Personal Development

The personal development of our pupils at Ingleby Greenhow is both our strength and our passion. Whilst a structured, ambitious, knoweldge-rich curriculum is the bedrock of sucessful learning, we also recognise that it is how this curriculum is embellished, adapted and enhanced to meet the needs of our pupils and their life aspirations, that makes the difference. 

PSHE Curriculum

Our PSHE Curriculum is the core component of teaching and learning about personal develoment. We follow the Kapow scheme of work for mixed-age classes, which ensures accurate and age-appropriate coverage of key knowledge and skills. Please see our PSHE Curriculum Page for our detailled Long Term Plan. 

A Tailored Approach

Alongside our core curriculum, we have a planned programme of curriculum enrichment, tailored to the needs of our pupils and the context of our school. More details of our recent enrichment activities can be found on our Curriculum Enrichment page. These enrichment activities are further complemented by flexible and responsive learning opporunities to address current issues, either close to home or in the wider context of the world. These may take the form of a visitor to school such as a local police officer, an assembly on conflict in another country or a specific lesson to address a key safeguarding concern relevant to the local area eg farming. 

Diversity in Our Curriculum 

Our curriculum is designed to inspire children to consider, question and learn about what it means to be human. Our topics are carefully chosen to be broad and engaging, embracing all aspects of culture, identity, moral and spiritual difference, and our curriculum strands of therepeutic, spiritual and ecological, ensure we keep a 'biger picture' lens on learning for life. We recognise that as a rural school, our children can become comfortably complacent in the familiar and known. Wherever possible we seize opportunities to learn about aspects of life that open children's horizons, and encourage them to adopt a curious mindset rather than take things at face value. We plan our lessons and learning opportuntities using a broad range of resource materials, however we recognise that the most memorable learning comes from experiences and meeting real people in different life situations.

Children in Forests and Fields Class interviewing Wai Yan Min about his journey from war-torn Burma to the UK as part of their Migration topic in Geography. 

Personal Devlopment, Diverisity and Inclusion Through Texts and Literature

One of the most powerful ways we teach about personal development and understanding of self, others and the world, is through carefully chosen teaching texts. Our long term text-led English plan ensures a broad, balanced selection of teaching texts which are chosen specifically to tackle big issues and provoke debate and opinion. Recent examples include The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo where children explored the true meaning of love, Wonder by RJ Palacio where children became passionate advocates of inclusion and anti-bullying, and The Barnabus Project by Fan Brothers, where even our very youngest chidlren were challenged with debate about individualism and perfectionism.  

Emotional Literacy 

In classrooms and our Nurture Room we ensure a rich range of storybooks, texts and self-help guides are availbale to support children with their personal, social and emotional development. Through these, and sensitive,relational approaches and dialogue, chidlren gradually build a rich vocabulary through which to talk about themselves and their inner and outer life experiences. Classroom displays are designed to enhance children's emotional literacy and awareness such as Zones of Regulation and The Hidden Chimp. 

Wrap-Around-Care

Our breakfast and after school clubs are the arms that quite literally wrap-around our school day. Our clubs are very well attended and ensure personal development runs as a thread from the moment a child enters the door and the moment they leave. Our breakfast clubs provide a nurturing start to the day, with healthy food (Brainy Breakfasts!), stories, imaginative play and gentle activities such as games, lego and drawing. After school clubs are planned to provide a balance of engaging activity such as art, drama, sport and gardening, with more chilled and gentle pursuits after a long hard day of school. Please see our wrap-around-care page for more details. 

Children meditating at after school Yoga Club and getting messy at Art Club!

Mixed-age classes

One of the benefits of being a small school is that we can come together to share learning experiences across age groups. The 'family feel' of our school helps to instil a collective responsibility and encourage older and younger pupils to learn from each other. Regular events such as whole school paired reading, whole school singing, Reading Cafes, and educational visits and trips, all help our children develop relationships regardless of age differences, including with a range of adults. 

Personal Development through the Arts

We use creative arts frequently as a vehicle to teach children about aspects of themselves, others and the world. Free-drawing and free-writing are embedded practices in our school to teach self-regulation and grounding techniques. Art, as an academically descrete subject, is also used to teach children about societal change, cultural diversity, identity and personal expression. Through creative arts, children learn about univeral languages that unite people together, through mark-making, movement and song. 

Exploring identity through portraiture. 

Future Self and Careers

Children are continually encouraged through our curriculum, classroom talk, enrichment activities, clubs, literature and one-off events, to think about and take positive action towards the person they want to be and the difference they want to make in the world. This term in PSHE, children are learning about economic wellbeing and the kind of career they might like to build for themselves. We have a programme of exciting visitors coming to school to talk to chidlren about their jobs and chosen life paths including doctors, nurses, military, writers, scientists, engineers and chefs. Through personal projects, children are encouraged to seek out and research how they might develop their skills, talents and  interests, and reseach what qualifications they might need to pursue their life goals and dreams. 

The follow links are here to help children explore life paths and careers. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/careers

https://www.firstcareers.co.uk/