Personal Development

Personal Development of our whole school community - pupils, staff and parents - is exceptional and recognised as being a strength of the school, both through internal self evaluation and external assessment.

E​quality and Diversity

Promoting difference and equality is integral to our school values and is woven throughout the curriculum. We do not believe in teaching these aspects as stand-alone days or activities, but rather aim for them to be implicit in all teaching. Carefully chosen resources and teaching opportunities portray a diverse cross section of our British society, challenging possible stereotypes and educating our pupils on the positive impact of diversity. In a pupil survey in November 2022, 96% of KS2 pupils stated that the school ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’ teaches them to treat people equally, which demonstrates the impact of this ethos being embedded.

Fundamental British Values are taught through the curriculum topics in each year group, making links for pupils with real life and giving them a context for how we use these values to shape our everyday life and these are identified clearly throughout planning documents. This inclusive ethos is replicated in the school environment, where all pupils’ needs are met, where necessary working with parents to ensure that medical, disability or religious needs are taken into account to ensure that all pupils are a fully integrated part of school life. Due to this approach, the pupils have an eager sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about other people around the world, their community and themselves.

B​ehaviour and Relationships

Behaviour is exceptional across school. Pupils are motivated, behave with integrity and cooperate well with others consistently. Our school rules and Christian values guide all of our working practices in school, and staff and pupils use these as foundations for developing personal character throughout the school. The rules of Ready, Respectful, Safe are the cornerstones of all conduct in school - for pupils, staff and parents – and pupils confidently discuss how these rules impact on all areas of life in school. Alongside these rules, our 6 Christian values of perseverance, thankfulness, friendship, forgiveness, trust and hope, which were chosen by the school community (pupils, staff, parents, Church representatives) are our core values which we instil in pupils throughout each year. Focus Christian Value afternoons take place each half term, and weekly class worships led by our half termly Worship team, where these values are explored in more detail.

At St Michael with St Thomas, we believe that educating pupils about their safety and wellbeing requires pupils have a deep understanding about the risks that they face, both in their community and online, and to become proactive in managing their own safety. Our PSHE curriculum, which is delivered through the Jigsaw Programme, has a progressive approach to looking at different aspects of safety eg appropriate online usage, making healthy choices for our bodies, safety in the community ie stranger danger or peer pressure, which builds a thorough and deep understanding of these pertinent issues over time. This is supplemented with additional learning opportunities based on local issues which arise eg work with the National Rail team about railway safety after a number of local teenagers trespassing on railway lines, or sessions with the PCSOs to look at knife crime following an increase in the local city. Each year we have 2 pupils who take on the role of Junior Safety Officers, who work with a team at the Local Authority to deliver safety messages to pupils and parents, through assemblies, letters and leaflets and delivering workshops. By ensuring their high profile in the school community, it demonstrates to pupils our commitment to this area, and we have found that using pupil leadership groups to deliver key messages highly effective in ensuring parental engagement, for example in tackling parents parking unsafely outside of school.

Teaching of online safety and appropriate use of technology is supplemented through the use of Impero, which is our school monitoring system to monitor pupil and staff online use. As well as this, the computing curriculum is developed using the Teach Computing resource, developing computing skills, and effectively embedding the key strands of online safety based on the Education for a Connected World principles, with staff using the EVOLVE resources to ensure high-quality and robust coverage of these key aspects.

Our PSHE teaching also places high importance on developing pupils’ understanding about keeping healthy and the importance of a healthy diet and physical activity. This is supported through our PE and food technology curriculum. The school provides an extensive range of lunchtime and after-school activities run by sports coaches and our pupils Sports Leaders, targeting all year groups with a range of sports and activities. These clubs and activities are offered without charge, to encourage as many pupils as possible to take part throughout the year. Regular analysis of participation in extra-curricular clubs allows leaders to target pupils and ensure maximum engagement throughout the year. We also work with our sports provider to offer annual training for the MDAs in developing their skills in running activities at lunchtime to encourage activity in all pupils.

A​nalysis of Extra Curricular Clubs 2021-22

As part of our commitment as a ‘Healthy School’, we work with the team from the LA to provide workshops for Y3 and Y6 promoting healthy eating and lifestyles, as well as a series of workshops for Y6 on substance abuse. We also hold a series of parent workshops supporting their understanding of healthy lifestyles, looking at issues such as hidden sugar in food and the importance of limiting screen time and improving children’s sleep habits. These have been well attended and feedback from parent questionnaires has been positive.

Through the use of the Jigsaw PSHE programme, pupils are taught about healthy and appropriate relationships – content that starts in EYFS and builds throughout the school at an age-appropriate level. Parent sessions are held each year to share the content of the Relationships Education with families to allow parents to ask questions and ensure they are aware of how sensitive topics are covered. Through school practice such as our peer massage programme, pupils are able to put ideas such as consent into practice, making meaningful links to their everyday activities.

We place an emphasis on developing pupils’ aspirations, both through a curriculum which has high expectations and also through focus activities such as Careers Week, Wide Awake to the World Week and Enterprise week which take place each year. These focus weeks not only provide pupils with an opportunity to explore interests, understand that they can be agents of positive change and develop their skill set, but also allow them to start to consider the next stages of their education and to plan for the future.

S​piritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development

Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is excellent. SMSC is something which is developed through an ongoing commitment by the staff to provide a well-rounded and whole education to our pupils. Pupils have the ability to be reflective about their own beliefs and perspective on life. Through the curriculum they are provided with the knowledge to respect different people’s faiths, feelings and values. Pupils readily apply their understanding the difference between right and wrong and accept that their behaviours have consequences, as is demonstrated by the exceptional behaviour and choices made by pupils of all ages, including their abilities to take on responsibilities through our pupil leadership groups.

Have a Look at Our P​upil Leadership Pages

As part of focus days, pupils have the opportunity to take part in musical, artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities. Annually, pupils are invited to apply for school roles, which provides opportunity for discussion around democracy and the importance of pupil rights. As well as exploiting opportunities to develop pupils’ morally and spiritually through our bespoke Lunar Curriculum, additional opportunities are planned in throughout the year to develop pupils’ cultural capital eg theatre trips, opportunity to see an opera, city breaks to explore our country as well as educational visits to develop pupils’ knowledge of their local area. We also have our ’50 Things to Do Before You Leave St Michael’s’ document, which is a comprehensive list of experiences that we want our pupils to have experienced before they leave our school.

50 Things to Do Before You Leave St Michael with St Thomas