Personal Development
Our vision is to provide a center of excellence for all, where we inspire a passion for faith and learning. To celebrate academic, emotional and spiritual achievement that prepares everyone to succeed in meeting their full potential.
“The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences.”
Intent
Our Intent is to provide a personal development curriculum for all pupils to enable them to achieve their full potential and leave our school prepared to be a global citizen. Relationships, Sex and Health Education will support pupils in their understanding of keeping mentally and physically healthy, alongside developing healthy relationships with children and adults. We encourage pupils to build skills such as empathy, making reasoned arguments, understanding other points of view and discussing issues in a respectful manner, as well as allow them to present their views in a respectful and articulate way – all within the realms of St Mary’s Character and all its values. Our children are encouraged to develop their independence, resilience and sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.
At St Mary’s, we promote Personal Development as a whole-school approach to underpin children’s holistic development and self-growth. There are many avenues throughout the school which drive our personal development forward:
- Relationship education, Health education, Sex education
- British Values
- SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural)
- Our Christian Ethos and Values
- Religious Education & Physical Education
- Health Education
- Celebratory Days and Events
- Extended Learning Curriculum
- Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being for all the school community
- Cultural Capital
- Pupil Leadership
- Debating and discussions
- Global Awareness
Implementation
Personal development is at the heart of our whole school ethos. We ensure each area of the personal development curriculum delivers all aspects of the statutory guidance and reflects our specific needs of our children and the wider school community. We have dedicated leaders for each of the key areas of the personal development curriculum; SMSC and British Values, PSHE and RSE, Emotional Health and Wellbeing, and Living in the Wider World. The curriculum ensures that planning is engaging, ambitious and well sequenced as part of the holistic personal development curriculum and provides training for non-specialist members of staff to ensure that all our children get the very best we have to offer.
The curriculum is delivered through every aspect of school life; every interaction with another child or an adult in school is a learning experience. It includes activities and experiences that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build character and cultural capital, enhance children’s quality of life and encourage aspiration. All aspects of the curriculum are mapped out in the overview of our whole school approach to personal development.
Impact
