Personal Development

Personal Development curriculum map

The Personal Development Curriculum at Stoke Newington provides for students’ broader development, enabling them to mature and discover their interests and talents. It supports students to develop their character, build resilience, confidence and independence and provides specific guidance to help them keep both mentally and physically fit. Students are prepared for each stage of their education, and care is taken to ensure that appropriate guidance and support is given around key transition points, from entry into Year 7 and beyond Year 13.

Students are prepared thoroughly for life in modern Britain. They are equipped to become responsible, respectful and active citizens who contribute positively to their community and to society in general. They develop an understanding of fundamental British values, appreciate diversity and are given many opportunities to understand and promote respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law.

The school is committed to providing a wide, rich set of experiences. We aim to ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with SEND benefit from a Personal Development Curriculum which is well planned and sequenced, both through the timetabled curriculum and extra-curricular offer. We aim to:

1. Develop:

Responsible, respectful and active citizens who are able to play their part and become actively involved in public life as adults.
Students’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance.
Students’ character, defined as a set of positive personal traits, dispositions and virtues that informs their motivation and guides their conduct so that they reflect wisely, learn eagerly, behave with integrity and cooperate consistently well with others.
Students’ confidence, resilience and knowledge so that they can keep themselves mentally healthy.
Students’ understanding of how to keep physically healthy, eat healthily and maintain an active lifestyle, including giving ample opportunities for students to be active during the school day and through extra-curricular activities.
Students’ age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationships and sex education

2. Promote:

Equality of opportunity so that all students can thrive together, understanding that difference is a positive, not a negative, and that individual characteristics make people unique.
An inclusive environment that meets the needs of all students, irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation

3. Enable:

Students to recognise online and offline risks to their wellbeing – for example, risks from criminal and sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, substance misuse, gang activity, radicalisation and extremism – and making them aware of the support available to them.
Students to recognise the dangers of inappropriate use of mobile technology and social media.

4. Support:

Readiness for the next phase of education, training or employment so that students are equipped to make the transition successfully.

5. Provide students with:

An effective careers programme in line with the government’s statutory guidance on careers advice that offers students unbiased careers advice, experience of work, and contact with employers to encourage students to aspire, make good choices and understand what they need to do to reach and succeed in the careers to which they aspire.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development will provide students with:

1. Spiritual Development:

An ability to be reflective about their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspective on life.
Knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values.
A sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them.
Use of imagination and creativity in their learning.
A willingness to reflect on their experiences.

2. Moral Development:

The ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to readily apply this understanding in their own lives, and to recognise legal boundaries and, in doing so, respect the civil and criminal law of England.
An understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions.
An interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues and ability to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

3. Social Development:

The ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to readily apply this understanding in their own lives, and to recognise legal boundaries and, in doing so, respect the civil and criminal law of England.
An understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions.
An interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues and ability to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

4. Cultural Development:

An understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others.
An understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures in the school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain.
The ability to recognise, and value, the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities.
Knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain.
A willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, musical, sporting and cultural opportunities.
An interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity. This is shown by their respect and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

By the end of Year 11, students will understand:

Families:

that there are different types of committed, stable relationships.
how these relationships might contribute to human happiness and their importance for bringing up children.
what marriage is, including their legal status – for example, that marriage carries legal rights and protections not available to couples who are cohabiting or who have married, for example, in an unregistered religious ceremony.
why marriage is an important relationship choice for many couples and why it must be freely entered into.
the characteristics and legal status of other types of long-term relationships.
the roles and responsibilities of parents with respect to raising of children, including the characteristics of successful parenting.
how to determine whether other children, adults or sources of information are trustworthy, judge when a family, friend, intimate or other relationship is unsafe (and to recognise this in others’ relationships), how to seek help or advice, including reporting concerns about others, if needed.

