Family Support
Meet Our Pastoral Team
At Marus Bridge Primary School, pastoral care is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that children achieve their very best when they feel happy, safe, supported and ready to learn. Our dedicated pastoral team, led by Mrs Karen Bish and Mrs Hill, is committed to ensuring that every member of our school community feels valued, understood and supported, enabling all children to thrive both academically and emotionally.
We believe that strong partnerships between home and school are fundamental to a child's success. By building positive, trusting and empathetic relationships with children and families, we can work together to identify and overcome barriers to learning, promote positive wellbeing and ensure every child reaches their full potential.
We understand that children may experience social, emotional or behavioural challenges at different points during their school journey. These may arise due to bereavement, family changes, anxiety, trauma, friendship difficulties or significant transitions, such as moving between key stages or transferring to secondary school. Through early intervention and personalised support, our pastoral team helps children develop the confidence, resilience and emotional wellbeing needed to successfully navigate these experiences.
Our Pastoral Team Aims To:
Create a safe, nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels valued, respected and supported.
Promote positive emotional health, wellbeing and mental resilience.
Support children in developing the social, emotional and behavioural skills needed to flourish both in school and beyond.
Identify and remove barriers to learning so that all pupils can access the curriculum successfully.
Provide targeted support for individual pupils and groups according to their needs.
Develop children's confidence, self-esteem, independence and resilience.
Promote positive attitudes to learning, attendance and engagement.
Work collaboratively with families and external agencies to ensure children receive the right support at the right time.
Support and empower families who may be experiencing challenges or difficult circumstances.
Ensure every child feels heard, listened to and supported within our school community.
Supporting a child's wellbeing often involves working closely with families and a range of external services. Where appropriate, we provide a confidential, compassionate and non-judgemental service and can coordinate support through Early Help or referrals to specialist services such as CAMHS School Link and Wigan Family Welfare Counselling Service.
For families seeking additional support with behaviour, emotional wellbeing or family relationships, we can also signpost or refer to a range of parenting programmes, including:
Understanding Your Child (Solihull Approach)
Fearless Parenting Programme
Parental Conflict Support Programmes
We are also committed to supporting families who may be experiencing financial hardship, food insecurity or changing circumstances. Additional support may be available through Pupil Premium funding and other forms of targeted assistance.
At Marus Bridge, we are proud of the high-quality pastoral care we provide for pupils, families and staff. Through a nurturing, inclusive and child-centred approach, we aim to ensure that every child feels safe, secure and ready to succeed.
Contact Our Pastoral Team
If you have any concerns about your child or would like to discuss how we can support your family, please do not hesitate to contact:
Mrs Karen Bish
Pastoral Manager
📞 01942 248129
✉️ k.bish@marusbridge.co.uk
We are here to listen, support and work alongside you to ensure that every child at Marus Bridge Primary School feels happy, secure and able to flourish.
Emotionally Friendly Schools Accreditation
At Marus Bridge Primary School, we are committed to promoting the emotional wellbeing, mental health and resilience of our entire school community. We recognise that positive mental health is fundamental to children’s success, happiness and development, and we strive to create a nurturing environment where every child feels safe, supported and valued.
As part of this commitment, we participate in the Emotionally Friendly Schools (EFS) Programme, a flexible, whole-school approach designed to enhance the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people. Working in partnership with the Educational Psychology Service in Wigan, the programme provides schools with evidence-informed strategies, practical tools and specialist support to help meet the diverse emotional needs of pupils and foster positive outcomes for all.
The EFS programme focuses on four key areas that contribute to the emotional health and wellbeing of the school community:
Staff wellbeing and school ethos
Whole-school and classroom practice
Assessing and identifying needs
Supporting individual children and families
We are delighted to have achieved the Bronze Emotionally Friendly Schools Accreditation, a significant recognition of our commitment to emotional wellbeing. We are particularly proud to be one of only 12 schools in Wigan to have received this award, reflecting the dedication of our staff and the strength of our whole-school approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing.
We would like to thank our pupils, families, governors and staff for their continued support as we work together to ensure that every child can thrive both emotionally and academically.
