Pastoral Care

Student Life

Personal development is rated ‘Outstanding’ across all phases at FirstPoint School.

At FirstPoint School we have a bespoke pastoral programme which is designed around the Dubai Wellbeing Census and Pupil Attitudes to Self and School surveys. This means that the programme is organic, changing each year to meet the pastoral needs of the students at FirstPoint School.

FirstPoint is a community of over 1500 pupils and over 400 staff. In such a large school it is important that every pupil is individually monitored and supported and we believe that our pastoral system is well set up to achieve this.

The primary aim of our system is to ensure that every pupil feels individually valued and supported. Within primary, our class teachers and teaching assistants are the first point of contact for child welfare and happiness, and our teachers pride themselves on understanding their students’ personalities, backgrounds and families well. As a family-friendly school, this is an area of distinct pride for us, and something that we are continually praised about by parents, and external school assessors. The warmth and compassionate nature of our primary school shines through to every visitor who comes to the school, and is undoubtedly part of what makes FirstPoint.

Within the secondary school, each student is tutored in a small group who meet every day; this enables the tutor to know them extremely well and to support and guide them, and it enables friendships to flourish. All this we believe contributes to the particularly happy atmosphere at FirstPoint and our values of compassion, open-mindedness and trust.

Pastoral care is not restricted to the tutor group meeting in the morning, however. Tutors and Year Heads are available to pupils at other times to talk and offer advice. Pupils seek them out as well as talking to their subject teachers about things that are worrying them.

The Health Centre is open every school day and the nurses are there to deal with illness and injuries, but also to listen when pupils need someone to talk to privately or confidentially. There is also a School Counsellor who can be contacted for an appointment. The Pastoral Assistant Principal is also someone that pupils can turn to for help. In our experience pupils also share problems with their friends and are incredibly supportive of each other.

As we enter the digital age, the power and information we harness from the internet is incredible. However, these new learning opportunities provide new challenges, one of which is E-Safety. In response to this everchanging challenge, we provide regular E-Safety parent workshops and student training sessions both in class and as part of the pastoral programme. We are continually reviewing our systems to ensure that our firewalls are up to date and we can support you to secure your child's device.

For our students to meet and exceed their potential, they need to live healthy lives. All students need a good night’s sleep, a full healthy breakfast, healthy food throughout the day, water to stay hydrated and plenty of exercise. At FirstPoint School all students take part in a wide range of sports and activities as part of the curriculum. There is then the opportunity to expand this through the School’s extra-curriculum programme which currently runs around 90 activities each term. The School restaurants provide healthy and nutritious meals and include food from around the world.

All staff and volunteers complete a robust safeguarding training programme and have regular safeguarding updates throughout the School year. All our staff have a Police Clearance Certificate or a Police Check from their own country. For any safeguarding queries, please contact Rhys Headley Assistant Principal Safeguarding and Inclusion.