The care of each individual student is central to the philosophy of pastoral care at Millfield. Small tutor groups provide an environment for all students to meet others, seek the guidance and support of their tutor and also experience the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education programme (PSHEE). Each tutor group is attached by a house, and all students can access the Housemaster or Housemistress (one in each boarding house) and Assistant Housemaster or Housemistress.
In boarding houses staff seek to make the environment a homely place with a family atmosphere. All houses have matrons who spend most of the day in the house, supervising and supporting pupils and staff.
Outside the house units, students may seek guidance from the Spiritual Director, Medical Centre staff, school Counsellors, the safeguarding team and Assistant Head (Pastoral). Removed from the disciplinary structure, these staff are able to speak with students who might be experiencing difficulty at whatever level and discuss the matter in a safe environment.
Millfield’s catering company Chartwells provide healthy, nutritious and appetising food for students to support their busy and active lifestyles, be that in sports or academic pursuits.
We take pride in maximising the choice and variety available every day using fresh, locally and ethically sourced produce.
Through variety and nutritional balance, we strive to meet the needs of every student which in turn allows them to excel. See a sample menu.
Eat to Excel
Eat to Excel is the community we are building in the dining hall and food provision across the school campus. Everyone needs to eat to excel and fuel their success with tasty and nutritious food.
Eat to Excel labels are visible on all serveries and salad bars and the menus are colour coded accordingly. These will highlight the different food groups and aid students in creating balanced plates of food to fuel the requirements of their day.
Breakfast
Everyday there is a variety of tropical fruit, toast, yoghurt, a cereal counter and porridge from the continental buffet as well as a daily changing hot counter.
Lunch
A mixture of both traditional and innovative hot dishes with meat, vegetarian and vegan options, accompanied with fresh seasonal vegetables and carefully selected side dishes.
World Food Bar stations with ever-evolving concepts from vegan curry shacks to jacket potato bars and our bespoke dishes from the weekly 'chef’s pass'.
Extensive salad bar with a range of both superfood composite and more flexible build your own items, finished with our delicious homemade dressings
Freshly baked bread and daily changing soup counter
A vast array of both hot and cold desserts including seasonal crumbles, sponges and trifles
Fresh fruit
Supper
This is a more relaxed and informal style of service, supper allows the students time to unwind and enjoy food at their own pace. The food selection is similar to that of lunchtime but with occasional twists such as international themed dinners and some indulgent treat nights.
Sundays
Boarders have the opportunity to unwind with friends and enjoy meals in a more leisurely fashion on Sundays. Brunches are designed with grazing in mind and the day wouldn't be complete without a traditional roast dinner.
Food Quality and Traceability
We take pride in using the highest possible quality ingredients sourced from respected suppliers. Regular audits are carried out on our suppliers to ensure animal welfare, traceability and ethnic farming methods are practiced.
Allergens
Millfield adheres to the 2014 EU regulations, which require the identification of specific allergens in food. The regulations are designed to improve the nutritional and allergen information provided to pupils, helping them to make informed choices.
Since October 2021 the introduction of Natasha’s Law has come into effect meaning all pre-packed, made in house items, now have an itemised ingredients list, with allergens clearly highlighted.
Our online menu planning software allows us to manage the provision of allergen information accurately as live information of ingredients is available at the touch of a button, allergen information is also available through our social media channels and online student notice boards.
Beyond the Dining Hall
We offer a variety of educational activities and workshops to prepare pupils for a healthy life after Millfield, including food budgeting and nutrition expertise. We also have a Catering Committee; this is a forum to facilitate two way communications between Chartwells and the students. Discussions about the food on offer, likes/dislikes and new dish suggestions take place.
The Millfield Medical Centre, located at the heart of the Millfield campus between the main school area and the majority of the boarding houses, can treat a complete range of illnesses in exactly the same manner as any other surgery. It is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week during term time by a highly competent and dedicated health care team consisting of seven fully qualified nurses and a health care assistant.
Other services offered by the Medical Centre include:
• Asthma clinic
• Travel clinic for vaccinations/malaria tablets etc
• Teenage sexual health clinic
•Guidance around Disordered Eating
• Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) testing annually
• Minor injuries clinic
• Minor surgery clinic
Dental Care
All routine dental care should be undertaken at home during the holidays. Private emergency appointments can be arranged as required. The private dental insurance scheme offered by the school will cover the cost of these appointments. Orthodontic treatments can be arranged on a private basis only.
