At Earl Spencer Primary School, our curriculum aims to extend beyond the academic, and support our pupils in all diverse aspects of line. We are proud to support all children to develop social awareness; strength of character; acceptance of others; and academic confidence. Personal Development is not an added extra at our school - it is woven through all we do. We aim to prepare children for the wider world so that they can have a strong sense of purpose and belonging, and so that they have the confidence to make their voices heard.

Below are some examples of how we promote personal development in everything we do at Earl Spencer.

Opportunities provided for children:

• Children have the opportunities to take on a wide range of responsibilities to support them in learning how to be active citizens in society. These include school council, house captains, wellbeing warriors, young translators and sports leaders.
• A wide range of club opportunities are provided to all children in our school. These include free internal clubs run by staff, external clubs run by sporting companies, chess, ukulele for KS2 and peripatetic music lessons. 
• Children's voices are heard through our class council meetings, which feed into school council meetings. Big changes in school happen as a result of listening to children's voices. 
• Visits from the local PCSO weekly to build relationships with our children.
• Visits to the local community including retirement homes, local shops and businesses.
• Charity sales run by the children are built throughout the school year.
• Year 6 Enterprise stall whereby the children plan and carry out their own fundraising activity to raise money for their end-of-year residential trip.
• Harvest celebrations include us working closely with the McCarthy Dixon Foundation and supporting local foodbanks to support the families in our local area.
• British Values Assembly weekly is supported by 'picture news' followed by in-class discussion to support children's understanding of what is going on in the wider world, and their place within it. 
• Celebration Assembly at the end of each week to celebrate children's achievements.

Curriculum design:

• Based on what we know about our children, our PSHE curriculum has been carefully crafted and designed so that children are able to understand how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy, and understand what healthy relationships look like. 
• Equity of opportunity and appreciation of diversity is built in to everything we do. We are an extremely diverse school and this is reflected through our curriculum. We ensure that books in our book corners reflect a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Our History lessons are designed so that children are able to learn about significant people from a range of ethnic backgrounds, as well as those that refect our school community. Geography lessons are also designed so that children learn about contrasting countries to ours, that are reflective of the diversity of our school. 
• Children have weekly access to our school library, which provides our children with a range of texts that reflect different cultures and communities, as well as dual language books. 
• Our RE curriculum has been designed so that the religions children learn about are reflective of our school community and the wider community. 
• Our whole curriculum is designed to provide children with a wealth of knowledge and understanding of their own culture and others, so they are able to leave us in Year 6 and transition to secondary school with the tolerance and respect needed to support them in the wider world.
• Debates are built in to our curriculum through both PSHE and English, which supports children in learning how to engage with views and beliefs that are different from their own and present a respectful discussion.

Behaviour and Culture:

• In school, we expect to see children showing respect towards all members of our school community. You will see children holding doors open, smart walking in the corridors, using manners, taking turns and speaking in a respectful manner. 
• Children will be taking part in whole school activities displaying confidence and resilience. They have their voices heard through school council and support their peers to have their voices heard.
• Children are taught and supported in recognising and managing their emotions through the use of 'Zones of Regulation'. Every child 'checks in' with their teacher in the morning, and has a toolbox of strategies they can use to support them in bringing themselves back to the green zone.
• Children complete their 'Keeping Safe Booklets', which supports children in speaking openly about their experiences and develops their confidence and resilience.  
• Our school has a clear and consistent approach to managing behaviour, whereby children are able to learn that actions have consequences, which is an essential life skill.