Personal Development

At Kingsholm, the children’s personal development is at the heart of everything we do. We actively encourage and teach children a range of important skills for them to gain the knowledge and understanding to be able to navigate their way through life, both now and in the future. 

As part of our whole-school approach, we teach children about the world around them through direct and discrete lessons, drip fed throughout our curriculum and the enrichment opportunities we provide for our children and families. We develop the children’s understanding of the protected characteristics by encouraging self-understanding, empathy and the ability to work with others to enjoy healthy and productive relationships. These skills are transferable to help with their lives as they grow, develop, and leave Kingsholm to become active citizens in our society. 

How we develop these skills

We develop the children’s character and resilience and support them in an age-appropriate way through: 

  • Our core Christian values and virtues 
  • Our successful learning behaviours 
  • A rich, broad and balanced curriculum which helps to embed the knowledge and skills for personal development 
  • A daily act of Collective worship supporting spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development 
  • SMSC is woven throughout the entire curriculum 
  • The development of our Wellbeing curriculum which promotes British Values, empathy, productive relationships, eating healthily, staying safe on the internet/online and the importance of having good mental health. We have incorporated Gloucestershire skillZONE and used Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning as a tool to support our Wellbeing Curriculum. 
  • Keeping safe on the roads, including cycling proficiency 
  • Promoting equality and diversity so that pupils respect others, as well as promoting tolerance and understanding of different religious and cultural beliefs 
  • Through connections with other schools in different countries, children develop a sense of being connected with others globally; this helps them to develop the sense of being a global citizen 
  • Through the use of our oracy curriculum and relentless focus on key vocabulary from EYFS up to Year 6, children are supported to become articulate, empowered citizens who make a difference to others 
  • The children are courageous advocates, democratically choosing the charities that the school will be supporting across an academic year 
  • Our Kingsholm passport ensures that our children are gaining wider opportunities that they might not be exposed to within the National Curriculum 
  • There are opportunities to further develop talents e.g., specialist music teachers 
  • The children can take up pupil leadership roles: School Councillors, Minsters, Prime Minister, Vice and House Captains and Worship Team members 
  • Staff members consistently model how to be a good citizen who uphold the school values and Christian ethos 
  • Our club leader organises a huge array of after-school clubs 
  • There is a clear procedure for bullying which ensures that everyone in the school community understands what constitutes as bullying 
  • Our Kingsholm University allows our children to make informed choices, communicate and work with children from a mix of year groups and provides enriching opportunities that they may not access through the National Curriculum  
  • Our inclusion team enables children to build friendships and relationships within a supported environment  

Visits and workshops

Throughout the school year, we are fortunate to have various visitors that help to promote personal development across our school. Our visitors include: 

The Police, The Fire Service, The School Nurse service, A dentist, Road safety training - Bikeability, charities, speakers and experts in their field, e.g. engineers, firearms Police and professional sports coaches 

Children have enriching opportunities throughout their time at Kingsholm to experience trips, including a residential and camping trip in Year 6 

Children develop their ‘cultural capital’ that prepares them for future success e.g. working with experts through valuable links and projects with organisations such as the Heritage Hub. 

High quality professional development for staff

We are committed to high-quality, ongoing staff CPD so that all staff can build and support pupils’ personal development. For example, training from our Educational Psychologist and Trauma training with Colin Foley from the ADHD foundation. 

We assess the impact of Personal Development in several ways including teachers’ planning, lesson observations, pupils’ books alongside discussion and feedback from children, staff and parents. 

Achievements in the development of skills and values will be celebrated in several ways, including in Collective worship, displays, Kingsholm star, Kingsholm postcards and newsletters. Parents and carers are informed of their child’s progress in personal development through informal discussions, parent consultations and the annual school report.