Personal Development
At Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, we prioritise our Personal Development curriculum to ensure our students grow into well-rounded individuals who are equipped with the knowledge, attributes and skills to flourish as citizens within the wider community. We recognise that the personal development of students, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally, plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve, in doing so increasing their life chances and preparing them for their adult lives.
Our school vision is that “Together we grow, learn and succeed”, which roots learning and personal success within our commitment to physical nurturing and personal growth. This is supported by our values – Trust, Respect, Courage and Ambition – which run as threads throughout the personal development curriculum.
Our curriculum aims to provide students with opportunities to explore and develop their own values and beliefs around spiritual principles, mental health and social/cultural awareness, high standards of personal behaviour, and an appreciation of diversity with an emphasis upon discussion and healthy debate. This process develops oracy skills to enhance our students’ ability to think and structure answers, building confidence and supporting the academy’s literacy strategy. Time to reflect and opportunities for students to use their powerful voices are fed into our curriculum planning to encourage students to assess their own actions, consider how their actions affect other people and to value themselves and others. This area of focus ensures a positive school culture in which our students can succeed socially, emotionally, and academically and enjoy school life. A strong emphasis is placed upon raising the aspirations of our students, with profuse opportunities to explore next steps with the ambition that all students move onto further education, employment or training. Our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme has been developed to engage parents and local employers, both in school and externally, to support our students in becoming employable and ambitious young people.
Every student across key stages three and four study one Personal Development lesson a fortnight together with Personal Development themed assemblies, and a structured tutor programme which includes themes of the week. Subject areas further support our students’ personal development by grasping opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural within their planning. Subject leaders review their curriculum to identify meaningful cross-curricular links, informed by statutory guidance and school priorities. Where appropriate, lessons incorporate references to careers, helping students make connections between subject content and future education or employment opportunities
The KS3 and KS4 curriculum uses a thematic spiral curriculum with lessons having planned links to upcoming and prior lessons. All content is age appropriate with the maturity and sensitive nature of topics increasing across age groups. Every lesson is colour coded to show which theme it is a part of and are taught in blocks. The 5 themes are titled: Values, Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Sex Education, Staying Safe and Careers and my future.
The curriculum has been designed with key local priorities in mind, using key data and analysis from statistics gathered in Gateshead and more locally in Birtley.
The subject leader for Personal Development is Miss C Bramley.
Key documents relating to the Personal Development curriculum can be found below:
