Personal Development (PEAK)

Vision

Our schools core values KNOWLEDGE ASPIRATION KINDNESS reflects our long-standing commitment to the holistic education of the human person in all aspects: what they know, who they are and what they can become in the future. We are determined to make ours a school which transforms the lives of its pupils by providing all pupils with an educational experience which prepares them for a happy, fulfilled and joyful life. We continually improves and pursues the development of a curriculum which will challenge and enable all pupils to pursue their growth in character and well-being.

At Birchwood, we want all of our students to possess knowledge that helps to keep them safe, valued and ultimately feel empowered. We understand the importance of the Personal Development (PEAK) curriculum in supporting students in developing healthy relationships both with themselves and others.

We want all of our students to leave Birchwood with a clear understanding of their own character as well as a sense of social responsibility and confidence in the contribution that they can make to the world around them.

We believe that our students benefit most from a range of experiences. These include daily ‘collective meeting’ form-time sessions, thematic and externally led deep learning days, fortnightly personal development ‘PD’ lessons and an assembly programme which encompasses specialised speakers.

Our Personal Development (PD) programme which incorporates PSHE, RSHE, citizenship and a term of careers for each year group contains five key themes.

The Birchwood way
Health and Wellbeing
Relationships
Thriving in the modern world
Our Place in the Wider World.

Our PEAK programme consists of carefully planned sessions to support students Personal Growth, Enrichment, Awareness & Appreciation and Kindness & Respect for Others.

Each session has been carefully tailored so that content is age appropriate and relevant to our student community and our core values of Knowledge, Aspiration & Kindness.

We work with external agencies and stakeholders to inform the programme and believe it supports the development of the whole child.

Each fortnight, students receive several PEAK opportunities during ‘high 5’ morning form sessions, afternoon ‘Collective Meeting’ form sessions, weekly assemblies and fortnightly PD sessions, which are led by carefully selected colleagues. All of these opportunities focus on student development.

How do we build on what students learn at KS2?

We want to ensure that our students are thoroughly supported in their transition from KS2 to KS3 in terms of personal development. In order to do this, we work with local primary schools so that our curriculums complement one another. In year 7, we purposely prioritise revisiting and rebuilding on the following:

Healthy relationships: conflict resolution and boundaries.
Understanding equality and being an ally.
Understanding physical and mental changes that occur through puberty.

How do we cover the KS3 National Curriculum and beyond?

We believe that covering the KS3 National Curriculum is hugely important, but we also recognise how crucial it is for students to be exposed to wider knowledge beyond this.

We ensure that we cover the KS3 National Curriculum by covering the following:

Families, respectful relationships, online and media, being safe, intimate relationships, mental wellbeing, physical health (eating and fitness), alcohol, tobacco and illegal substances, health prevention, first aid, puberty, menstruation.

Year 7: respectful relationships, puberty, health prevention, families, physical health (nourishment and fitness), mental wellbeing.
Year 8: menstruation, first aid, intimate relationships, tobacco and illegal substances.
Year 9: online and media, being safe, respectful relationships, intimate relationships, mental wellbeing.

The laws relating to the issues described above are covered throughout.

Beyond the curriculum, we provide:

Lessons on memory, as part of students’ personal development.
Access to a range of external speakers on important topics.
Regular house challenges and weekly PEAK collective meetings which are centred on national and international events and traditions.
A wealth of enrichment opportunities which are built into the school day to ensure all students have access and there is 100% engagement from all

What do we cover in KS4 and how do we aspire towards KS5?

We ensure that our curriculum revisits key ideas that are covered in key stage 3 and that more mature topics are dealt with in a sensitive and age-appropriate way.

Year 10: respectful relationships, intimate relationships, health prevention.

Year 11: online and media, being safe, mental wellbeing, intimate relationships.

We want to ensure that our students are ready for life beyond KS4. As part of this preparation, we dedicate time to post-16 choices and career options through our term of careers, and as part of our PEAK personal development curriculum. During these term of careers PD lessons and assemblies, students are exposed to a wealth of information on different post-16 pathways and opportunities and impartial opportunities to liaise with post-16 providers. Additional wider experiences include a deep learning day, careers festival and work experience programme.

How does our personal development (PEAK) programme fit in with other important initiatives?

Our commitment to personal development is like a golden thread, weaving throughout our PEAK and enrichment programmes, with provision being student-centred and always leading back to our core values of KNOWLEDGE, ASPIRATION & KINDNESS. We have explicit sessions and activities linked to a number of other important initiatives;