A Scottish secondary school has done away with the traditional approach to pastoral care - whereby guidance teachers often take responsibility for more than 100 children - with teachers of all subjects leading “squads” of around 15 pupils each.

At Banff Academy in Aberdeenshire, headteacher Alan Horberry was never a fan of the traditional house system, which typically involves anywhere between 100 and 200 pupils being placed under the care of principal teacher of guidance.

Mr Horberry said: “I never thought that model was particularly helpful because it almost displaces responsibility for pastoral care and makes it the responsibility of guidance teachers to look after children. So I was keen to explore how to change that philosophy and culture so every teacher saw it as their role.”

Background: Guidance teachers brand their job ‘impossible’

Related: ‘Astronomical’ caseloads of pastoral staff uncovered

Mental health: Fears over the impact of the pandemic on pupil mental health

Now the school has scrapped its four houses in favour of setting up 63 squads - from “Squad Capaldi” to “Squad NHS” - all of which meet virtually every day.

The model - which was inspired by a trip to XP School in Doncaster, which has a system called “crews” - has been running since April last year and continued when schools returned in August, with squads meeting every morning for 30 minutes.

A new approach to pastoral care in school

When all pupils were in school and attending squads in person, the week was given some structure with “talk it Tuesday” and “walk it Wednesday”, when squads would go for a stroll with their leaders around the school grounds.

The squad leaders also covered some of the personal and social education curriculum.

With learning back online, squad meetings are a chance to find out how pupils are doing but they also continue to complete the weekly challenges that have been a feature of squads from the outset.

This week, for instance, the squads had to come up with their fantasy Burns supper, answering questions like where it would be held, and who would do the Immortal Memory.

The squad that wins the weekly challenge gets a bar of chocolate for each member through the post.

All of this activity is aimed at bonding the squads “as a family”, said Mr Horberry, who has real concerns about the impact the pandemic is having on young people’s mental health, as well as the “Covid hangover” schools will face when it is all over.

Mr Horberry added that squads help the school “safeguard children” because staff are in touch with them every day. It also means they can spot when someone stops attending, or when pupils are still attending but there are worrying signs.

He said: “The comparison I make is that the squad leader is like a GP and the guidance teacher becomes more like a consultant. They have more time now for the more serious, specialist issues, and the squad leaders can pick up the pastoral concerns.”

Caroline McFarlane is head of the school’s design and technology department and is leader of Squad Capaldi, which is named after the singer Lewis Capaldi.

When she was at school, Ms McFarlane doubts whether her guidance teacher could have picked her out of a line-up. But, she said, she knows all about the lives of her S3 squad - if they have brothers and sisters, the names of their pets and if they have part-time jobs. And now she will follow them all the way through school.

“It’s a totally different experience in terms of knowing about their home life and building that relationship,” she said.

“If I get a message from a maths teacher saying, ‘One of my students hasn’t turned in any assignments,’ I can help them get to the bottom of that, rather than a letter being sent home.

“I can also act as an intermediary if pupils need help or are struggling, or don’t understand something. Sometimes pupils can be embarrassed or lack the confidence to approach a teacher.”

It has been hard work at times, said Ms McFarlane - her squad is quite introverted and it has been difficult to get them to come out of their shells, especially online - but she is sold on the value of the approach.

Ms McFarlane added: “If we had not had this support structure in place, I’m not sure how our students would have coped - the pandemic has had such an impact on their daily lives.”