Student Support, Welfare & Safeguarding

As a student at the College you will find there is an excellent system of pastoral support, in which your Personal Tutor plays a lead role.

As your Personal Tutor will also be one of your course teachers, you’ll get to see them four times a week during lesson time, in addition to once a week during a timetabled Tutorial period. This means they’ll get to know you well, and will be responsible for you throughout your time at College.

Your Personal Tutor will be one of the main people with whom you can discuss any academic, personal or social problems and if they don’t know the answer, they will direct you to someone who will.

Each Personal Tutor has either a Senior Tutor, Pastoral Director or Associate Pastoral Director with whom they work closely with. This person is rather like a Head of Year or Assistant Head of Year from school and this will also be someone to whom you can talk if you are finding it difficult at College for whatever reason, be it work, home life, friendship issues or anything which is distracting you from your studies.

If you would like to make contact with the pastoral member of staff responsible for you, you can:

1. Ask your Personal Tutor who she or he is, and you can then email them directly.
2. Go to Reception where a member of the Reception team will also be able to direct you to the appropriate person.
3. Email studentservices@reigate.ac.uk with a request to see someone and they will pass this request on to the pastoral member of staff responsible for you.

If you’re having difficulties in your studies, then first of all speak to your class teacher. Each department has timetabled support sessions known as ‘Plus Classes’ to help you better understand or catch up with work in your chosen courses. These can be added to your timetable to ensure you get the support needed to be successful on your course.

For more information talk to your relevant subject teacher.

If you’re having difficulties organising yourself and your time and keeping up-to-date with deadlines, then your teacher can refer you for Directed Study, this will support you with regular timetabled sessions in the Independent Learning Centre (ILC). The sessions will give you the resources, time and space to get on with your work in a quiet working environment.

If you have additional needs that are affecting your studies and you need particular support to help you access the curriculum or specialist learning support, the College has a bespoke Learning Support Department located in P103 where you can get help throughout the whole of the College day.

In some cases depending on the level of need, the Learning Support Department will also arrange for you to be assessed for Exam Access Arrangements.

For more information call in to the Learning Support Department in P103 and see the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) Information Report which can be found on the College Policies webpage.

As a student at the College you have access to the Careers’ Department which is located in E102 (upstairs in the Enhancement Building) and open every day from 9am to 4:30pm (term-time only) and has five dedicated members of Careers’ staff.

A Careers Bulletin is emailed to your student email account every week with details about Careers events and opportunities. Please follow the link for the latest copy.

If you need Careers advice you can request a one-to-one careers interview with Careers staff and if you’re interested in gaining work experience you can make an appointment with the College’s work experience co-ordinator who is also based in E102.

For further information about Careers Support email careers@reigate.ac.uk

If you want some help settling into College or getting organised with your work or just some reassurance, there is a mentoring scheme in place to help you.

You can request to have a Peer Mentor who will be a student in their second or third year at College who is willing to meet up with you on a regular basis to help you make the transition from school to College.

Alternatively, there is a Mentoring Scheme with a trained member of staff who can meet you on a regular basis to discuss your concerns and help keep you on track.

For information on either scheme, please email mentoring@reigate.ac.uk

If you’re struggling emotionally while at College and find yourself losing sleep over a problem or feeling lonely, depressed, anxious or exhausted or you are struggling to cope with College, work, relationships or home-life, you can request an appointment with the College’s Counselling Service.

The Counselling Service is run by qualified youth counsellors and offers a confidential service. You can talk through your situation, explore the choices available to you and find possible steps forward.

For more information email relate@reigate.ac.uk

If you are aged 17 or over and registered with a GP in Surrey, Talking Therapies is a local free and confidential NHS service offering a wide range of talking therapies to help and support you through common difficulties such as depression, anxiety, panic, stress, phobias, OCD, trauma, sleeping difficulties and distress.

Visit the DHC Talking Therapies website and watch their video.

Student wellbeing is at the very heart of the Reigate College community. Please take a look at the College’s Wellbeing Tips video:

You may also find the following leaflets useful for improving Wellbeing, and dealing with Anxiety and / or Depression.