Respectful relationships, including friendships:

the characteristics of positive and healthy friendships, in all contexts including online.
trust, respect, honesty, kindness, generosity, boundaries, privacy, consent and the management of conflict.
reconciliation and ending relationships, this includes different (non-sexual) types of relationship.
practical steps they can take in a range of different contexts to improve or support respectful relationships.
how stereotypes, in particular stereotypes based on sex, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability, can cause damage (for example, how they might normalise non-consensual behaviour or encourage prejudice).
that in school and in wider society they can expect to be treated with respect by others, and that in turn they should show due respect to others, including people in positions of authority and due tolerance of other people’s beliefs.
about different types of bullying (including cyberbullying), the impact of bullying, responsibilities of bystanders to report bullying and how and where to get help.
that some types of behaviour within relationships are criminal, including violent behaviour and coercive control.
what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence and why these are always unacceptable.
the legal rights and responsibilities regarding equality (particularly with reference to the protected characteristics as defined in the Equality Act 2010) and that everyone is unique and equal.

Online and media:

their rights, responsibilities and opportunities online, including that the same expectations of behaviour apply in all contexts, including online.
about online risks, including that any material someone provides to another has the potential to be shared online and the difficulty of removing potentially compromising material placed online.
not to provide material to others that they would not want shared further and not to share personal material which is sent to them.
what to do and where to get support to report material or manage issues online.
the impact of viewing harmful content.
that specifically sexually explicit material, for example pornography, presents a distorted picture of sexual behaviours, can damage the way people see themselves in relation to others and negatively affect how they behave towards sexual partners.
that sharing and viewing indecent images of children (including those created by children) is a criminal offence which carries severe penalties including jail.
how information and data is generated, collected, shared and used online

Being safe:

the concepts of, and laws relating to, sexual consent, sexual exploitation, abuse, grooming, coercion, harassment, rape, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based violence and FGM, and how these can affect current and future relationships.
how people can actively communicate and recognise consent from others, including sexual consent, and how and when consent can be withdrawn, in all contexts, including online.

Intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health:

how to recognise the characteristics and positive aspects of healthy one-to-one intimate relationships, which include mutual respect, consent, loyalty, trust, shared interests and outlook, sex and friendship.
that all aspects of health can be affected by choices they make in sex and relationships, positively or negatively, for example physical, emotional, mental, sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing.
the facts about reproductive health, including fertility and the potential impact of lifestyle on fertility for men and women and menopause.
that there are a range of strategies for identifying and managing sexual pressure, including understanding peer pressure, resisting pressure and not pressurising others.
that they have a choice to delay sex or to enjoy intimacy without sex.
the facts about the full range of contraceptive choices, efficacy and options available.
the facts around pregnancy including miscarriage.
that there are choices in relation to pregnancy (with medically and legally accurate, impartial information on all options, including keeping the baby, adoption, abortion and where to get further help)
how the different sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDs, are transmitted, how risk can be reduced through safer sex (including through condom use) and the importance of and facts about testing.
about the prevalence of some STIs, the impact they can have on those who contract them and key facts about treatment.
how the use of alcohol and drugs can lead to risky sexual behaviour.
how to get further advice, including how and where to access confidential sexual and reproductive health advice and treatment.

The Law:

It is important to know what the law says about sex, relationships and young people, as well as broader safeguarding issues. This includes a range of important facts and the rules regarding sharing personal information, pictures, videos and other material using technology. This will help young people to know what is right and wrong in law, but it can also provide a good foundation of knowledge for deeper discussion about all types of relationships. There are also many different legal provisions whose purpose is to protect young people, and which ensure young people take responsibility for their actions. Students should be made aware of the relevant legal provisions when relevant topics are being taught, including for example:

marriage
consent, including the age of consent.
violence against women and girls
online behaviours including image and information sharing (including ‘sexting’, youth-produced sexual imagery, nudes, etc.)
pornography
abortion
sexuality
gender identity
substance misuse
violence and exploitation by gangs
extremism and radicalisation
criminal exploitation (for example, through gang involvement or ‘county lines’ drugs operations)
hate crime
female genital mutilation (FGM)

