Since September 2023, we have rebranded “Tutor Time” as “Reflection Time”.  At Summerhill School the content of the thirty-minute tutor sessions are designed to get each student to reflect on areas which will help with their personal development.

At Summerhill School each year group, and each House follows a bespoke Reflections programme, as shown below:

 

Students arrive at school through designated House doors, where their first point of contact for the day is their respective House Officers and Heads of House. We believe it is imperative that for the first half an hour each day, that every student begins their time at school with their pastoral points of contact and so as soon as they are admitted through their House doors, the students make their way to their House tutor.

Assemblies run every week for each House, in which the Main Hall is flooded in individual house-coloured lights to create a sense of unity and House pride.  Within each assembly key messages are given; House news discussed; achievements are celebrated; House Championship results shared, and an assembly theme of the week is focused upon.  These assemblies are led by collaboration with Heads of House and House leaders, and students are actively involved in the delivery and construction of the content of the assembly

 

Reflections:

Year 7 – 11 are delivered a bespoke programme of “Reflections” lessons designed by Summerhill School staff.  They are constructed to respond to what is going on in the world, to correlate with our assembly focus and to help with support with the Global Learning programme.  The fact that it is planned by pastoral and curriculum specialists means that this session has a unique and “Summerhill” feel and has been pertinent in helping to embed our values, culture and ethos even further.

 

Tracker Tuesday

Every Tuesday, each House is engaged with our attendance tracking and pastoral intervention programme.  During this session, the school engages in conversations with their form tutor about the importance of attendance.  This time gives the students the chance to talk to their pastoral point of contact about any concerns they have and enables the opportunity for support to be put in place.  The pastoral intervention section of the session can focus on reflecting on students’ attitude to learning grades or examining the positive and negative points which have been allocated to the students by a variety of teachers, in turn focusing on areas of success and areas of improvement.

 

DEAR 2.0

Once a week, each House engages in DEAR time in which students and house tutors “Drop Everything And Read.” The promotion of reading for pleasure is vitally important at Summerhill and once a week for thirty minutes we create an oasis of calm for students to delve into their book.  Year 10 students have been promoted as reading champions and during this session they take a KS3 student they have been buddied with, to support them with their reading and helping to comprehend the text they are currently focused on.

 

Mindfulness & well-being

This year we have built upon our successful mindfulness sessions and we have designed a bespoke programme to, yet again, cater for the needs of our learners.  Supporting the students at Summerhill with their mental health and giving strategies and ways to help them with how they are feeling is integral to the success of any school. Designated mental health first aiders design these sessions, and we have incorporated the “Summerhill Mile” into some of these sessions – in which students and staff in each House walk around the school site in order to be at one with nature, get some fresh air and begin to get the body pumping – ready to take on the day!