroom teachers and advisors oversee the academic and pastoral journey of each student.

In Middle School, homeroom teachers have the most contact teaching hours with their particular class and know their students best.  From helping them develop organisational skills to leading discussions on topical issues, Middle School homeroom teachers are committed to encouraging, supporting and nurturing students through their early teenage years. In Year 9, students are allocated to an Advisor group based on their sporting house. Reflecting their stage of development where they are seeking more independence and an emerging sense of self, these students grow in the way they interact with adults in a more personal setting through both structured and informal initiatives, including workshop sessions on positive communication, career development and social relationships.

For Years 10-12, students are given the unique opportunity to choose a member of staff to be their Advisor for the remainder of their time at TAS. This flexibility in arrangement foregrounds our recognition that a pastoral care system works best when students have a say in who their advisor is. Typical group sizes are six-10, arranged in vertical year groups, and relationships of intimacy and trust are formed through the three years the students spend with their advisor. That said, students may change advisors through arrangements with staff if needs evolve through their senior years – we want our students and staff to feel the strongest degree of comfort at all times.

This very special relationship is one built on mutual respect and trust, with Advisors taking on a unique place in a students’ final years of schooling, walking alongside them in their journey to adulthood.

The Director of Pastoral Care can be contacted by emailing here.