Personal Development

The Personal Development curriculum is designed to help pupils gain the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to lead healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active and responsible citizens.

All of our pupils have a PD lesson each week, delivered by their form tutors, which cover a different topic relevant to that term’s theme (our themes are outlined below). The termly theme aims for all staff and students to be focussing on the same issues and ideas at the same time. This then promotes the theme school-wide and invokes conversations outside of the one PD lesson a week in form groups. The themes are repeated year on year, and with each year, the students are challenged to think about the themes and topics at a higher level.

Throughout, all pupils are encouraged to reflect on their experiences and to recognise how they are developing personally whilst addressing the social, moral and cultural issues that form an intrinsic part of growing up.

Term	Theme	To include (at varying levels dependent upon year group):
1	Who you are and who you want to be	Target setting, self awareness, determination, perceptions, jobs/careers, skills required for work, aims and ambitions
2	Diversity & Tolerance	Black History Month, what diversity is and what it brings, prejudice and discrimination (including racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, classism, ableism), challenging stereotypes and promoting tolerance
3	Life Skills	Careers/jobs, finances, work experience, interview techniques, promoting your skills, writing a CV and personal statement.
4	Relationships & Respect	Respect for all, consent, promoting positive relationships, sex education and contraception, accessing support, bullying and healthy friendships.
5	Being Healthy and Safe	Emotional, physical and mental health, how to look after yourself and others, first aid and CPR, recognising problems and knowing how to access support, gang and exploitation awareness.