Our Pastoral System

The school is divided into seven year groups:

Years 7, 8 (Lower School)

Years 9, 10 and 11 (Middle School)

Years 12 and 13 (Upper School - Sixth Form)

Heads of Year are responsible for each year group. The Form Tutor is responsible for student welfare, including getting to know her as an individual, monitoring progress, helping to maintain discipline and offering encouragement and advice. In Lower School, much of your daughter's teaching will be in her form group, apart from in some subjects (eg: DT) which require smaller groups.

Each form has a sixth form peer counsellor assigned to them and a room base where they meet daily and where form time is held. Year 8 buddies help Year 7s to settle in and are a valuable point of contact throughout the first year. Every member of the school staff has responsibility for the welfare of the girls in our care. Heading up this pastoral support is our Assistant Head Pastoral, Ms Chrystal Cunningham, and Senior Deputy Head, Mr Ben Turner.

The House System

As she ‘steps in’ to WHS, every student becomes a member of a House, to which she will belong throughout her time at school. There are four Houses: Arnold (green), Hastings (blue), Meredith (red) and Scott (yellow) – named after four of the first students to attend WHS. Each House is led by a House Captain from Year 13, assisted by a House Team from Years 11, 12 and 13. Competitive House events run throughout the year, often organised by the girls themselves, hotly contested and encouraging team spirit and inter-year communication.