Personal Development

This page explains some of the systems and strategies in place to support the personal development of children at Hazeldown. Many of these actions link closely with supporting Behaviour and Attitudes – there is also a web page which covers this and are developed through assemblies, through focused curriculum teaching, including the additional experiences which are linked to it such as taking the train to the local city museum, and through additional opportunities we provide. Most importantly, the everyday attitude and approach of our staff team and the relationships and knowledge of the children mean they are treated as individuals and developed on a personal level.

As outlined in our North Star Statement, we aim to support children in developing in to well rounded, socially responsible citizens who are curious learners, who have the power to choose and respond to change, and who recognise that they can have a significant impact on their community and the wider world.

They demonstrate self-awareness, an independent will and a creative imagination. They are not afraid to dream, are aspirational for themselves and others and become positive contributors to society.

They demonstrate emotional intelligence, are innovative, resilient and demonstrate a ‘warrior spirit’ within themselves. They are determined strategists and develop a positive ethos and passion for who they are and what they do in pursuit of their own North Star.

The everyday approach of our adults through interactions and specific teaching supports developing many of these aspects. Additionally, there are some specific activities and opportunities.

We share and celebrate experiences from out of school, through class, team or praise assembly and half termly achievers’ assembly. This inspires others to join in, have a go, or to persevere with their endeavours. Inspirational speakers visit regularly. Most recently an ex pupil who is now representing Great Britain in the Underwater Hockey team – talking about her North Star at Hazeldown, Sara Cox, and RFU Referee who was the first woman to referee a men’s premiership game and regularly referees international games and Mikey Akers talking about his lived experience of SEND, being non-verbal when he stared primary school.

Our Learning Values

Our Learning Values are key to developing character. They are based on Guy Claxton’s work on ‘Building Learning Power’ and ensure that, whilst children learn the relevant knowledge and skills during their time at Hazeldown, developing the right character is also going to be a key contributor to future success.

Our Learning Values are:

Collaboration

Resilience

Empathy

Relationships

Reflective

Risk-Taking

Resourceful

In addition to these, we purposefully don’t write down that they are underpinned by the principles of Kindness and Respect. This emphasises the fact that they should be a ‘given’ and we shouldn’t need to write them down.

Our Learning Values are also provided with younger-child friendly statements and the Early Years children engage with them initially as dinosaur characters to introduce the language and principles.

The Learning Values are displayed in every classroom with examples of children demonstrating them in a range of contexts are captured and added to the display through the year. They are continually referenced and exemplified and instant recognition of positive application of them is achieved through post-it notes children are given and add to the display on a weekly basis. They take these home at the end of the week.

North Star

Our School North Star describes our aim for how children will be when they leave us for secondary school.

In addition to this, the children work on their own North Star, using the Compass for Life work from Floyd Woodrow. This supports them in mapping out what they want to be when they grow up and the tracking the journey back to today. They identify their own strengths and areas for development, others who are ‘on their team’ and will be able to support them and what the ‘magnets’ are which may distract them on their journey. Ultimately, this provides us with a reference point for individual discussion with children about what they need to work on or develop next, how their learning today is supporting them on their journey, creating more relevance and gives them a focus for their growth.

We also talk about the Compass for Life in terms of their ‘Warrior Spirit’, their ‘Ethos’ and their ‘Strategy’ to achieve what they want to be. They may not become an astronaut, but they may just end up higher up in the world of Astro-physics as a result of this focus.

We revisit their North Star each year and the children’s Compass for Life Map is stuck in the front of their Learning Journal for reference.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (SMSC)

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development underpins character development, development of attitudes towards learning and life and developments of personal values for our children. It links closely with our Learning Values (above) and the Fundamental British Values (below). Much of this is taught through the SCARF PSHE Curriculum, and other curriculum subjects such as RE, but is also integral in our everyday work.

What does SMSC look like?

• Spiritual: Understanding and valuing feelings and emotions; exploring and understanding different religions and beliefs. Reflecting on the world around us; exploring beliefs, values and meaning; understanding the concept of spirituality.

• Moral: Recognising right from wrong; developing a sense of fairness; understanding the consequences of actions. Understanding the importance of rules and laws; making ethical judgements; developing a sense of responsibility and empathy.

• Social: Developing positive relationships with others; recognising and respecting differences in others. Developing effective communication and teamwork skills; learning to manage conflicts and disagreements; developing an understanding of different cultures and beliefs.

• Cultural: Learning about different cultures, traditions and celebrations; understanding the importance of diversity. Understanding and celebrating the diversity of our society; developing a sense of identity and belonging; exploring how culture impacts our daily lives.

