Head’s Weekly Update

Please see the full list of Leadership, Academic and Co-Curricular staff for the new academic year here. 

Any pastoral, day-to-day logistics or information should be sent to your child’s Divisional email address or tutor. Contact addresses for both can be found on the portal by clicking on 'My Children'.

Pastoral Divisional Leads (PDL), Head of Junior House and Deputies can be contacted on:

Dunbar@pangbourne.com

Harbinger@pangbourne.com

Hesperus@pangbourne.com  

Illawarra@pangbourne.com

Macquarie@pangbourne.com   

Boarding Head of House and Deputy Head of House can be contacted on:

Stgeorge@pangbourne.com (girls) 

Portjackson@pangbourne.com (boys) 

Any ad hoc boarding requests should be sent to the above, relevant addresses. 

Tutors 

Each pupil is allocated a tutor whose role is wide-ranging but their most important function is to oversee each of our pupils’ academic, intellectual and personal development. Tutors manage the transitions into Year 7, into Year 9 and into the Sixth Form. They advise and guide on GCSE and A Level choices and university courses. Tutors meet their tutees regularly and are the first people to see and discuss grades and reports. They help their tutees manage their prep and study time, and also share the delivery of the Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education programme.

Your child’s tutor is referenced on the Portal and their contact address can be found on the portal by clicking on 'My Children'.

Other useful contact email addresses: 

admissions@pangbourne.com - for any prospective pupil enquiries 

hc@pangbourne.com - Health Centre 

shop@pangbourne.com - School Uniform Shop 

billing@pangbourne.com - for any billing queries

reception@pangbourne.com - for any general enquiries 

pangbourne@vectare.co.uk - for any bus booking queries 

amanda.james@pangbourne.com - EA to The Head for appointments with the Head 

ceri.king@pangbourne.com - PA to the Bursar for appointments with the Bursar

martin.palfrey@pangbourne.com - Network Systems and Data Manager, for any change of contact or address details once you have joined the College. 

bursaryadmin@pangbourne.com - if you are interested in lift sharing with other parents, please email with the general direction you are travelling from and the College will put interested parties in touch with each other. 

questions@pangbourne.com - please use this email if you have a question or any feedback that you would like to share.

Reception Opening Hours: 

The Main Reception in Devitt House is staffed from 08:00-16:00

The Bursary Reception is staffed from 08:30-18:00.

The timetable timings for 2025-26 can be found here.

Independent schools are now being held to the same standards of pupil attendance as the maintained sector. Of all the independent schools that failed their inspection last academic year (of which there were many), the majority were due to a lack of compliance with the latest legislation. The following protocols ensure we are compliant and know where every child is and ensures they are properly supervised. 

Morning Arrivals

• Registration - this is for all pupils including boarders and Sixth Form students and takes place in their Division between 08:00 - 08:20. Divisions will open at 08:00. 

• Parking - all drop-offs in the morning and collections in the evening should be on the Parade Ground or the Café car park and vehicles should not drive down the small roads to the Divisions.

• Early Arrivals - any pupils wishing to arrive on site before the Divisions open at 08:00, may go to the Mess Hall from 07:30. Pupils may also book in for breakfast via their Pastoral Divisional Lead. This ensures proper supervision of all students who are onsite. 

After School Departures and Prep

• Due to the distance many of our students travel, the school day has a flexible end to prevent late arrival home followed by mountains of prep. It should be noted that the 30 minute prep slot at the end of the day is not sufficient for prep to be meaningful for students in Year 10 and above. 

• To realise the academic potential of our students they will be completing between 8-10 hours of prep a week in Years 10 and 11 and far more in the Sixth Form. This is built into the boarders’ programme in the evenings with additional prep times after dinner. As day pupils will also have extra prep to do whilst home in the evenings, the earlier bus departure time will enable academic success to be secured. This change also reflects parental feedback from last academic year.

• Parents may pick up at 17:15 or 17:45 from the Parade Ground. 

• College minibuses will depart the campus at 17:25.
  In addition there will be a shuttle service to Pangbourne Train Station at 17:20 and 17:50. 

• On-site prep will run from 17:15 to 17:45 in a silent and fully supervised space. Pupils wishing to stay for prep must sign up with their Pastoral Divisional Lead. 

• Divisions will close at 17:30. 

• For any pupils wishing to stay later than 17:45, parents will need to book their child into dinner via their Pastoral Divisional Lead and they can then be picked up from outside the Mess Hall at 18:30 having been fed. 

• Please note that pupils must either leave at 17:15 or be signed in for supervised prep by their PDL. Pupils who remain on site must be accounted for from a safeguarding and fire safety perspective.

My School Portal is the main communications method we use at Pangbourne and, once you have registered, you will be able to access most College systems using the same email address and password.

To register:

• Go to https://myportal.pangbourne.com.

• Click the link 'Forgot your password'.

• Enter the email address we have for you.

• Choose a suitable password.

The portal offers access to SOCS [Sport fixtures and results], Attendance, College Reports, Parent Evenings and much more. You will also be able to view your child’s timetable and see who his teachers are for each subject.

We will be launching the My School Portal app soon too, which will provide an even easier means to access College information.

If you do experience any problem registering, please let me know. You do not need to re-register if you have other children at Pangbourne and have accessed the portal before.

As the new Academic year commences, we would like to remind all parents about the process for absence requests. Please make sure read Appendix 1 Section 8 of the Attendance Policy here, in particular:

Applications for authorised leaves of absence during the School day will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, these should be made at least a week in advance and will only be permitted if made in writing via My School Portal. To find this: from the menu, please select ‘My Children’ and then ‘Pupil Absence from School Request’. 

Please also note that pupils should sign in and out as appropriate at the Bursary (far end of the Parade Ground) when arriving or leaving site for an authorised absence that is not a full school day.  Any such absence will need to have been pre-authorised.