School Pastors are volunteers who work around schools to provide friendship, safety and care through listening & helping. They have been operating in island schools since 2012. School Pastors give a positive adult presence in uniformed patrols at lunchtimes throughout the year, and after school in the first 2 weeks of the school year. They also attend at key times in the school calender eg Head On & Transition Days and on special request from the schools to provide reassurance. They are now expanding their work to include assemblies, drop-ins, group & 1:1 mentoring. They currently attend Medina College and Carisbrooke College at lunchtimes and will be expanding into new schools in September 2018.

Hannah Groves, Head Girl 2011/2012 Medina College, Quote from her speech at the Launch of School Pastors –

” I believe that one of the most valuable services that School Pastors will be able to provide is acting as a bridge between school and home life. Although the support available at Medina College is outstanding, students can sometimes simply feel apprehensive about opening up to a teacher or prefect about their personal life. It is likely that students would feel more comfortable seeking comfort from someone who they know has the time to listen and who they don’t necessarily have to face every day at school, and so School Pastors could provide the perfect missing link.”

Mr Nathan Thomas, Head Teacher, Medina College quote from Launch of School Pastors

“If one single stydent is safer and happier as a result of the work the school pastors do working alongside us as a college then (school pastors) has been a success.”