I applied for the Primary Teaching PGCE at Leeds Beckett as I had always wanted to be a teacher or a Special Educational Needs Coordinator.

I suffered a bereavement shortly before the course began, and my Course Leader contacted me after I’d failed to engage with the online content after a month. They were worried about my wellbeing and recommended I contact the Pastoral Team. I knew teams as such existed within the university, but I’d not thought to approach them myself.

The Pastoral Team have been many things for me throughout my year with Leeds Beckett, but most importantly, they have been a fantastic listening ear. They repeatedly stressed that my wellbeing was more important than my academic performance. Being told this early during our conversations gave me so much relief and was subsequently a motivator for me to focus on improving my wellbeing. I then believed I could get through the course if I focused on the most important thing first - myself. 

I always knew who I could call if I was feeling down. There was no waiting for emails or replies, which was incredibly reassuring, and I always had a call scheduled. My support officer was always ready to represent me, speak for me or fight my corner. While I was eventually put in touch with the counselling service, my support officer was as good a counsellor as anyone could be.

Having completed my undergraduate studies elsewhere, I was able to compare the pastoral provision here with that of other universities. I cannot praise the Pastoral Team enough for doing everything to ensure that I was okay.

It was always uplifting to see a message simply asking how I was or how my week had been. Unfortunately, I faced conduct hearings during my time on this course, and the Pastoral Team were brilliant in supporting me and making my points of view feel valid. Having at least one person who believes you can make all the difference!

The advice I would give to someone thinking about seeking out pastoral care is that the sooner you do it, the sooner you will create an amazing support system for yourself. It is crucially effectively independent of your studies. I believe that the focus on improving my wellbeing over making sure I met my course expectations is what ultimately ensured I succeeded and passed the course in the end. Maybe I could have passed without pastoral support; but with it, I was able to persevere in the strongest, safest possible mindset I could have found myself in – I am very grateful to them.