The School Council, LGBTQ and Diversity Representatives will have opportunities to use student voice to inform and improve safeguarding practice. Assemblies will provide a wide range of topics relating to community, SMSC areas, safeguarding and personal development and will include:

Behaviour For Learning
Black History Month
British Science Week
British Values
Communities
Core Values
Creativity
Culture & Respect
Diwali
Environment
Future Aspirations
Holocaust Memorial
Honouring refugees
Importance of Community/Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes
Independent Learning
LGBTQI+ History Month
Love and Compassion
Online community
Peace
SNS Values
Succeeding against the odds
Start as you mean to go on
Turkish Kurdish & Cypriot Achievement week
Welcome back and expectations
Wellbeing

Personal Development Curriculum Implementation.

The school will create time, structures for ongoing, collaborative professional learning for all teaching and support staff, focusing on Personal Development, safeguarding and all curriculum-related safeguarding content.
The school will regularly review the Personal Development Curriculum to ensure it impacts every student and meets the requirements of KCSIE and statutory curriculum content.
Leaders will play a central role in improving practices through timely review quality assurance.
A culture of shared leadership will be fostered by creating opportunities for staff to take on implementation responsibilities.
Safeguarding information, including additional support and external resources will be communicated in a variety of ways including display, tutor time, assemblies, parents’ forums, the school website and other communication with home.
The school website will provide links safeguarding-related information including mental health, online safety, bullying and harassment, bereavement, examination stress, substance misuse, anonymous reporting, sexual health and relationships, external agencies, and Safaplace, a charity that aims to provide an environment where all of the community can feel safe; mentally, emotionally and physically.
School culture and ethos will be promoted through C.A.R.E (compassion, ambition, resilience and excellence) and made explicit through multiple opportunities.
The Behaviour and Relationships policy will recognise that safeguarding difficulties can manifest in behaviour issues and sanctions data will be reviewed regularly to inform the quality assurance of curriculum planning and delivery and particularly for students who are at risk or SEND.
All statutory content will be sequenced for across the curriculum and review regularly through internal quality assurance systems.
School council, LGBT and diversity representatives will be managed by designated staff and contribute to whole-school events, assemblies and student voice which informs improvements in curriculum delivery.
Designated leaders will have an overview of whole-school assemblies which will contribute to students’ understanding of key safeguarding-related issues.
Our tutor programme will link to assembly themes, overseen by Heads of Year and Heads and School.

Personal Development Curriculum Impact

Students are prepared for life in modern Britain having been immersed in a culture of zero tolerance for sexism, misogyny/misandry, homophobia, biphobic and sexual violence/harassment. (KCSIE 2023)
Students are equipped to become responsible, respectful and active citizens who contribute positively to their community and to society in general.
Students are prepared for each stage of their education, and care is taken to ensure that appropriate guidance and support is given around key transition points, from entry into year 7 and beyond year 13.
Students develop an understanding of fundamental British values, appreciate diversity and are given many opportunities to understand and promote respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law.
Students to develop their character, build resilience, confidence and independence and provides specific guidance to help them keep both mentally and physically fit.
Students are fully equipped and confident to discuss a wide range of issues relating to safeguarding, mental health and wellbeing.
There is a breakdown to any social or emotional barriers to learning with a positive impact on engagement, confidence and the raising of aspirations.
Vulnerable students, those with limited support at home and those deemed to be at risk are fully engaged and confident learners; all students are empowered with the skills and resilience needed to achieve and prepare for the next stage of learning of employment.
Staff are confident to create opportunities within the curriculum to raise and discuss safeguarding-related content, for example risk, violence, gender identity, neglect etc. and follow up if required with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Students know that they are valued, and safe and student surveys reflect this.
All staff and students recognise that there is an explicit link between a safe environment and academic achievement.
Pastoral leads liaise closely with curriculum leads to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are identified and created to ensure that every student can access the curriculum successfully, feel positive about school, have improved attendance and achieve at the same level as students with a similar starting point; progress and attainment data reflect this.