Our Personal Development and Wellbeing curriculum is delivered through a holistic approach to learning and threads through the school in discrete class-based lessons, through specialist Yoga sessions and through the emotional literacy programme (ELSA) and therapeutic approaches in school.
We strive to give all our students the best opportunities to be as independent as possible and reach their potential. Through the personal development curriculum, students will learn skills for independence with scaffolded levels of support, appropriate to their varied needs.
This could include the basic skills of preparing drinks and snacks, increasing their ability to care for themselves, including washing, dressing and being hygienic and understanding why this is important to learning about growing up and puberty, strategies for self-regulation and using household appliances and completing day to day tasks independently.
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) sits within this curriculum area and has cross curricular links with communication where learning about relationships and understanding our own emotions and how to develop coping strategies are a key focus.
Additionally, the RSE programme enables our students at all levels of cognition to develop an understanding of the human body and the opportunity to learn about wider issues at an appropriate level related to sexual intercourse and reproduction, the importance of sexual health, contraception and sexual harassment. Students are taught about consent and their rights to make choices and to feel safe.
Personal safety is a key part of our personal development and wellbeing curriculum. We help our students to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes that they need to keep themselves safe now and in the future. Areas that may be covered include:
- Accident prevention
- Communication skills
- Healthy relationships
- Online safety
- Rights and responsibilities
- Problem solving, risk management and decision making
- Emotional health and resilience
- Road Safety
- Accessing help and support
Students will learn about different cultures and religions in their local community as well as the global community they belong to. They will learn about and understand differences and what makes us all special as well as celebrating diversity
Riding for the Disabled programme
Our Riding for the Disabled programme enables students to access a range of Personal Development and Wellbeing benefits.
Yoga
Our students have regular opportunities to participate in specialist taught Yoga sessions in our dedicated Yoga Studio. They are supported to practice a range of poses, techniques and breathing activities that will:
- Stimulate the Parasympathetic Nervous System
- Bring balance, concentration, co-ordination, flexibility & muscle tone
- Release stress, anxiety, tension, pressure & the overload of sensory inputs.
The yoga studio provides a relaxing and focussed environment for students to combine their EHCP therapy targets linked to Sensory and Physical needs with the positive aspects and benefits of Physical and mental health and wellbeing. The skills learned and practiced in these sessions assists with mobility but also with self-regulation and emotional wellbeing strategies.