Caring for sick students
The Millfield Medical Centre houses 15 beds that are covered 24 hours a day, and a self contained isolation unit. This means for those children with severe or highly infectious illnesses they can be comfortably looked after by trained professionals away from the boarding house reducing any risk of spreading the illnesses. In the event of minor illness, boarders are normally nursed in their boarding houses, with full back-up from the medical staff. Close liaison is maintained between housemasters/housemistresses, medical staff and the parents of sick children in all cases, although the right to confidentiality is given after the age of 16.
Physio Clinic
We offer a Physio Clinic run by chartered physiotherapists located at both the senior and prep school. Services provided include assessment, rehabilitation, injury prevention, concussion assessment/management and pitch side medical care.
CELS is Millfield’s name for PSHEE. It covers all of the statutory requirement of Personal Social Health and Economic Education (PSHEE). It is a vital element of the development of a student at Millfield and is compulsory for all students.
The course delivers an awareness of how to gather confidence, resilience and strength for the challenges and opportunities ahead. CELS is concerned with supporting the social, health and economic realities of our students now and in the future and at Millfield we do that in an age-appropriate manner. It is evidenced that a solid CELS curriculum increases academic attainment as well as health and student wellbeing. Student wellbeing and a strong curriculum is an integral part of a school’s successful safeguarding culture.
The programme is delivered within three broad themes that repeat throughout the year:
Health and wellbeing
Living in the wider world
Relationships and sex education (an extended, single sex, house-led session for Year 10 and Lower Sixth is delivered by the nurses and sex education leads)
The curriculum aims to:
Promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students at the school (SMSC)
Allow for the individual character to develop in line with the whole school values of brilliance, authenticity, curiosity, kindness and positive disruption
Prepare students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life through providing a current and useful health education and opportunity to have open discourse about their concerns
Instil qualities for life that underpin academic or sporting success in the curriculum and the overall psychosocial wellbeing of the individual
Uphold fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Work in line with Gatsby benchmarks
Help shape an inclusive and harmonious school culture
The resources for the CELS programme are produced, reviewed and coordinated by the Head of Department, Ms Sweny. Please contact her for any more information here.
Spiritual and Moral Development in the Millfield Community
Millfield believes that true education must be concerned with spiritual and moral development. All students of the school, irrespective of their religion, are encouraged to explore and develop their own faith, and learn from that of others, in an atmosphere of generosity and tolerance. This finds its fullest expression in our delightful Start of Year Service, held in the magnificent setting of Wells Cathedral.
Worship – provision for Christians and those of other faiths
The Spiritual Director is responsible for the ongoing spiritual life of the community. Although this doesn’t simply mean running services, the rhythm of regular worship is tremendously important to those who are committed. What really counts are efforts at nurturing these services as a space for spiritual, social and moral development. Short addresses have a key role in this respect – the issues tackled are almost always aimed at a broad audience and have general appeal, so that those of any religion or those of none are equally at home.
The school chapel is dedicated for use as a place of worship for all faiths. So, in addition to Christian services, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists have the opportunity to meet and contacts with local leaders of these other faiths are nurtured with a view to mutual visits. Roman Catholic students attend Mass in Glastonbury and can be confirmed every other year. An Anglican Confirmation course runs every twelve months.
Spiritual Support
Reflecting the open ethos of the school chapel, the Spiritual Director is available for all members of the school, irrespective of faith. At various points in the day, students and staff may drop into the office under the chapel or into the spiritual support house across from the school gates. Some come by arrangement, others on the off-chance, most because they need someone to listen to them and advise.
Chapel – a brief history
The chapel chalet is, in fact, the oldest building on the Millfield site. It was built in 1882, a couple of years before Millfield House. The Clark family, of Clarks’ Shoes’ fame, owned the land. This plot was the highest point on the family estate, and had apparently been the site of a windmill in former years - hence the name ‘Millfield’. In the latter years of the 19th Century, a daughter (Alice) of the Clark family seems to have contracted tuberculosis. A common practice at the time for wealthy people was to send family members infected to Switzerland to live in a mountain chalet, where the robust winds were reputed to have healing properties. It seems that the family decided to build a Swiss-style chalet on the highest point on their own land where their daughter could be cared for, lying on the open air upstairs balcony area facing the prevailing westerly winds. The indoor area downstairs and above was allotted to those caring for her, where they could live and cook her meals. The treatment appears to have been effective and the girl recovered. The chalet was a place of care and cure — a marvellous precursor of its later life as a spiritual support centre!
Meet Deputy Head (Pastoral) Sarah Quenault
We put pastoral care at the very heart of our school with an approach that involves all staff
