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A needs-led approach is particularly important for a school in a socially and economically disadvantaged area.

The school

The Wey Valley School Sports College for the 11-16 age range is in Weymouth, Dorset. It serves two areas of high socio-economic deprivation, one of which is a Health Action Zone.

A needs-led approach

Many of the students have not had a successful start in education or life. Some are disaffected, unhealthy and in danger of exclusion. There are significant social problems in the local community. The school therefore attaches great importance to creating a personal development curriculum that addresses this feature of the students’ lives. To make it as effective as possible, the different elements of that curriculum are coordinated.

The personal development programme

Citizenship, PSHE, sex and relationship education, careers and work-related learning are coordinated to produce a programme called ‘Your Future Begins With You’. It has the following structure.

Year 10

Year 11

In years 10 and 11 the programme is taught through:

• one hour of tutorial work per fortnight
• one-hour lesson per fortnight taught by a specialist team with specialist input from the local community.

Students in year 10 also have a one-hour lesson on citizenship each fortnight.

RE is taught as a separate subject. Students in year 10 take a GCSE short course. The next steps for Wey Valley will include closer links between RE and the ‘Your Future Begins with You’ programme.

Work-related learning takes place in all curriculum areas, and all subject departments are being asked to identify links to their subject. The work-related learning manager helps targeted students to access appropriate programmes. It is accepted that students have time out of class in order to take part in visits to industry, engineering days at a local training centre, working lunches and other education-business programmes selected by the school. The work related learning manager has no teaching duties and can therefore concentrate entirely on managing these activities.

Coordination

A PSHE, citizenship and healthy school coordinator has overall responsibility for the personal development curriculum. He works closely with the work-related learning manager and heads of year. Together, they developed ‘Your Future Begins With You’ from the Programme of Study for Citizenship, the non-statutory frameworks for PSHE, careers education and guidance, and the statutory requirements for sex and relationship education.

The personal development programme is monitored by the heads of year, the PSHE and citizenship link governor, and the head teacher.

Wey Valley School has a Citizenship Manifesto that highlights citizenship as being an integral part of the school processes and systems through:

• all school subjects
• tutorial time
• elective programmes
• provision of themed cross-curricular projects
• pastoral support
• special needs support
• inclusion projects
• extra-curricular programme.

Personal development through practical activities

An important feature of the personal development curriculum is the active participation of students through a wide range of practical activities. Some examples are:

• a ‘buddying’ scheme to raise self-esteem, expectations and success for all
• joint residentials with other schools
• peer mediators and peer projects with local primary schools
• drugs and alcohol education by the police
• a ‘Prison - Me? No Way!’ day with the prison service
• careers education and work-related learning links with local businesses and agencies and Trident
• cultural trips to Europe and a partnership with a school in Hungary
• work with Romanian street children.

Links to student support and guidance

During a ‘Personal Safety and Emergencies Day’ for all year 10 students, 44 officers from the emergency services and local agencies were invited in. All staff and a designated school governor also attended. During the day students and staff learned how they might refer to outside agencies for further help.

Future developments

The next steps for the programme are to:

• create closer links with PE and RE
• improve the assessment and reporting of the programme, particularly through the use of the Progress File
• move some of the more sensitive aspects of PSHE, which tutors can find difficult to teach, into the lesson taught by specialist staff
• incorporate aspects of citizenship into tutorial sessions, with support from year heads and specialist staff where required
• ask the school council to help develop the personal development curriculum
• incorporate more emotional literacy. 

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Page updated: Tuesday, August 10, 2004
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