First Federation Trust
Personal Development at Blackpool
Intent
At Blackpool CE Primary, we promote Personal Development as a whole-school approach to underpin children’s holistic development and growth.
Our school motto ‘Only My Best is Good Enough; Aspiring and Flourishing Together’ overarches the key areas of personal development by encouraging our children to be the best possible versions of themselves, not just academically, but socially, morally, culturally and spiritually.
As outlined by the Ofsted 2019 Framework, we aim for our children to have:
‘opportunities to grow as active, healthy and engaged citizens’: citizenship, fundamental British values, equality and diversity, character, confidence and resilience, well-being, e-safety, healthy lifestyle, relationships, sex and health education, careers, transitions and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
It also promotes our pupils’ understanding of the protected characteristics and how equality and diversity are implemented in their everyday lives as well as beyond the classroom.
Our school Personal Development Threads incorporate all of these aspects of personal development and are a clear tool for our children to interpret and understand how these elements make a difference to their lives and the lives of others, both now and in their futures. They are: Communication and Connections, Life Long Skills, My Place in the World, Values, Creativity and Well-being.
Our Personal Development Curriculum ensures all our children:
Develop the qualities and attributes they need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.
Acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to be aware, tolerant and accepting citizens, able to manage their lives, now and in the future.
Are able to manage many of the most critical opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face growing up.
Connect and apply the knowledge they learn in all subjects to non-academic situations while helping them to feel safe and secure enough to fulfil their academic potential.
Implementation
Our Personal Development curriculum is delivered to our children through explicit teaching across a wide range of subjects, alongside regular and meaningful application of their skills and knowledge in these areas. This has been mapped out across the curriculum to ensure a wide and varied approach to covering the key elements. Some aspects are delivered through continuous provision and some experiences happen less frequently e.g. visitors or annual events.
This aspect of our curriculum includes activities and experiences that improves our children’s awareness and identity, develops talents and potential, builds character and cultural capital, enhances our children’s quality of life and encourages aspiration.
We use the 'Jigsaw' scheme of work as a tool for delivering many aspects of the personal development curriculum as it provides progressional, well-sequenced learning plans which ensure coverage of published guidance for schools on teaching about the protected characteristics so that our children have a good understanding of the world they are growing up in, having learned how to live alongside, and show respect for, a diverse range of people.
The school has created age-related milestones for each key strand of Personal Development, matched to our Curriculum Threads, which can be explored in more detail in our mapping in the document below.
Some examples of how we promote personal development at Blackpool
First Aid, Charity and supporting the local community
World Heart Day at Blackpool C of E School
The children at Blackpool School enjoyed marking World Heart Day by learning about how to make healthy lifestyle choices to keep a healthy heart.
We are very fortunate to collaborate with ‘Jays Aim’, a charity initially established with the intent of reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death among young people here in South-West England.
Children across the school took part in a fun, heart-shaped walk and raised money for the charity- a great example of citizenship to support others in the community.
Jays Aim also provided CPR workshops for Year 5 and 6 children, parents and teachers.
As a result of the fundraising, we are extremely proud to be able to fund a public-access defibrillator, which will be located on our site at our sports pavilion on the school field, which will not only serve our school, but also the local community, which is being installed before the end of the calendar year.
This amazing experience in our school has raised our children’s and wider community awareness of keeping healthy and has provided important life-saving skills – a vital part of our healthy-living curriculum.
Thank you to Mr Dan Osborne, a parent in our school and a trustee of Jays Aim, who led the day in our school- we really enjoyed the workshops Thank you to the charity for providing the defibrillator at a very low cost to the school, so that we can all benefit from this fantastic resource.
Financial Education
We are committed to preparing our children with the life skills that will prepare them for experiences outside of the classroom and beyond their primary years and as such, we know that financial education is key to promoting good character development and helping them grow to be responsible and happy citizens.
Something we facilitate exceptionally well is our continual fundraising for charitable causes, which teachers the values of generosity and civic duty to all of our children.
To provide a way for our students to build their financial knowledge and be better able to navigate the core principles associated with earning, saving and spending money, which reinforces positive attitudes and behaviours, we have chosen to use 'Life Savers' and 'Milos Money' resources because of the values-based approach to exploring the themes of generosity, justice, wisdom and thankfulness. We use the assembly resources to create a whole school focus and further explore Big Questions such as 'How does money make us feel?' and 'Where does money come from?'
This programme is already having an impact on the way children are able to talk about money with more confidence. This continued, stage-appropriate, whole-school approach can only result in creating solid foundations for our children by developing their knowledge, skills and attitudes and to grow sound financial capabilities as they navigate their present and future financial management decisions that will impact their lives.
Careers Fair
At Blackpool School, we are always thinking about how the knowledge and skills that our children are acquiring while with us, will impact and influence their lives beyond their primary setting. Our aim is that they will be well-equipped to continue learning and pursue careers that they are passionate about. Potential interests and careers are referred to throughout our subject-specific curriculum, with references to inspirational people mapped out.
In addition to this, we host an annual careers fair for our Year 5 and 6 pupils so that they can begin to consider how the skills they are learning now, can be transferred into the next phase of their education and into a world of work. The key messages that we teach at this stage in their lives are to try their best in everything they do, to gain the best academic achievements and interpersonal skills possible, so that the possibilities for later careers can be maximised.
Our fair has included representatives from a wide range of careers, including a nurse, barrister, chef, author, illustrator, engineer and RAF navigator. The children enjoyed talking to them, to find out about the pathways to working in particular fields, and what skills and interests they can be gaining and considering, especially when moving on to secondary school at the end of the year.
The children learnt many interesting facts about each job as well as the varied pathways that people can take to enter into a chosen career. The event was also successful in providing a great opportunity for considering the next stages of learning and promoted high aspirations for their future working lives. We were very fortunate that there was a diverse range of people representing each job role, breaking stereotypes and also showing that there are equal opportunities based on gender, race, age and stage in careers.
Thank you very much to all of the volunteers, who gave up their time and provide such engaging discussions and demonstrations with the children. This has helped to form a really important part of their personal development within our curriculum.
