26/10/2023Personal Development Goals
Pupils value the wide range of extra-curricular activities- Ofsted 2023
At Waingels our role is to ensure that our students are equipped with the knowledge and skills that they need to be active members of our community and students reach their aspirations and get the qualifications that they need to progress to their next steps. We aim to achieve this with our curriculum, high standards of teaching, our pastoral support and by the personal development that we offer students. We know that alongside academic qualification further/higher education institutions and employers value a wide range of skills. Students have opportunities to develop these skills across our curriculum and as part of our Careers and Enterprise and extra-curricular programmes.
As part of a strategic pastoral development programme we are launching Personal Development goals for Year 7, 8 and 9. These are activities/tasks/opportunities that have been carefully planned skills, to help nurture student attitudes, values and develop the capabilities needed to contribute to our community as active, productive, responsible and creative citizens that live fulfilling lives.
When students start their GCSEs they will also engage with the KS4 Personal Development Goals. These are different to KS3 and are designed to support students in personalising their school journey and develop confidence, resilience and their academic independence. Students can select activities and challenges that suit their interests and talents best, from four areas including Community, Leadership, Scholars and Excellence. Each task or challenge is selected to help students grow as a person such as becoming a community leader or achieving their bronze Duke of Edinburgh badge. Students will achieve bronze, silver and gold badges in recognition of completing 8, 14 and 18 tasks respectively. In recognition of the commitment required for some badges over others, engagement in 3 or more of these will be recognised with an exceptionality award. We hope all students in Year 10 will engage with the personal development goals in KS4, whilst taking part will help them to prepare for post 16 and help them to stand out in a competitive world.
We want students to take responsibility for achieving these goals and ask that as parents and carers that you support your child/children to complete these tasks independently. All students will be issued with a card which outlines the goals and where they can get them signed off. Achievements will be rewarded with badges and certificates. The cards are on the website below.
Research shows that students who engage with opportunities like this learn valuable skills such as teamwork and leadership, along with other benefits such as getting higher grades, higher levels of self-esteem and increased attendance at school. We hope that you can see the value of these goals for all students and will support us with the launch this year.
