The Ladies’ College Deputy Principal (Pastoral) and Designated Safeguarding Lead, Dr Vanessa Mitchell has been announced as a finalist for ‘Pastoral Leader of the Year’ ahead of the 2022 National Awards for Pastoral Care in Education.
Now in its third year, this national award was created to highlight excellent practice in pastoral care, celebrate the people making a real difference in the educational experience of young people and recognise the contributions being made to developing policy and practice in pastoral support. Dr Mitchell has been commended for her passion for pastoral care as well as her ability to inspire and motivate colleagues to make a real difference in the lives of young people.
In the past year, Dr Mitchell successfully led The Ladies’ College to achieve its Wellbeing Award for Schools, the first school in the Channel Islands to achieve this award. Dr Mitchell has also been instrumental in launching positive initiatives in school to support well-being and develop the College’s pastoral care provision. This includes the ‘Girls on Board’ program, created to help girls, their parents and teachers understand the complexities and dynamics of girl friendships, as well as The Wellbeing Hub, which offers support to meet the social, emotional and educational needs of young people.
Dr Mitchell said: “I’m utterly thrilled to be shortlisted as finalist for this national award. I am passionate about wellbeing and pastoral care and enjoy my role at College immensely. I am lucky and grateful to work alongside an outstanding team of colleagues at The Ladies’ College who work tirelessly to support our wonderful students and parents.”
Outside of College, Dr Mitchell leads the Girls School Association (GSA) pastoral cluster group. In this role, Dr Mitchell brings pastoral leaders from GSA schools across the UK together to share knowledge and good practice.
The nomination follows at College’s recent inspection report, which achieved ‘Excellent’ in all categories and Daniele Harford-Fox’s arrival as Principal. The Ladies’ College also marked Safeguarding Awareness Week for students, where the College’s aim was to raise the profile of online abuse between children and encourage young people to speak up and report incidents.
Dr Mitchell has been Deputy Principal since 2018 following her previous role as Head of Sixth Form. She was a finalist in the Pride of Guernsey Teacher of the Year award in 2016, the only secondary teacher to make the final. Dr Michell has a PhD in Psychology, specialising in children’s eating behaviour.
