Student Wellbeing: Parent Resource Hub

Student Wellbeing at KGV

Our goal is that every KGV student turns up to school happy, healthy, and ready to learn—empowered to be the best version of themselves.

Guided by the ESF Wellbeing Framework, we take a tiered approach: Universal (good for all), Tier 2 (good for some), and Tier 3 (good for a few). We focus on four key pillars: Sleep, Steps, Social, and Self.

Phone-Free Campus: Our "Gate-to-Gate" policy keeps lesson time focused and break times active with face-to-face interaction.
Thrive Curriculum: Tailored learning informed by our bi-annual student wellbeing surveys.
Campus Culture & Initiatives: School-wide engagement through Kindness Week, Mental Health Awareness Week, and Parent Talks.

School Counselling & Pastoral Care

Emotional support is a cornerstone of our community. For detailed information on our dedicated support pathways, visit our dedicated [School Counselling & Pastoral Care Page].

School Counselling, Social Work & ELSA Support

We provide a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental space for students to navigate challenges, build resilience, and thrive.

Our Support Channels

The WeTalk Hub: A calm campus sanctuary for emotional regulation or 1-on-1 chats.
One-on-One & Group Care: Personalized support for anxiety, relationship dynamics, or stress.
Integrated Care Network: Counsellors, Social Workers, Tutors, Heads of Year, and Child Protection Officers (CPOs) working together.

Accessing Support

Self-Referral: Drop by the WeTalk Hub (LRC) or email the team.
Pastoral Referral: Speak to a Tutor or Head of Year.
Parent Collaboration: We partner with families while preserving student trust. Confidentiality is maintained unless there is a risk of harm.

Wellbeing Overview School Counselling Wellbeing Survey

KGV is proud to promote a proactive culture of student wellbeing which is led by students and supported by staff. We follow a tiered approach in line with the ESF Wellbeing Framework, with ‘universal - good for all’, tier 2 ‘good for some, and tier 3 - good for a few. Ultimately, the mission is to empower students with the tools to manage their own wellbeing, and support them where needed.

Our vision is that every KGV student can be the best version of themselves when they turn up to school each day: happy, healthy and ready to learn.

Integrated Support Systems for Your Child

Tutors:
ELSA Support:
Counselling and Social Work: Professional psychological assistance and advocacy for student welfare.
CPOs and Safeguarding Leads: Officers ensuring a protected environment and adhering to child protection protocols.

Our campus culture is enriched by various initiatives designed to nurture collective well-being through school-wide engagement.

Kindness Week: A dedicated period focusing on empathy and positive community interactions.
Mental Health Awareness Week: An annual event highlighting psychological health and reducing social stigma.
Wellbeing Survey: A data-driven approach to monitor and respond to student emotional trends.

Parent talks

Please visit https://kgv.esf.edu.hk/parent/schoollife/schoolcounselling/ for more information.

Contact details - Email: counselling.support@kgv.hk

School counselling provides a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental space for students to navigate the unique challenges of adolescence, build personal resilience, and thrive both inside and outside the classroom.

Our professional counselling team works collaboratively with students, tutors, and families to support emotional growth, manage stress, and foster a positive school experience.

What We Offer at KGV

We take a holistic approach to student wellness, ensuring that support is readily accessible to every young person in our community. Our provisions include:

The WeTalk Hub: A dedicated, calm, and safe sanctuary on campus where students can step away from daily school pressures, regulate their emotions, or speak directly with a professional.

One-on-One & Group Support: Our team of qualified Student Counsellors and School Social Workers provide evidence-based, personalised care. We support students managing anxiety, academic pressure, relationship dynamics, or personal difficulties.

A Network of Care: Our counselling team works alongside Tutors, Heads of Year (HOY), and the Child Protection Officers to ensure seamless pastoral care that wraps around the student.

Confidentiality & Safety: Trust is paramount. Sessions with our counsellors are strictly confidential, ensuring that students feel safe expressing themselves freely. Note: In alignment with professional safeguarding ethics, confidentiality is only breached if there is a risk of harm to the student or others.

How Students Can Access Support

We encourage a culture where seeking help is viewed as a strength. Students can access our services in a few simple ways:

Self-Referral: By dropping into the WeTalk Hub in person or emailing our team directly at

Pastoral Referral: By speaking with their Tutor or Head of Year, who can help facilitate an introduction to the counselling team.

Partnering with Parents: While counselling sessions are a private space for your child to grow, we value our partnership with parents. We are always here to partner with families on how to best support their child’s mental health journey at home.

Students complete a comprehensive wellbeing survey twice a year which seeks to quantify their wellbeing in different areas. These include home life and school life metrics. This data is correlated with their daily habits (including screen time, activity levels, and sleep) so that we can learn about which student habits lead to success.