Fundamental British Values

As outlined above, these link closely with Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development.

We promote the Fundamental British Values of:

Democracy

The rule of law

Individual liberty

Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Fundamental British Values are a feature of assemblies across the school and are very well embedded in everyday practice, language, and approach. They are continually exemplified, explained, and celebrated. This approach to our values, with constant reference to ‘character’ and personal development provides the children with the tools to be face life as robust and agile individuals able to adapt to changes positively and successfully. We talk about whether a tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs is actually enough, and whether we should really be celebrating our relationships with individuals of different faiths and beliefs and what our knowledge and understanding of those faiths and beliefs can bring us.

Growth Mindset

Developing a Growth Mindset is a key strength of the school. We focus on the language we use around praise – praising the process and the effort, including effective strategies, rather than intelligence and abilities. This places value on what the children have done and what they need to do to continue to be successful.

Not being afraid to have a go, to learn from our mistakes and demonstrating resilience (one of our learning values) and perseverance are also key features of our approach. The children use a purple pen to self-mark work, improve it, respond to feedback and reflect on their learning as part of the process.

In the past, children would have worked through a lot of calculations in maths, got a lot of ticks to show they were correct and looked like they were good at maths. We focus on working on a few questions, which will be challenging and talk about children ‘having the right to struggle’, but with support around them. We love to get things correct, but we usually learn more, or more deeply when we get them wrong.

We use the Learning Challenge from James Nottingham as an image to support children’s understanding with this.

An animation explaining this further can be found on YouTube:

James Nottingham's Learning Challenge

Zones of Regulation

Our focused teaching of, and consistent and constant use of Zones of Regulation provides a focus for developing both emotional literacy and the confidence to talk about feelings and mental health. Understanding of emotions, associated feelings and vocabulary is a key part of ‘Learning for Living’. We equip our children with this to a high degree, developing these fundamental personal life skills which are often overlooked at an early age.

The use of Zones of Regulation links closely to our behaviour approach providing time for reflection, repair and relationship rebuilding, supporting children in developing an understanding of the importance of being able to talk about their own mental health. We equip them with a high degree of emotional literacy, coupled with and awareness of how and where to seek support.

The Zones of Regulation is a framework designed to support self-regulation and emotional control.

For some children, self-regulating comes naturally, but for others, it is a skill that needs to be taught and practised.

The goal of The Zones of Regulation is to support children to recognise when they are becoming less regulated, and to be able to manage their feelings and emotions, using strategies that work for them.

Different emotions and states of alertness are categorised into four different coloured Zones, to help children identify how they are feeling.

The Blue, Green, Yellow and Red Zone.

As the children become familiar and more aware of the different Zones, they are then supported with strategies to use to control and manage their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, adapt to different environments, and improve their ability to problem solve, based on which Zone they are in.

Blue Zone: This is to describe low states of alertness, feeling down or the body is ‘running slow’. Sad, tired, ill, low energy, bored.

Green Zone: This is to describe a calm state of alertness, ‘Good to go’.  This is the Zone where optimal learning occurs. Happy, focused, content, ready to learn.

Yellow Zone: This is to describe heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, with some control over actions. ‘To take caution’. Stress, frustration, anxiety, worried, nervousness, over excitement.

Red zone: This is to describe extremely heightened state of alertness and intense emotions, usually with loss of control of actions. ‘Stop’. The red zone usually requires adult support for some children. Anger, rage, devastation.

Our Curriculum

SCARF – PSHE Scheme of Work

The SCARF scheme of work from Coram Life Education provides a structured and progressive programme of teaching which supports personal development through the school. Parents have access to resources to support their children at home and are specifically informed about the RSHE aspects of learning.

The SCARF scheme provides progression and planned retrieval but is also used to dip in and out to address situations and identified need or drop back to revisit as required. This was a particular focus post covid where the subject leader devised a specific, short term additional programme to ensure all children had covered the required material.

The programme covers a wide range of issues in a progressive, age-appropriate manner including, for example, consent, discrimination for a range of reasons, differences, equality, diversity, relationships, risk and a range of social issues.

PE and Science both support positive messages about healthy eating and active lifestyles and our year six children have the opportunity to be involved in workshops with BodyPositive.org which focus on positive body image.

A recent project has focused on looking at diversity across our school community, mapping where in the world individuals or families originate from or have links to.

Mental Health Awareness

Many of the strategies we use support empowering children to be able to talk about their feelings, to understand themselves and to recognise actions they can take to feel positive, to make changes and to feel good. They also support the message that it is a positive step to talk about how we are feeling and equip the children with the vocabulary to be able to articulate this. We regularly reference the ’10 a day’ principles from normalmagic.co.uk to support children with this.

