Carnforth High School

Personal Development

What is Personal Development?

Carnforth High School, in partnership with parents/carers, has a vital role in preparing children and young people to negotiate the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly complex world. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. Personal Development at CHS deals with real-life issues affecting our children, families and communities. It’s concerned with the social, health and economic realities of their lives, experiences and attitudes including relationships. It supports students to be healthy (mentally and physically), safe (online and offline) and equipped to thrive in their relationships and careers.

Parents’ and carers’ support is important to the success of Personal Development at CHS. Students are encouraged to talk about all aspects of Personal Development covered at school with their parents/carers.

Why is Personal Development Important?

Personal Development is important because it:

  • contributes to physical and mental health and wellbeing, encouraging individual responsibility for health
  • contributes to the safety and protection of our young people, from staying safe online to understanding risks associated with drugs and alcohol and knowing the law surrounding these topics
  • contributes to the information young people need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds, not just intimate relationships, and know boundaries within the law
  • promotes independence, resilience and responsibility – preparing children and young people for future roles as parents, employees and leaders
  • supports employability by developing the personal and social skills demanded by commerce and industry
  • supports students to be critical consumers of information, and develops the skills to identify misleading news or views on social media and elsewhere
What Does Personal Development at Carnforth High School Include?

Personal Development at CHS covers the following areas:

  • Fundamental British Values and Citizenship education
  • Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural education
  • Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) including Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)
  • Careers and Living in the Wider World education

All of our students are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of the school and the wider community. In doing so, students learn to recognise their own worth, develop a sense of their own identity and the ability to take their place in the community as well as respect for, and working with, others.

Personal Development at CHS is delivered in a number of ways. These include:

  • All students at CHS receive one Life Skills lesson a week. This is our lead delivery vehicle for our planned curriculum of PSHE, RSE and Citizenship lessons, meeting and exceeding our statutory requirements in these areas.
  • All students receive one assembly a week. These assemblies are planned to meet key themes and dates related to SMSC and British Values over the course of the year. This year this includes World Mental Health Day, Remembrance, International Human Rights Day, Holocaust Memorial Day, LGBT History Month, International Women’s Day and World Refugee Day. Students also receive one Careers-related assembly each half term. Our assembly programme is also agile, allowing us to respond to issues in school and wider local and national issues, as they arise.
  • All students receive one form time lesson a week of Personal Development, in addition to their weekly Attendance and Week Ahead presentation at the start of the week that keeps them informed about school and world events. The form PD sessions are devised in conjunction with the pastoral, behaviour and safeguarding teams, and are specific to year groups and their needs. Each week students also learn about a ‘job of the week,’ and regularly use form time to access Careers-related work such as accessing our Careers software, Unifrog, to prepare for Option, Work Experience and post-16 transition.
  • All students at CHS take part in Enrichment Day events throughout the year. These events allow us to bring a wide range of visitors to school in order to enhance our in school curriculum through talks and workshops. In recent years, visitors have included SafeNet, the author Jill Clough, Lancaster and Morecambe College, Siemens, MiniFirstAid, Kendal College, ArteeCraft, the artist Razwan Ul-Haq, the NHS and Lancashire Fire and Rescue.
  • Personal Development education is also cross curricular with all curriculum areas contributing in a variety of ways and delivered through subject Schemes of Learning
  • There are a wide range of extra-curricular activities at CHS. We offer almost 40 lunch and after school clubs each half term, in addition to academic revision and intervention sessions. These include ‘Skills and Social’ clubs, such as Medical Society, Duolingo Club, Science Club, Pokémon Club, Girls Reading Group, Ukulele Club, Sewing Club, Maths Club, Choir Club, Lego Club, Queer Straight Alliance and Film Club, and a variety of ‘Sports’ clubs including football, rugby, netball, dance and gymnastics clubs.
  • We have several Student Leadership programmes at CHS. This includes our School Council, with each form electing a form representative each term, our Year 11 Prefects, and our ‘extended leadership programme,’ in which students have the chance to build their confidence and skills through a range of workshops, key speaker talks, and take part in fundraising, community engagement and sustainability projects.
  • We have a tradition of educational visits and trips, including our annual Normandy trip and Germany trip. There are also many Careers trips, such as our NHS visit to Lancaster Royal Infirmary, our post-16 preparation visits to Lancaster and Morecambe College and post-18 preparation visits to Lancaster University. Many departments also organise visits and trips to enhance their curriculum, such as Cyber Girls in ICT, The Bug Bang Fair in Science, Crime Crackers in Maths, Youth Speaks in English, theatre trips in Drama and the Imperial War Museum trip in History.
  • We offer the bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Students can sign up to the award and begin their training in Year 9.
  • We have a variety of charity initiatives, offering ways for the school community to think beyond themselves and serve other people locally and across the world. Examples include supporting our local foodbank with our Christmas drive, selling poppies for Remembrance, raising money for young person’s suicide prevention on World Mental Health Day and other charity fundraising such as during Children in Need.

