Personal Development

Personal Development (PD) is a priority at Leigh Primary School. It encourages promotes, adopts and embeds a range of skills that allow children to be life-long learners, moral and responsible citizens who can thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.

At Leigh we use a variety of approaches to support various aspects of personal development. This helps them to connect and apply the knowledge and understanding they learn in all subjects to practical, real-life situations while helping them to feel safe and secure enough to fulfill their academic potential. We actively promote effective relationships between all members of the school community. The promotion of pupils’ personal and social development underpins other learning. PD education contributes to assisting children and young people to build their personal identities, confidence and self-esteem and understand what influences their decisions. Developing self-understanding, empathy and the ability to work with others helps our pupils to enjoy healthy and productive relationships in all aspects of their lives.

At Leigh we have many approaches to ensure a well-rounded curriculum that provides depth and breadth. This area of the curriculum can be confusing as to ensure a rigorous approach to personal develop the school needs to ensure that this permeates all aspects of school life. We use explicit teaching of essential knowledge with whole school approaches and then promote principles through all subjects in the curriculum.

Our explicit teaching is through our scheme of learning for Sex, relationships and health education which ensures a well-sequenced and coherent approach to ensuring children obtain this essential knowledge. Our school school approaches, promote our ethos of 'Caring Sharing and Learning Together', Fundamental British Values, SMSC (Spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of learning) and our guiding principles of ACT RIGHT. All of these are detailed below along with our broad practices and links to more detailed information on each.

Personal Development Policy

We use some broad practices for our whole school approaches:

Kapow Primary PSHE Curriculum which includes SRE and Health Education as outlines in our Yearly Overview and Appendix 1 and 2 of the PD policy;
Collective Worship and assembly procedures - click here;
Weekly assembly using Votes4 School Program which covers current affair voting topics related to these areas of study. For more details click here;
All school ethos of ‘Sharing, caring and learning together’;
Our guiding principles of ACT RIGHT (Resilience, Independence, Good Communication, Healthy Minds/bodies and Teamwork) For expectations see Appendix 3 of PD policy;
Weekly Religious Education Lessons for details of our RE curriculum please click here;
Encouraging visits from members of the community to support learning in the classroom;
Educational Visits and events such as Remembrance, Harvest Festival;
Behaviour Policy - click here;
Marvellous me app to provide positive feedback on personal attributes linked to PD - click here;
House Point System whereby children work together in a common goal - enhanced by sporting tournaments throughout the year;
Zone of Regulation (being implemented in January 2023) - click here.

Our statutory Sex, Relationships and Health Education Lessons aim to:

Provide a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place
Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene
Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy
Create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships
Supports children in their understanding of positive relationships with regard to families, friendships, respectful relationships, online relationships and safety.
Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies
Provide opportunities for children to ask questions about their own development to trusted adults
teach the characteristics of good physical health and mental wellbeing and how they are linked.
Teach positive impacts on physical and mental health
Teach negative impacts on physical and mental health
teach strategies to promote good physical and mental health

Below you can find letters for each year group that detail what they will learn each year across three units of study:

Promotion of the British values of Democracy, Tolerance/Acceptance, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and the Rule of Law aims to encourage:

an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety
an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence
an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at Leigh Primary School aims to develop children who can:

Spiritually:

To reflect on their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspective on life;

To have knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values;
To have a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them;
To use imagination and creativity in their learning;
To develop a willingness to reflect on their experiences.

Morally:

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;
understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions;
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

Consequently, we reject all forms of bullying, dishonesty, violence and discrimination.

Socially:

use of a range of social skills in different contexts, for example working and socialising with other pupils, including those from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds;
willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, including by volunteering, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively;
acceptance of and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
They will develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.

Culturally:

understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others;
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;
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;
willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, musical, sporting and cultural opportunities;
interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity and the extent to which they understand, accept and respect diversity. This is shown by their respect and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in the local, national and global communities.

Our guiding principles of ACT RIGHT aim to:

outline the expectations of resilience and support children to develop this is a range of situations;
support independence in behaviour and also of mind ensuring that children can express their own independent thought and opinions;
encourage effective communication in a range of situations which helps children to solve problems with their words, communicate their ideas whilst respecting those of others;
outline expectations relating to health lifestyles which is deepened through our explicit teaching of health education;
provide opportunities to work in teams and develop this vital life skill.