Personal Development Curriculum

The Personal Development curriculum is best defined as learning which enables each young person to realise their unique potential and to live well in community.

It is a crucial part of learning at our school. As we state in Our Intent, ‘’Character development goes hand in hand with our striving for academic excellence. We want students to leave us happy and healthy, with a strong moral compass as well as with qualifications which have integrity.’ As a Church of England school, we believe every individual is made in the image of God, and is worthy of the utmost respect and dignity. Character development, based on developing core values which enable harmonious relationships to flourish, is foregrounded at our school and in all of our interactions.

Some aspects of Personal Development are mandatory across all schools; others are bespoke to Bishop Stopford School as an expression of what we value in the unique offer here. In every case, this curriculum is carefully designed to support our young people holistically on their journey through secondary school and to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

Our Personal Development curriculum has the following aims:

to develop students to become responsible, respectful and active citizens;
to develop and deepen students’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law, and mutual respect and tolerance;
to promote both diversity and equality of opportunity so that all students can thrive together;
to ensure an inclusive environment which meets the needs of all students;
to develop students’ confidence, resilience and knowledge so that they can keep themselves mentally healthy;
to enable students to recognise online and offline risks to their well-being and to recognise the dangers of inappropriate use of mobile technology and social media;
to develop students’ understanding of how to keep physically healthy;
to develop students’ age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships;
to support readiness for the next phase of education, training or employment.

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) and RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) provide the backbone to the Personal Development curriculum. Careers Education is also given primacy – and meets Gold quality assurance standards. An extensive trips and visits programme supports these aims, and enrichment activities such as sport, music, debating, drama and computing, volunteering, community and faith activities provide a huge variety of opportunities for students to excel at an individual level - and in community too.

More details can be found in the accompanying pages.

The values that all of our children have learnt at Bishop have held them in good stead throughout their early adult years, and I am sure that they will continue to prosper. Parent