At Burford School, we place a significant emphasis on supporting our students’ personal and developmental needs in order for them to develop into well-rounded individuals.
Each student is assigned a form tutor who provides daily support and is the first point of contact for any parental and carer concerns.
In addition, each year group is led by a Head of Year who is responsible for their cohorts' personal and academic development.
Our Heads of Year are in turn supported by three full-time Pastoral Assistants who, in partnership with our Pastoral Assistant Headteacher, provide bespoke support for students with specific welfare and educational needs.
Our Home-School Link Service is an integral part of our pastoral care provision.
This service provides:
We offer after-school care between 3.15 pm and 8.00 pm, Mondays to Fridays, for day school students.
Students walk down to the Boarding House in Burford, where they will join boarders for supper and supervised homework time. After both, students participate in on-site evening activities until they are collected. For information regarding cost and availability, please contact the Boarding Department in the first instance.
We have our own medical room and during school hours our experienced and qualified Medical Officer is on hand to deal with students with minor injuries or who are feeling unwell.
Our First Aid and Medical Arrangements Policy which includes details of our first aid and medicine administration practice, as well as our procedure for students with long-term medical needs, can be found in our School Policies section.
As part of this above policy, parents and carers are required to complete a medical form for the administration of all medicines, including pain relief, during school hours. This must be returned to our Reception with the corresponding medicine.
A qualified school nurse from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust supports the work of our Medical Officer and works alongside teachers in the classroom to deliver our Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship (PSHE) and Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) programmes. For more information, see below:
At Burford School, our Learning Zone offers personalised learning to enable all our students to reach their full potential, supporting those who are More Able and Gifted, speak English as an Additional Language, are eligible for Pupil Premium funding and have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities.
For further information, visit our dedicated Learning Zone section.
At Burford School, we are fortunate to have our own facilities and kitchen staff to allow us to prepare fresh, nutritious home-cooked food, including vegetarian and vegan dishes, on site and aim to source our fresh ingredients from local suppliers where possible.
We serve a range of hot and cold food options and drinks from our main canteen at morning break and lunchtime. ‘The Pod’, our separate outside catering outlet, provides an additional location from which students can purchase the same range of food and drink options, ensuring students are served promptly at break and lunchtime.
For students wishing to purchase food and drink from our main canteen or ‘The Pod’, we operate a cashless, biometric system, with parents and carers able to top up their child’s canteen account online via Scopay.
Students entitled to free school meals are allocated an allowance on their biometric canteen account each school day, to be used at break and lunchtime.
To apply for free school meals, our free school meals form should be completed and returned to our Reception or office@burford.oxon.sch.uk
Our School Policies section contains all our key pastoral policies and can be accessed here.