School Council

Our School Council are democratically elected by the rest of the school. This provides an opportunity to demonstrate the British Value of democracy in action and, most recently, we were able to make this coincide with the general election.

The School Council meet regularly with our PSHE Leader and both report back to, and bring questions from their classes. Their recent work has involved having the responsibility for selecting additional items of play equipment to add to our Fit Trail and consultation regarding school lunches, with us having just built a kitchen and taken on our own food production.

Peer Mediators

Our older children may choose to become a Peer Mediator to support other children in resolving minor issues and disagreements for themselves. They receive training and are monitored to ensure they are choosing the correct point so seek adult support if required.

Sporting Play Leaders

Our older children also have the opportunity to apply and be interviewed for a role as a play leader in school, supporting other children to be active and develop their skills during lunchtimes.

Play Buddies

Our PlayBuddies are similar to our Sporting Play Leaders but specifically support our year one and our Foundation Stage children.

Eco Schools

We are just beginning our formal journey towards the Eco Schools Award. We have a range of actions and strategies in place which are environmentally motivated and are now at the point where the formal collation and recognition of these will enable us to take the next steps.

This will involve significant opportunities for pupil voice, enabling our Eco Schools Group, made up of children from years three to six to make a difference to our future actions and direction. Our younger years will have eco monitors to support our work towards reducing our environmental impact on climate change.

The Torbay and Devon Civic Award

Children are provided with the opportunity to experience a breadth of additional experiences in year six through involvement in the Civic Award. We were one of the first Devon schools involved in the Torbay and Devon Civic Award which encourages Citizenship and is rooted in a deep belief that education should be broader and more futures-driven. Children are encouraged to undertake activities which support their local community and develop themselves as individuals. It nurtures a human, selfless aspect to character to help the children become well-rounded, confident, and caring individuals who strive to make a difference in their various communities and who are prepared to take responsibility for change.

The process can be likened to the Duke of Edinburgh Award but, at a younger child level. Children collect and collate evidence of their activities and have opportunity to present this to visiting dignitaries from our local community. The process culminates in an evening Award Ceremony held in Torbay for all children who have achieved their award.

Residential Experiences

We provide a progressive programme of optional residential experiences, being very mindful of the financial implications. We work hard to ensure that all children can access these, put payment plans in pace, support through the use of the Pupil Premium or find other options to remove barriers to involvement.

Year Two children have the opportunity of a sleepover in school. Staying after school on a Friday, playing outside on the field, eating together and then settling down for the night sleeping in the school hall.

Year Three children have a similar opportunity but build their own shelters out on the field and experience a night sleeping outside.

Year Four can attend a three-night residential experience at Colehayes on Dartmoor, undertaking a range of adventurous activities.

Year Five have an activities week with several local trips out such as a visit to a local climbing and watersports centre. This keeps the cost lower in this year.

Year Six have the opportunity of a four night residential experience at Grenville House in Brixham with a week of adventurous activities including climbing, caving, raft building, paddle boarding and a high ropes course.

These experiences support all of our work on personal development and developing character and positive attitudes and provide opportunities for children to shine, to achieve things they never thought they would and to really develop their social skills in a very different context.

Forest School

Forest school is a key feature at Hazeldown. Children cover elements of the curriculum at Forest School, alongside learning Forest School Skills. Additionally, it provides opportunities to connect with nature, to experience the outdoors, to feel alive and, for some children, is the environment where they can really shine, feel comfortable and achieve well.

Expert on the Table

We often appoint an ‘Expert on the Table’ who wears a lanyard and is there as the first port of call for children to ask for some support or guidance with their learning. This supports then in deepening their learning through articulating an explanation and support the children who need help as they have more access to support in class. A Child could be an expert in any subject and we work to provide opportunities to build self-esteem using this across creative and physical activities as well as the more academic subjects.

Additional Opportunities

We regularly create additional responsibilities for children both as a matter of course and in response to needs. Children in all classes will be monitors for various specific tasks in class on a rolling programme and specific tasks may be delegated to children who need to develop a sense of responsibility, need an additional motivating factor to look forwards to at school or need additional opportunities for a specific, individual reason.

Children regularly ask to organise drawing competitions, cake sales and, on occasion, lunchtime clubs, which we support wherever possible to fit around events our older children organise as part of their Civic Award.

Year five children have the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups to organise games for the PTA Summer Fayre, which are always really successful. Our annual Hazeldown’s Got Talent competition culminates in the final 9 or 10 acts competing at the Summer Fayre. This provides opportunities for children to perform in heats and potentially the final in any area of talent and it often really inspiring for the other children.