Personal Development

First Moments

Over the next 15 years the children at Fernwood School are likely to experience countless ‘First Moments’. Personal Development provides the opportunity for our young people to build the knowledge and develop the skills to manage these ‘first moments’, staying healthy, happy and safe. Personal Development provides children with a backdrop to explore who they are and how to care for themselves, to achieve positive relationships and how they can be successful contributing towards society, as such preparing them for the challenges, opportunities and responsibilities of life ahead of them.

Personal Development sits at the heart of the curriculum at Fernwood School, with importance placed upon dedicated weekly lessons delivered by a team of PD teachers. A spiralled curriculum has been developed which introduces new and more challenging learning, whilst building on prior learning across 3 core areas: Health and Well-being, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. You can see the curriculum map from Year 7-11 here.

In Personal Development we encourage the pupils to;

Become critical thinkers – Developing critical thinkers, readers, listeners who can make informed judgements and decisions for their life now and in the future.

Become empathetic thinkers – encouraging them to respectfully acknowledge the views of others, to try to understand them and use them to challenge their own views.

Become reflective – reflective in their approach to tasks, in relation to their opinions and towards the opinions of others. Pupils are able to review and reflect – using this to inform, adapt positively/negatively, acknowledge themselves.