Personal Development
PCS Student Leadership Newsletter
Peacehaven Community School offers a Personal Development curriculum which is designed to equip students with the information to support them through the challenges of their life at secondary school as well as encourage them to be open-minded global citizens and fully prepared for life in modern Britain.
Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also many challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.
Our school mission statement ‘Aspire • Believe • Contribute • Achieve’ embodies our attitude and intentions towards the importance of the development of all aspects of the Personal Development (PD) curriculum. The Personal Development Curriculum at Peacehaven Community School covers the following areas:
Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)
Fundamental British Values (FBV) and Citizenship Education
Careers and Living in the Wider World Education
Personal Development is underpinned by the ethos and values of PCS. The Personal Development programme is delivered in a number of ways.
Each student has a mentor who works closely with each child supporting their Personal
Development. The Pastoral Lead and Pastoral Support Manager lead the year group mentor teams.
As well as supporting them with their academic progress, the mentor will be providing them with the opportunities that will allow them to thrive and lead happy, successful, and healthy lives and support them to contribute positively to the wider community. They will meet for a timetabled lesson every day and follow a bespoke PD program which supports their understanding and application of the FBV’s as well as their Mental Health and Wellbeing. Students are encouraged to meet up with their mentors on an ad hoc basis, should they have any safeguarding or wellbeing concerns or worries.
The information provided and the nature of the delivery of the PD programme will allow students to make informed decisions about their well-being, relationships, and health. PD helps students develop knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe whilst preparing for life and work in modern Britain.
Our very comprehensive PSHE programme is delivered as a discrete subject once a week to every student by a dedicated team of teachers. Students will not only experience quality first teaching on these subjects, but also opportunities to take part in workshops with outside agencies, community projects, as well as theatre productions and have access to visiting speakers.
The delivery of our Careers Education Information and Guidance programme (CEIAG) throughout PD lessons and the wider school curriculum, as well as through their PSHE lessons, encourages students to aspire and value lifelong learning and develop key employability and enterprise skills in accordance with the recommended Gatsby
Benchmarks.
They will explore the complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they encounter now and in the future.
PCS offers a healthy extracurricular program with a variety of clubs catering to all interests, including opportunities to embark upon the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Our school values underpin everything we do at PCS and All our pupils 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, pupils 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 work with, others.
Over the course of their PCS journey, students are encouraged to record their engagement in school life and the community on the PCS Google Classroom. Any opportunities they embrace will support the students to work together as a community, to work collaboratively, and to understand different viewpoints and ideas.