Our vision
At Alderman White, we recognise that teaching Personal Development is a privilege. Personal Development combines the statutory content from PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education with our Career provision at Alderman White School. Please note that as Religious Education is not a mandatory GCSE qualification at Alderman White School, much of the RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) content is covered in PD lessons.
Our curriculum is an ever-evolving, context-based, spiral programme of learning through which our students acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives now and in the future. As part of a whole-school approach, our Personal Development education develops the qualities and attributes our students need to thrive as individuals, family members and productive members of society. These qualities and attributes are embedded strongly into our school INSPIRE values. Our Personal Development education equips students with the knowledge, understanding, skills and strategies required to live healthy, safe, productive, capable, responsible and balanced lives. It encourages them to be enterprising and supports them in making effective transitions, positive learning and career choices and in achieving economic well-being. A critical component of our curriculum is providing opportunities for our students to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes and explore the complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they will encounter now and in the future.
Personal Development helps students to build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem, and to identify and manage risk, make informed choices and understand what influences their decisions. It enables them to recognise, accept and shape their identities, to understand and accommodate difference and change, to manage emotions and to communicate constructively in a variety of settings. Developing an understanding of themselves, empathy and the ability to work with others will help our students to form and maintain good relationships, develop the essential skills for future employability and better enjoy and manage their lives.
At Alderman White, we know that our Personal Development curriculum can help to reduce or remove many of the barriers to learning experienced by students, significantly improving their health and well-being and therefore, their capacity to learn and achieve. Our Personal Development curriculum makes a significant contribution to students’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development, their behaviour and safety and the school’s statutory responsibility to promote students’ well-being. In addition, the learning provided through a comprehensive PSHE curriculum is an essential to safeguarding students.
Vision Statements for Personal Development
Empowered for life
Students will develop the knowledge, skills and character needed to live safe, healthy, resilient and fulfilling lives, both now and in the future.
Respectful relationships and responsible citizenship
Students will build positive and respectful relationships, value diversity and equality, and understand their rights and responsibilities as active citizens in modern Britain.
Prepared for the future
Students will reflect on their values, make informed choices about their wellbeing and finances, and explore careers and opportunities that prepare them for adult life. Our curriculum and learning journeys for our students are not fixed and will change and be adapted based on student voice, our local context and to meet the needs of our students. We will also respond to major local and global events or circumstances that we feel we need to cover to ensure our students remain safe and well.
By the end of KS3, our students will have had the opportunity to learn about issues relating to Living in the Wider World, Finance and Budgeting, Careers, Relationships, British Values, Personal Identity, Health and Well-being. This will lay the foundations for our spiral, age- and stage-related curriculum at KS4.
By the end of KS4, students at Alderman White should have a thorough and well-rounded knowledge and understanding of Personal, RSE, Social, Health, Citizenship, Careers and Economic issues relevant to them in a range of contexts. They will also have developed skills to engage in positive debate, knowing their own opinions.
Personal Development is not an examined subject. Progress is measured within lessons through questioning and discussion. Self-assessment and peer-assessment allows students to review their own level of progress.
Curriculum Implementation
All students will cover current events and fundamental life skills as part of the curriculum such as road safety and world news. The students will study 5 themes within their Personal Development Lessons. These themes meet the statutory guidance set out in the Keep Children Safe in Education and help work towards achieving the Gatsby benchmarks (more information on this can be found in the “Careers and Post-16 Guidance” section of the website:
A detailed breakdown of the topics covered in each of the units is attached below: