Stephen Lane’s Beyond Wiping Noses: Building an informed approach to pastoral leadership in schools sets out the crucial role of pastoral care as part of the function and purpose of schooling – and shares practical insights on how schools can get it right.

Within the current culture of interest in developing research-informed approaches to teaching, the focus has inevitably been focused around pedagogy. However, with the well-documented increase in pupil anxiety and mental ill-health in recent times, there is also a pressing need for schools and teachers to embrace a more rigorous approach to pastoral care.

In this urgently needed book, teacher and Head of Year Stephen Lane (aka Sputnik Steve) presents a case for developing a research-informed approach to the pastoral aspect of teaching. This approach is the result of Stephen’s own explorations of pastoral practice – and in Beyond Wiping Noses he offers helpful advice on how to design a knowledge-rich pastoral curriculum that encompasses both knowledge of the self and knowledge of the other.

Stephen expertly surveys the field of pastoral provision and leadership and provides practical takeaways around how schools can build an integrated approach to taking care of their pupils. He considers how pastoral routines can be embedded in the curriculum and developed to take account of cognitive load theory and Rosenshine’s principles of instruction.

The book also includes chapters focused on key pastoral considerations – such as safeguarding, behaviour, bullying, and wellbeing and mental health.

Suitable for teachers, school leaders and anyone with a pastoral role in any school setting.

Stephen Lane is the winner of the NAPCE's National Award for Pastoral Care in Education 2021 for 'Raising Awareness of Pastoral Care'.