We ensure all students have the skills, aptitudes and abilities to cope with what is presented to them during their time at the College. Our Pastoral Care programme stretches far beyond the academic. It encompasses physical, mental, social, and emotional wellbeing.

Students are encouraged to participate in the traditions and values St Andrew’s College offers. Our Presbyterian heritage underpins the Pastoral Care programme from Religious Education (RE) classes through to formal chapel services.

As a family focused school, St Andrew’s College provides many opportunities to cultivate relationships with caregivers. These include:

• Contact with tutor teachers – tutor teachers also get to know the parents and guardians of students in their group, so they can feel comfortable about taking issues and concerns about their child to the tutor as a first step;
• Student-parent-tutor conferences – two student-parent-tutor conferences are scheduled each year with the relationship being built upon in subsequent years;
• Parent seminars – St Andrew’s College runs parent seminars. Topics include raising children, internet safety, alcohol and drugs awareness, sexual behaviour, personal relationships, and adolescent development.

As a deliberate and strategic action, St Andrew’s College delivers the Te Waka programme to Year 10 students. This is a time when students experience many personal changes and challenges. In recognition of this, all Year 10 students are exposed to a weekly three hour intensive intervention called The Te Waka programme. This transformational programme comprises The Rite Journey, The Duke of Edinburgh, our Outdoor Education experience and the Health Syllabus.

St Andrew’s College has a deliberate and strategic Pastoral Care programme which is well resourced . We are committed to the wellbeing of our students in the following ways:

• Recognition of student well-being and academic achievement – there is clear research to suggest the correlation between student wellbeing and academic achievement is significant. Our staff monitor student satisfaction as there is a close relationship between learning and behaviour. At all times, staff are here to support students in all endeavours while they are at school;
• Dedicated tutor teachers – despite being larger than other private schools in Christchurch, St Andrew’s College Pastoral Care programme offers personal support. Our tutor teachers get to know individual students and ascertain their needs. Throughout your child’s time at the College, we like to celebrate every student’s successes and continually support them;
• Allocated Pastoral Care time – St Andrew’s College timetables Pastoral Care four out of five days;
• Five year personal care – our tutor teachers are responsible for supporting your child for five years throughout their time at Middle School and Senior College. This allows time for a personal relationship to be established;
• Proactive and reactive support mechanisms – we are clear about the purpose of Pastoral Care and have effective processes and people in place to ensure those outcomes are met. St Andrew’s College actively teaches students how to manage their time, stress levels and outside expectations. We are aware of the issues and deliberately have safety mechanisms in place to support students, if things don’t go well;
• Pastoral Care Committee – our Pastoral Care Committee is chaired by the Chaplain and brings together senior management, Head of Middle School and Senior College and Heads of Boarding and International Students. During weekly meetings any major issues, initiatives and concerns are aired.

St Andrew’s recognises the importance of a robust and multifaceted Pastoral Care programme. To ensure we deliver on our outcomes, specialist programmes, staff, and services are invested in and fully resourced. These include:

• Te Waka The Rite Journey;
• Duke of Edinburgh;
• Traveller’s Programme;
• High Performance Sport.

• Senior College Head;
• Middle School Head;
• Five deans – one for each year group;
• 72 tutor teachers;
• Peer Support Leaders;
• Learning support – One on one tutoring with senior students;
• Counsellor – Tom Matthews is a professional counsellor available full-time to support students during particularly difficult or stressful times;
• Health Centre;
• Physio;
• Teacher psychologist.