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Personal Development
Personal Development at KCC
Personal Development Intent
At Kingsbridge Community College we offer an untaught curriculum that is inspiring, challenging, deep and broad so that all students will thrive.
The objectives for our untaught curriculum are:
- To prepare with students with the skills, qualities and confidence for future success in education, employment or training.
- To consistently promote the extensive personal development of students.
- Through Discovery Curriculum, provide opportunities for all students that extend their curriculum beyond the taught curriculum supporting them to be confident, resilient and independent
- To have an exceptional, high quality, programme of opportunities for students to develop their skills and talents
- To have an untaught curriculum that develops student character
- To ensure that experiences are provided in a coherently planned way
- To ensure that the most disadvantaged students and SEND students participate in and consistently benefit from the untaught curriculum.
- To ensure that students have access to a wide rich set of experiences.
Kingsbridge Community College’s untaught curriculum is strengthened by the understanding that it is developed so that the needs and individual requirements of all students are met, in order that all students can thrive. The curriculum is underpinned by the UN convention on the rights of the child with a particular focus on:
Article 3 (best interests of the child) The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.
Article 28 (right to education) Every child has the right to an education.
Article 29 (goals of education) Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.
The curriculum intent and implementation of each department/subject can be found on the subject pages of the College website where there are detailed curriculum maps which are a framework for setting out the aims of a programme of education in each subject, including the knowledge and understanding to be gained at each stage as well as links to assessment and potential careers.
Personal Development Implementation
The implementation of the KCC Untaught Curriculum is underpinned by the KCC Discovery Curriculum and our Rights Respecting School values. The untaught curriculum has been developed to wrap around the taught curriculum. This ensures that every student has the opportunity to participate in activities that will support them in their taught curriculum whilst achieve the aims of the untaught curriculum for every student.
Discovery Curriculum
Discovery captures every child's right to have their talents and abilities developed to the full (Article 29)
The Discovery Curriculum is our personal development provision from year 7 to 13. Discovery describes how KCC supports students’ self-knowledge, positive relationships and personal aspirations. It encompasses our careers provision helping us to deliver on Gatsby Benchmarks and is a key part of our commitment to being a Rights Respecting School. Discovery runs through both the taught and the untaught curriculum and provides a common language to use, helping students to make the link between what they study in their lessons and what they learn in their untaught curriculum. Discovery is split into three strands: Self to Others, Here to the World and Now to the Future. This allows us to promote personal development opportunities for all as follows:
Student Leadership
The College Student Leadership Team champions the voice and vision of our students across the school. Being part of the team is a valuable experience in teamwork and leadership, as the team takes on responsibility and works hard to fulfil its goals. Acting as an interface between students and teachers, and leading the School Council, the team brings about the change students want to see in our school community.
The 21/22 team is led by two Year 13 Lead Ambassadors and a Year 13 Deputy Ambassador. They are supporting by eight Year 13 Student Steering Group Ambassador Leads. The Student Steering Groups include students from all year groups and are supported by a staff mentor. There are a range of student leadership opportunities within the steering groups such as Anti Bullying Ambassadors, Healthy Relationship Ambassadors and Mental Health Ambassadors Each group has an action plan to support them ensuring that student voice is acted and supports students to have a wide rich set of experiences. Within the recruitment of the senior team and the steering groups analysis is done of the number of disadvantaged and SEND student who are participating. Where there is a low participation rate actions are taken to encourage wider participation.
College Council
The College Council is made up of representatives from each year. The Council is led by the College Student Leadership Team and they meet on a weekly basis. The year group representatives attend meetings and then feedback to their year groups. They focus on a range of goals and priorities including the school environment, charity fundraising and celebrating achievement. College Council is all about creating a space for student voices to be heard, an opportunity for their concerns, commendations and priorities to have an impact on college improvement and student development. It is a valued and integral part of the KCC ethos and community.
Sixth Form Enrichment and Societies
In year 12, all students are asked to enrol in an enrichment activity to support their personal development. These range from the Mental Health Ambassadors, and the Equality and Diversity group who support lower school students, to volunteering in local charities or the Duke of Edinburgh. In addition, students are encouraged to join one of the student-led societies which include football/rounders, politics, drama and baking. In addition, students’ next steps are supported by events such as Year 13 Mock interviews, one to one careers interviews, Year 12 Next Steps day and Work Experience.
Challenge Week
Challenge week is an annual activity week programme of onsite and residential based activities led by staff. The week offers a exceptional, high quality, programme of opportunities for students to develop their skills and talents
Extracurricular
There is a vibrant and varied extracurricular experience available at KCC. We encourage all students to take part in the provision either during lunch or after college. Students who make the most of our extracurricular activities flourish personally and succeed academically.
Activities include clubs, speaker talks, collaborative projects, trips, cross-curricular events support and development sessions.
Personal Development Impact
We measure the impact of our untaught curriculum through:
- Student and parent voice
- The outcomes of benchmarking: PASS Survey
- The outcomes they achieve: Progress and attainment at Key Stage 5 is well above the national average and progress and attainment at Key Stage 4 is above average.
- The destinations and pathways students pursue: All students have been in education, employment or training (not NEET) in the years 2016-21.