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The Weekly Pastoral Rhythm: What a Good HOY Week Actually Looks Like

A practical Monday-to-Friday rhythm for Heads of Year, covering attendance checks, tutor meetings, visibility, positive calls and the weekly pastoral reset.

If you ask a new Head of Year what a typical week looks like, most of them will tell you it's all firefighting.

They're not wrong.

The first year of the role is mostly reactive.

The radio goes.

A parent calls.

A Year 9 has walked out of maths.

The DSL pops their head round the door.

You spend the day chasing the next thing on the list, and by Friday you're not entirely sure what you actually did.

The HOYs who survive the role beyond two years are the ones who build a weekly rhythm.

Not a rigid schedule.

A pattern.

A set of things that happen on the same days, in roughly the same way, every week.

So that when the radio does go off on Tuesday at 11.40am, the rest of the week doesn't fall apart.

This isn't about being a more organised person.

It's about being able to lead a year group of 200 students without losing your mind by half term.

Here's the rhythm I use.

It isn't the only one.

It's the one that's worked for me, and for most of the HOYs I've talked to who are still doing the job five years in.