Skip to content ↓

Personal development

Our young people deserve high quality, age-appropriate personal development education.

At the Latymer School, we are passionate that young people deserve high quality, age-appropriate personal development education with a particular emphasis on relationships, health and sex education throughout their time at our school. We encourage all students to explore attitudes and values and develop skills to empower them to make positive decisions about their health-related behaviour, with particular consideration of the qualities of relationships within families, the school and the wider community.

Our Personal Development Curriculum and Relationships & Sex Education curriculum aim to develop our students’ skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, team working and critical thinking. We also want to give students opportunities to develop their understanding of democracy and justice, rights and responsibilities, as well as identities and diversity.

Design of the Personal Development Curriculum (PDC)

PDC lessons and activities are designed to prepare our students for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences that come with adult life. Relationship, health and sex education and PDC also enable us to promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of our students, at school and in society.

To embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, pupils need knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships and to build their self-efficacy. They will need to apply this knowledge as they develop the capacity to make sound decisions when facing risks, challenges and complex contexts. Our students will develop resilience and know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support.

At the Latymer School, Personal Development Curriculum is:

  • Delivered in multiple ways, such as through form time (using a spiralling curriculum), timetabled lessons for years 7-9 (which interlink with form time activities) and other curriculum subjects such as Religious Education, Science and Physical Education.
  • Personalised: we ensure that all statutory topics are taught as well as those that are more applicable to our students.
  • Staff who require support with subject knowledge and/or skills can gain it in multiple ways including in-house from the Heads of Department and the Senior Leadership Team, through INSETs and in-house continual personal development, as well as from external providers.

The difference made to our students’ development

We are committed to providing a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others. Relationships and Sex Education is an integral part of this.

We aim for our students to develop into well-rounded individuals who are well-informed, considerate, and empathetic of others and:

  • Have an inquiring mind and a desire to contribute towards the community and the world around them.
  • Have an ability to think and work independently.
  • Have an ability to persevere and complete tasks.
  • Are adept at problem-solving.
  • Participate fully with the opportunities presented to them.

Below is an outline of what the Latymer pupils do in their PDC lessons each year. Personal development however is not only limited to only those allocated lessons, it can be seen in lessons across the curriculum as well as during form times and whole school, key stage and year assemblies.

YEAR 7

Pupils are taught the following modules:

1. What is PDC and helping with transition

  • What is PDC?
  • Managing transition
  • Secondary Transfer
  • Transition and emotional wellbeing
  • Friendships
  • Respect and manners

2. Safety and bullying

  • Being safe and my journey to school
  • E-safety
  • Think you know
  • What is bullying
  • Cyberbullying
  • Solutions to bullying and peer pressure

3. Introduction to citizenship and human rights

  • What is citizenship
  • Digital citizens

4. Mental health and self-esteem

  • Confidence and self-esteem
  • Introduction to mental health- Stand Up Kid
  • Perfectionism
  • Positive wellbeing
  • Peer pressure
  • Managing your emotions

5. Diversity and respect

  • Diversity and tolerance
  • Challenging intolerance
  • Prejudice and stereotyping
  • Social inequality
  • Disability and attitudes towards disability
  • Understanding learning disabilities and autism
  • Homophobia

YEAR 8

Pupils are taught the following modules (further information will be added as modules develop):

1. Healthy living

  • Dental health
  • Balanced diet
  • Exercise
  • Smoking and vaping
  • The effects of alcohol
  • Drugs and alcohol awareness
  • Drugs
  • Recreational drugs

2. Citizenship - Internet citizens

3. Stress

  • Stress - What is it?
  • Body image and stress
  • Resilience
  • Managing change

YEAR 9

Pupils are taught the following modules

1. Wellbeing and first aid

  • Influences on health
  • Healthy behaviours
  • Unconscious and breathing
  • Choking, burns and sprains
  • Bone injuries, bleeding and shock
  • Resuscitation and CPR

2. Relationships and sex education​​​

  • Embarrassment and talking about sex
  • Puberty and your body
  • Communication and consent
  • Sex and the media including pornography
  • Contraception and STIs

YEARS 10-11

Personal Development Curriculum is delivered during pastoral time and enrichment days. The format of the enrichment days would typically include:

  • Careers fair
  • Finance and budgeting
  • Teamwork
  • Mental health and resilience
  • Relationships and sex education

YEARS 12-13

Personal Development Curriculum is delivered during pastoral time and combines form time activities, year assemblies delivered by the pastoral team and guest speakers who come into the school to share their expertise and experiences and discuss more sensitive subjects.

Examples of guest speakers who have delivered personal development sessions for students in Years 10 to 13 at Latymer include:

  • The RAP project
  • School of Sexuality Education
  • Jan Trust
  • Teenage Cancer Trust

The program is designed by the Assistant Head's of Learning who liaise with the Head of Learning to provide relevant sessions based on the needs of the year group. For this reason there is a large amount of flexibility - however sessions will likely cover such issues as:

  • Mental health
  • Sexuality and identity
  • E-Safety
  • Positive relationships
  • Consent
  • Careers
  • How to make informed choices and be enterprising and ambitious
  • Democracy including mock elections
  • Extremism and Radicalisation
  • Tolerance, equality and respect
  • Stress
  • Study strategies and dealing with exams
  • The importance of a healthy lifestyle including sleep and exercise
  • Social media
  • Peer pressure
  • Self-care