KGV students are most successful when they get sufficient sleep, are physically active and take part in our active CAS programme, and find ways to take part in KGV school life.

The World Health Organisation recommends that students of Year 7-9 age get 9-11 hours of sleep each night, and older students get 8-10 hours. Our data shows that students who achieve these recommended minimums experience the most success and report the greatest wellbeing.

Physical activity is a crucial component of physical and mental wellbeing. KGV students that take part in our active CAS programme not only display greater wellbeing but also improved teacher student relationships.

We encourage all students to find their place in KGV life. This can be done through our CAS programme, interhouse sport and activities, and our music and performing arts programmes. Being part of KGV life fosters a sense of belonging and allows our students to make the face to face connections with one another that are crucial for their wellbeing and development.

At KGV we are proud to promote a phone-free campus through our ‘Gate-to-Gate’ policy. This allows our students to connect with one another, play, and build their social skills, as well as focus on their learning during lesson time.

Domains

The ESF Wellbeing Framework identifies 3 domains of wellbeing: people and relationships, health, and identity. At KGV these are represented by our approach to ‘sleep, steps, social, and self’.

Thrive

All students at KGV explicitly learn about health and wellbeing through our Thrive curriculum. This is informed by our own student data and as such is personalised for them.

Official Safeguarding Statement

Official Safeguarding Statement

KGV is committed to Safeguarding, which is “the process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.” (UK Government)

KGV has five Child Protection officers who work to ensure the wellbeing of students by monitoring incidences of suspected abuse or neglect, convening teams of relevant colleagues to make decisions about student welfare and making referrals, internally and externally, to specialist colleagues in order to support students who are in need.

The Child Protection officers are:

Mark Poulsum (Principal)

Carole Beer (Vice Principal)

Gayle Marshall (Vice Principal)

Tim Carrell (Vice Principal)

Dionne Lashley-Greer (Vice Principal)

Tanya Tayal (Counsellor)

Any member of the school community with a Safeguarding / Child Protection concern should contact the above colleagues.

Official Wellbeing Statement

Official Wellbeing Statement

All teachers at KGV are teachers of wellbeing. We remain committed to working with families and our wider community to ensure we are all aware of the issues facing our students and providing parents, teachers and students with the information and skills needed for all students to be the best they can be. We are constantly striving to improve our student support and guidance provision by listening to what students need and collecting data to identify priorities.

To further support all student’s wellbeing, we have a strong pastoral system which includes many staff members with daily duties and responsibilities, including:

the Tutor (a dedicated tutor for each student who knows them well and advocates for them)
Head of Year (HOY)
Senior Head of Year (SHOY)
Vice Principal (VP) in charge of each of the sub-schools
Response To Intervention (RTI) team
Counselling team (Emotional Literacy Support Advisors (ELSA’s), Counsellors and Social Workers)
Child Protection Officers

As part of our wider focus on wellbeing, our students are supported in Years 7-9 through PHE (Physical and Health Education) classes and in Years 10 -13 through PSHE (Personal, Social, Economic and Health Education). Through these subjects, pupils develop valuable knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and prepare for life and work in modern global society such as such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, team working and critical thinking in the context of learning grouped into three core themes: health and wellbeing, relationships and living in the wider world. Evidence shows that well-delivered PHE and PSHE programmes have an impact on both academic and non-academic outcomes for pupils. These curricula form the heart of our explicit Wellbeing Education at KGV.

Our WeTalkHub (formerly Wellbeing Centre) continues to be a safe space where students can go if they just want a place to be calm, and escape from the stress of school. Our two Student Counsellors and two Social Workers provide one-to-one support for students who needed extra help with a variety of issues they faced through the school year. They work alongside our team of four ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Advisors) to look after the wellbeing of students at KGV. Apart from approaching their tutors, we encouraged students to use our counselling services as an additional, confidential support to help them address difficulties that affect their social, emotional or intellectual wellbeing. In addition, our Student Wellbeing Ambassadors also support students through activities that help foster a culture of peer support and wellbeing at KGV.

Wellbeing at KGV also includes:

School Healthcare Professionals Available for students on site every day
AWE wellbeing survey. Every student in ESF takes the AWE survey every year as a tool for reflecting upon and improving their own wellbeing, and to help the school see if we are on track. We also do additional KGV ‘screeners’ to help identify students who may need support and to give student opportunities to request support.
A varied curriculum which promotes wellbeing when opportunities present themselves. Whole-School Events through the year such as Kindness Week, Pride Week , Odd Socks for Odd Days, and Mental Health Awareness Week to highlight and focus the community on different aspects of wellbeing
Parent talks: A programme of parent talks running every year, throughout the year.
Our school values of Honesty Courage and Empathy