How to Be an Outstanding Form Tutor: A Guide to the Most Important Job in School

Form tutors need to be the port in a storm, the defender, the challenger, the safe space, the ally, the consistent role model and efficient administrator. The role of form tutor changes over key stages and has an understated value in a secondary school’s pastoral care system: they are likely the first adult in school to greet a child each morning, thereby potentially setting the tone for the day and they are the go-to person for any problems that child encounters. This is the book many secondary school teachers wish they had had in training: a comprehensive guide on how to do much more than take the register and give out notices.

It is designed to persuade teachers at all stages of their career to invest time and energy into being an excellent form tutor. The book cover topics including:

• Attendance and punctuality
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Working with others
• How to teach PSHE safely and effectively

Guidance for first time form tutors, a source of renewed enthusiasm for seasoned professionals and a training manual for pastoral leaders, this one-stop shop for all form tutoring needs is an essential part of every school toolkit.

Sophie-Lauren McPhee is a former secondary school teacher and psychotherapist in training. Until August 2024 she held the position of Trust Lead Professional of PSHE & SMSC at The Mercian Trust and led PSHE at Queen Mary’s Grammar School in Walsall, alongside running a private counselling practice for adults and couples and educational outreach: https://www.stoneymeadow.co.uk/

Andy Allman is an experienced secondary school teacher, who is currently the Curriculum Lead of Personal Development for Tadcaster Grammar School in North Yorkshire, leading on PSHE and RSE. He has previously been a Head of a Year and an Associate Assistant Headteacher in state schools across England.