The CCEA defines Personal Development as; 'Encouraging each child to become personally, emotionally, socially and physically effective, to lead healthy, safe and fulfilled lives; To become confident, independent and responsible citizens, making informed and responsible choices and decisions throughout their lives'

At Curnow School, embedded across the school experience is the provision of -

• opportunities that enable pupils to discover their interests and talents
• experiences that support learners to develop their characters, including their resilience, confidence and independence
• the skills and knowledge that help pupils to keep physically and mentally safe and healthy
• the development and deepening of pupils’ understanding of British Values and Spiritual, Moral, Cultural and Social (SMSC) education. 
• transition planning and support so that pupils are equipped to make transitions within school and to life beyond Curnow successfully.

We recognise that many elements come together to complete our offer as illustrated below.

 Some of the key features of our offer are -

• A well sequenced and implemented PSHE curriculum, written in line with guidance from the PSHE association materials.
• Weekly themes which complement the PSHE scheme and allow generalisation of learning. (see attachments below)
• A timetable of assemblies at Lower School open the pupils up to learning about local, national and international events, the environment and new interests.  At Upper School a key feature of our assemblies if the Picture News which allows pupils to learn about topical news around the world (see attachment below for an example of coverage)
• We promote independence at all opportunities as we believe that being as independent as you can be not only impacts on life chances but also promotes self esteem and wellbeing,
• We are committed to supporting you to find your talents and interests so that you can take these on with you to life outside of school.
• From the start of your school journey we work with you to develop your communication skills and will support you to use this to become assertive, autonomous and be able to make choices and have control within daily experiences.
• The importance we place on relationships between students and staff, and peer to peer friendships and the work that we put in to  making these as strong and as supportive as they can be. 

Governor support and school leads.

                                                                                                

Wendy Randall and Wendy Hattam are our two governors who oversee Personal Development.  They support us to maitain the quality of our offer and to continue the drive on standards.

                                                                                                

Sam Murray leads on the development of Personal Development and Dee Dockery is our pupil wellbeing lead supporting with the further development of pupil voice within the offer.  You can read more about Dee's work and expertise on our Pupil Wellbeing page.

We never stop working to ensure that our offer is the best that it can be and some of the things that we are currently developing are -

• An independence continuum that will ensure that skills are generalised and developed as pupils transition through the school.

• A directory of opportunities in the local communities to allow pupils to continue to develop interests within their own localities.

 

For further information regarding our offer please contact Sam Murray on smurray@curnowschool.org.uk