Meet our Oakmeadow Pastoral Team

At Oakmeadow, we all play an important role in supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of all our pupils.
We all have the same shared desire to ensure every child receives the necessary support to help them achieve their potential by applying our expertise to help reduce barriers to their learning. We are aware this can be often be due to emotional well-being being compromised by a range of factors. 
Although many members of our staff receive training in various areas around mental health and emotional well-being, we have a team of dedicated individuals who form our Pastoral Team. These staff members have a wealth of skills and extensive experience in this vital area.
 
We have recently opened our Oaklands Community hub where a range of activities including 'Little Acorns' baby and toddler group, parenting advice, 1:1 support and specific workshops will be available to support our families and local community. May Severn will be taking a lead role in this. 
 

  • Miss Lisa Oliver

    Family Inclusion, Designated Safeguarding Lead & SEND Support Assistant

    admin@oak.mmat.co.uk

    I feel privileged to be in my sixteenth year here at Oakmeadow. Although we are a large school, we have a real family feel which I love. We have a dedicated team of staff who have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to support all of our children and families.
    I have worked across all key stages within school supporting a wide range of children to help them reach their full potential. Initially, I started as a 1:1 teaching assistant; gradually over the years my role has evolved and I now work as part of Oakmeadow’s Pastoral team.
    I am a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), which involves supporting our Senior Leadership Team to effectively safeguard all of our Oakmeadow children and families,
    Over the years, I have been given lots of opportunities for CPD. I have received specific training to support children with ASD, dyslexia and developing Speech and Language, where I have a Level 3 Elklan qualification. I have gained further qualifications in counselling and supporting children with mental health difficulties, Most recently, I have had the opportunity to train as an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. (ELSA). This is a part of my role that I am passionate about. Training is provided by the Educational Psychology team and regular supervision sessions are arranged to support me in providing the best for our children within school. Some of the areas that I cover in my work as a ELSA include improving self-esteem, team building, supporting friendships, developing social skills, supporting bereavement, anger management and helping children to recognise and understand their emotions.
    Other parts of my pastoral role include supporting our many families, I do this alongside my colleagues, Mrs Severn and Mrs Morris and between us with have a wealth of knowledge to draw upon. We are always here to support families, who might need some additional support, or signposting to other external services that may be able to provide further additional targeted support.
    I have acquired lots of knowledge to support families and children’s behaviours, whilst delivering the ‘Solihull Approach Parenting programme, Understanding Your Child’. I do this alongside my colleague Mrs Severn as we are both facilitators within school.
    We are always here to talk, no matter how big or small your problem, please feel to contact us at any time.
    The Pastoral team have some exciting times ahead, there are lots of new developments coming – I can’t wait!

  • Mrs Helen Morris

    Deputy Headteacher

    helen.morris@oak.mmat.co.uk

    I became SENCo at Oakmeadow in 2014 and achieved my National Award for Special Needs Coordinator qualification in 2015. Since working at Oakmeadow, I have had the privilege of working with our experts within our Pastoral Team and now I have the privilege to lead such an integral part of our Oakmeadow school.
    From the outset of my teaching career, I have always had the desire to see all children achieve and most importantly enjoy the experience of coming to school. Sadly, in some schools, not all children do. Being the school's SENCO and now the Deputy Head Teacher, gives me the unique opportunity to work with a range of our children and families across the entire school. I am passionate about all children deserving and receiving the same opportunities to help them make progress, achieve and enjoy life. In this role, I can introduce and drive initiatives to make a difference. Working with our highly experienced pastoral team, we can ensure Oakmeadow continues to strive to provide an outstanding inclusive education for all our children and provide the necessary support for our families.
    Over the past couple of years, I have become particularly interested in the impact of early trauma on the lives of children. I have completed various training programmes and carried out extensive research around this area. I have also recently qualified to train all our staff members in a Team Teach approach. This is an extensive programme which underpins our ethos around behaviour. The foundation of good practice when working with our children is through building relationships of trust and understanding. At Oakmeadow, we all understand behaviour is a form of communication and has a purpose. We know at times, children may not always display our expected behaviours and therefore need coaching and support in regulating their emotions. Using the ‘Team Teach’ philosophy throughout our practice, a positive culture with positive behaviours are promoted and provide children with the support they deserve.

  • Mrs May Severn

    Family Liaison and Parenting Support Advisor

    may.severn@oak.mmat.co.uk

    I have been working here at Oakmeadow for the past 12 years where I held the post of Family Inclusion, Behaviour and Safeguarding Lead. During my last 12 months in this role, I successfully job shared with my colleague and friend Lisa Oliver before handing over the reins completely to her in July 2024.
    Although I felt ready to step away from the role of Family Inclusion behaviour & Safeguarding lead, I wasn’t ready to leave Oakmeadow as an opportunity to support with the development of provision to support our families in our new community hub became available to me.
    After a successful career in retail management & customer service I became a mum at the ripe old age of 37. Despite coming from a large family where as one of the eldest, I supported with the care of my younger siblings, I nevertheless found motherhood really challenging and after the busy independent life I had led in my career, I also felt very isolated and out of my depth with two under 2’s.
    With support from my health visitor, I sourced avenues of support which led me to joining a walking mum group and a stay and play group. I progressed from this to setting up a stay & play group for parents and pre school age children in the local primary school. I developed a strong and positive link between the group and the school’s nursery setting making transition into nursery much easier and in some cases, particularly for first time parents, less traumatic.
    When my own children joined nursery, I became more involved with the school by initially volunteering to support trips, reading in school and I ran a lunchtime club daily for children who preferred adult led play during social times.
    This led me to a change of career and when my children stared school full time where I took the plunge leaving retail and beginning my journey in education. This journey as most will know eventually led me to Oakmeadow where I have been ever since.
    Although I have stepped away from the role of Family Inclusion behaviour & safeguarding lead, I felt with the new addition of the community hub, that my work at Oakmeadow was not quite done. To this end I have taken up a new challenge and stepped into the role of Family liaison & parenting support advisor. Although I will continue to work under the pastoral and SEND umbrella, I will be offering a more bespoke provision to our families at Oakmeadow.
    As a parenting practitioner I will be available to offer support and advice to our parents who may be finding some aspects of managing their children’s behaviour, a bit of a challenge. I can offer group and/or one to one support both face to face and online. In addition to this there will be a Stay & Play group weekly in the community hub that will compliment the existing similar provision already in the village giving our families in Bayston hill additional choice and availability.
    Details of when and where our groups will be held and my availability, will be communicated via our social media, newsletters and school website. I am looking forward to the new role, getting to know our preschool children and their parents and supporting families who need a little bit of extra love and support- I know I did and thrived personally from the support I received.
    Ellen (May) Severn
    Family Liaison & parenting support advisor