Reigate College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and requires all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment. We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children. We make every effort to provide an environment in which young people and adults feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and feel confident to talk if they are worried, believing they will be effectively listened to.

If you have a concern about a young person please contact the safeguarding team via reception or by email safeguarding@reigate.ac.uk Please note this is not monitored 24 hours. If you have serious concern about a young person out of College hours, please contact the Police on 999.

Visitors to Reigate College

• All visitors must sign in at Main Reception
• All visitors will be issued with an appropriate pass, which must be displayed at all times while on the site.
• Visitors will be asked to remain under the supervision of a designated member of staff while on site.
• All visitors must sign out at the Main Reception before leaving the site.

E-Safety for Applicants invited to Interview

Mobile Phones: to protect our students we respectfully ask that you do not have your phone out or use it during your time in any of the College buildings, except the staffroom. If this is an issue, please contact Personnel prior to your arrival.

The full Safeguarding Policy can be found on the College Policies page.

In summary, the aims of the policy are:

• To demonstrate the College’s commitment with regard to safeguarding and child protection to pupils, parents and other partners.
• To raise the awareness of all teaching and non-teaching staff of their responsibilities to safeguard children through identifying and reporting possible cases of abuse.
• To enable the College to effectively contribute to Early Help, assessments of need and support for those children.
• To provide robust College systems and procedures that are followed by all members of the College community in cases of suspected abuse.
• To develop and promote effective working relationships with other agencies, in particular Early Help providers, the Police, Health Care and Social Care.
• To ensure that all staff working within our College who have substantial access to children, have been checked as to their suitability, including verification of their identity, qualifications, and a satisfactory DBS check (according to KCSIE guidance), and a single central record is kept for audit.

Reigate College Values: Rights, Respect and Responsibility

All members of the College community are expected to follow the principles of rights, respect and responsibilities as outlined in the Reigate College Student Code of Conduct which can be found on the College Policies page.

The College’s ‘rights, respect and responsibilities’ principles also encompass Fundamental British Values, which are of paramount importance to our College community. We see British Values as underpinning what it is to be a citizen in a modern and diverse Great Britain.

In 2014, the Department for Education published guidance on promoting British values in schools to ensure young people leave school and College prepared for life in modern Britain and these values were first set out in the ‘Prevent’ strategy in 2011. As well as actively promoting these values to our students, we are also embedding these into student work across all curriculum areas.

The definition of British values are as follows:

• Democracy
• The rule of Law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect
• Tolerance of different faiths and belief

To promote and uphold these British Values we aim to:

• Help students become valuable and rounded members of society, who treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background.
• Promote the basic British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance to those of different beliefs and faiths
• Ensure young people understand the importance of respect and leave College fully prepared for life in modern Britain
• Celebrate difference and promote diversity
• Encourage an understanding of the difficulties other cultures face where such values are not respected.

Strategies to Promote British values:

• Embed FBV into different College curriculum areas.
• Ensure all our students have a voice that is listened to and valued, and demonstrate how democracy works through promoting the Students’ Union. Also, encouraging students to feedback to us through student surveys and the student union representatives
• Use opportunities such as general elections, debates, Students’ Union elections to promote British values and help students to respectfully argue and defend different points of view.
• Develop and encourage extra-curricular activities among students which promote FBV, such as volunteering, debating, peer mentoring, working with local and national Charities to raise awareness including fundraising events and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award etc.
• Actively consult with our Students’ Union representatives to gather student views and feedback on key College policies that affect the student body and have student representatives on the board of Governors.
• Encourage student participation in working in supporting both the College community and the wider community with events such as the Volunteers Fair, Activities Fair, Community Days and Equality & Diversity Day. To embed the fundamentals of Rights, Respect and Responsibilities within tutorials to help students gain an understanding of how British Values have evolved.
• Encourage students to become responsible learners and to actively participate in their own learning and development.

A limited number of students may be eligible for financial support to help them cover the cost of studying at Reigate College.  

For further information please see the Financial Help section of the Finance and Travel page.