Personal Development Education equips students with the knowledge, skills and attributes that they need to make informed decisions about their learning and work through a cohesive programme of careers education. They are supported in their journey with access to personalised information, advice and guidance from sixth forms, colleges and apprenticeship providers which will enable them to build up the confidence to take charge of their career development and effectively manage their own progression through learning and work. They also have opportunities to consider and prepare for a variety of employment options, for example, through work-based learning, mock interviews and a range of enrichment activities.

Fundamental British Values and Citizenship

Within the Fundamental British Values aspects of Personal Development, students are able to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England as well as accepting responsibility for their behaviour, showing initiative, and understanding how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely. Through this we embrace the following four strands integral to Fundamental British Values:

  • Democracy
  • The rule of law
  • Individual liberty
  • Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Citizenship is delivered discretely and across the curriculum. Students cover issues such as rights and responsibilities, discrimination and how they can contribute positively as active, caring citizens both in school and within the communities in which they live. They are also encouraged to respect democracy and support participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in Britain. Part of this process is the election and participation of the School Council, who meet formerly each half term and then choose representatives, along with the council’s President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, to meet with the Headteacher and give feedback on their findings.

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development

At CHS, we recognise and firmly believe that the development of students, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally plays a significant part not only in their ability to learn and achieve but in their ability to relate fully to, and have the ability to, access the world they live in. These principles underpin education at CHS and are expressed through the rich curriculum experiences that take place both within and outside the classroom.

We aim to provide an education that provides children with opportunities to explore and develop their own values, whilst recognising that those of others may differ. Beliefs, spiritual awareness, high standards of personal behaviour including a positive caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and an appreciation of the diversity and richness of other cultures are all critical skills and dispositions that we nurture, encourage and develop through this subject and the wider curriculum.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

The three main strands of this aspect are:

• Health and Wellbeing
• Relationships
• Living in the Wider World

Personal Development at CHS includes work to improve students’ health and emotional wellbeing. PSHE and RSE develop students’ skills to manage relationships and be economically active, and intend to give students the skills necessary to keep them safe, including keeping them safe in an ever-changing virtual word. The main strands of this area of the programme are to promote students’ health and wellbeing. This includes personal health, looking after their mental health and healthy living, including diet and drugs and alcohol abuse education.

The PSHE and RSE aspects of this programme are arranged to ensure that age-appropriate delivery is achieved to prepare students for each phase of their life and education.

The RSE programme is primarily delivered through the Life Skills Curriculum and the Science Curriculum. The RSE Policy is available on school website.

Careers and Living in the Wider World

One of the key principles of Personal Development at CHS is that it enables students to acquire learning that will allow them to make their own choices in the real world. At the forefront of the careers aspect of Personal Development is the implementation of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the need of each student
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experience of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

Our aim at CHS is to inspire confident learners who will thrive in a changing world. We want all students at CHS to aim high in their expectations, to raise their aspirations, promote equality of opportunity, celebrate diversity, challenge stereotypes and prepare for their future careers. Our Careers vision is: “Students will be confident that they have well-informed and aspirational plans in place now, to enable them to achieve their best next steps and have successful careers in the future.”

Personal Development education plays a critical role in preparing all young people for the next stage of their education or training and beyond. Expectations are high, including for our most vulnerable and those with special educational needs and disabilities. Students are challenged appropriately and acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes for lifelong learning so that they become more adaptable and resilient, make decisions and transitions, be more enterprising and be able to present themselves well with applications and interviews. This will help every young person to realise their potential and enhance their employability.