Proactive Pastoral Care Published

Well done and huge congratulations to Maria O'Neil who has recently published Proactive Pastoral Care with the support of HMC Professional Development!

Whilst Maria was researching for her PhD and working in professional development she realised that a lot of the information she was gathering and creating would benefit other pastoral leaders. She was inspired to put her work into a publication to create a resource that would help to support this role on a wider basis. 

When asked about the book and what motivated her to start writing, Maria said, "I was inspired to write this book by my children and all the pupils I have taught in the past 20 years. Pastoral care is the most important area in education as it underpins everything we do as a school community: curriculum, teaching and learning, co-curricular, etc. Proactive Pastoral Care, rooted in school’s values,  puts well-being at the heart of the decision-making; nurturing happy, healthy and successful learners."

There are positive reviews already and the official book launch is taking place today with several online events, presentations and a Q&A session. Further promotion for the book says, "Pastoral care must be proactive. It must empower students to make healthy life choices, take care of their wellbeing and reach their full potential in school and beyond."

The book offers practical advice and, "With guidance on engaging parents and evaluating the impact of pastoral systems, this book will enable educators to bring about long-term change in their school community and place student wellbeing at the top of the agenda."

Well done Maria and thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge in this area!