Wellbeing Advisor

An introduction to King’s Ely Purpose, Ethos and Values

King’s Ely exists to make the most and best of childhood, and in particular to give the very best education, opportunities and pastoral care to as diverse a community of children as we can. In doing so we aim to prepare each one to live positive, productive, successful and fulfilled lives, for the betterment of themselves and the world around them.

We achieve this through the operation of a family of schools centred around a 2-19 co-educational day and boarding school in Ely, aiming to draw fully on our exceptional environment, history, physical, cultural, spiritual and human resources in doing so.

King’s Ely can trace its origins from at least 970AD, making it one of the oldest schools in Europe. The School was first established to educate the choristers of the worshipping community of Ely and throughout our history we have maintained strong links with Ely Cathedral.

In 1541, King Henry VIII founded a College of Canons at Ely Cathedral to replace the monks whose monastery has been dissolved in 1539 and the School received its Royal Charter, later becoming known as "The King’s School".

In recent years King’s has expanded rapidly, becoming co-educational in 1970, and today educating around 1100 children aged 2-18 at Ely, including 185 boarders.

The school is divided into three sections:
King’s Ely Senior (age 13-18) and King’s Ely Prep (age 7-13), which occupy adjacent campuses and benefit from shared facilities, and King’s Ely Acremont and Nursery (ages 2-6) which have their own self-contained campus about 400m from the main site. Additionally, Fairstead House School in Newmarket (for pupils aged 1-11) joined the King’s Ely family of schools in 2022.

The main campus extends to around 75 acres and contains buildings spanning the thirteenth to twenty-first centuries, including many of the historic monastic buildings adjacent to Ely Cathedral as well as more recent, purpose-built facilities and almost 40 acres of playing fields.

King’s Ely plays a key role in the local community. We are one of Ely’s largest employers and contribute greatly to the local economy, and we also continue to educate the choristers of Ely Cathedral. King’s Ely also offers a number of bursaries to enable pupils from all walks of life to benefit from the education it offers.

In its recent ISI Inspection (March 2025), King’s Ely was found to meet or to exceed all regulatory standards. In addition, the Inspectors judged the School to have a significant strength in the way in which its high quality pastoral care is interwoven with a dynamic enrichment programme. This enables "pupils of all ages to develop their independence, intellectual curiosity, creativity and socialization particularly well".

The School is rightfully proud of the Inspection. It is testament to the community spirit of King’s Ely and the commitment and respect shown each day by pupils, staff and their families.

King’s Ely is affiliated with the HMC, Society of Heads, IAPS, the Boarding Schools’ Association and the Choir Schools’ Association.

Work as a Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO), whole school, working with the DSL and Deputy DSL for each section of the school to ensure that proper procedure is followed, and all relevant and necessary records are made and correctly stored. Reference to the School’s DSO job description will be necessary.

Support the Wellbeing Lead with detail for inclusion in the joint annual report to the King’s Ely governors. The report will summarise the policies and procedures being employed at the school and a summary of the themes of safeguarding, counselling and non-counselling within the school community.

Provide administrative support in terms of record keeping and general communication in relation to safeguarding matters.

Work within the broader pastoral team to oversee the development and review of the Individual Welfare Plans working closely with the HsMs/Head of Year/tutors/teachers in all sections of school.

Complete Early Help Assessments (EHA), Education Health Care Plans (EHCP), Assess, Plan, Do, Review…