Malvern St James Girls' School has been shortlisted in the prestigious Independent School Parent magazine's Independent Schools of the Year 2021 awards. The School has been shortlisted, from a record number of entries, in the Student Wellbeing category.

2020-2021 presented many challenges for the Health and Wellbeing Team, from ensuring the continuation of our excellent pastoral provision in a remote environment to supporting a smooth return to onsite education. We are lucky enough to have well-established systems for supporting Pastoral Care, something which is verified by our Gold Standard accreditation in Mental Health and Wellbeing as recognised by the Carnegie Institute, but adapting these to our new circumstances was essential.

During the pandemic, the Wellbeing Team created an Online Pastoral Tracking System which allowed them to track how pupils were feeling and act where necessary via 1-1 contact with a chosen staff member. They also created fun groups, via Teams, where both pupils and staff could be creative and feel connected to each other.

Pastoral Prefect, Molly, launched a highly successful Self Care Challenge using the themes from her book Mind Your Mind. Molly galvanised the whole school in actively focusing on self-care and wellbeing.

Zinnia Wilkinson, Director of Pastoral Care said, "Mental health and wellbeing is always important, underpinning all other aspects of a person’s life and ability to thrive. There is no doubt that recent months have thrown the importance of this into sharp relief and as a School, we are mindful of the additional pressures on the whole community and potential impact to wellbeing as a result of these. I am delighted MSJ has been shortlisted for the Student Wellbeing award, it is a great testament to the team here."