Personal Development Curriculum

Intent:

At Lansdown Park Academy, our Personal Development curriculum develops well-rounded citizens, ready for their next steps. It equips pupils with the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to lead safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives — enabling them to make informed decisions, build positive relationships, and contribute meaningfully to society. Our programme works on 8 key skills that we believe are vital tools to being successful in both school and home and the wider community.

Key skill builders

Our bespoke curriculum is built around three key strands — Health, Relationships, and Living Independently — and is continually adapted to meet the specific and evolving needs of our pupils.

Through a broad and balanced offer — including visits, assemblies, Thrive, Zones of Regulation, therapeutic interventions, work with external agencies, and safeguarding debriefing — pupils gain a rich and varied experience that supports their personal growth, moral understanding, and emotional wellbeing.

Our trauma-informed approach ensures that pupils feel safe, valued, and understood. Relationships are at the heart of everything we do, with daily staff debriefs, consistent emotional support, and a curriculum that responds sensitively to individual and group needs.

Implementation:

The Personal Development curriculum is delivered through planned PSHE lessons, assemblies, enrichment visits, and targeted interventions, supported by the wider pastoral and safeguarding team.

It is strengthened through:

• Whole-school collaboration: Every staff member contributes to pupils’ personal growth through daily interactions, guided conversations, and restorative approaches.
• Responsive content: Curriculum plans are flexible, allowing us to address emerging safeguarding, social, or cultural issues promptly and meaningfully.
• Targeted interventions: Individual or small-group sessions informed by Thrive and Zones of Regulation help pupils develop self-regulation, emotional literacy, and coping strategies.
• External expertise: Partnerships with external agencies, guest speakers, and community links enrich pupils’ understanding of the world and their place within it.
• Staff development: Ongoing professional learning ensures staff are skilled in delivering trauma-informed, inclusive, and safeguarding-aware personal development.

Progress is monitored and measured through pupil voice, reflection activities, and teacher assessment to ensure progress towards the aims and objectives of the programme. Each student has weekly 1:1 time with their teacher to set key skill targets, discuss strategies that can be used to meet the targets and reflect on previous targets.

Records of learning are passed to the pupil for them to take to their next stage, these include Personal Development Programme logs, floor book snippets and PSHE books, all demonstrating coverage of the career builders.

Personal skills assessment graph

This graph is to be completed weekly alongside students to demonstrate the progress they feel they have made across the 8 personal skills. 2 points of achievement unlock one whole bar of the graph. Teachers record baseline, midpoint and final assessments

Impact:

Through this curriculum, pupils at Lansdown Park Academy grow into confident, capable, and compassionate young people who are ready to take their next steps and contribute positively to society. Impact is seen through:

• Improved emotional regulation, resilience, and self-esteem.
• Stronger communication and interpersonal skills.
• A growing understanding of respect, equality, and diversity.
• The ability to make safe and informed life choices.
• A clear sense of social responsibility and citizenship.

On average, pupils start with low scores across the key skills builder, specifically around listening. At time of leaving, they have developed their key skills builders, as evidenced by personal development programme logs/graph and floor books/PSHE books.