Personal Development

The Chiltern School ‘dares to be different’ and in doing so, our personal development curriculum supports our pupils to reach their full potential. Our specialist team of trauma informed staff seek to get to know pupils on an individual basis, building relationships with families to ensure that we understand each child’s ‘lived experience’ and cultural norms before we deliver Emotional Health and Wellbeing, Relationships Health and Sex Education and Spiritual Moral Social Cultural programme. The Personal Development curriculum focuses on functional learning and skills development to support and promote independence.

We are an inclusive learning environment where all members of our community; pupils, families, staff and professionals can share their views, feel heard and contribute to our school’s development. We believe that people learn best when they are happy therefore; emotional health and wellbeing is a high priority for all members of our school community. Our RHSE curriculum offer is tailored to pupil need and delivery is pupil led by being centered on interception and the development of a pupil’s internal signals to ensure progress within the following areas; The Body, Safety, Feelings, Emotions, Relationships and Sex education.

We promote British Values and our school Values:

The Senior Leadership team’s ethos is based on distributed leadership, collective responsibility, mutual trust, respect, empathy and understanding.
Staff model Kindness, Curiosity, Courage, Respect and Aspiration for our pupils and embed these values through daily reflection.
Staff provide an environment where pupils feel safe in order to thrive and learn.
Staff nurture confidence, promote independence and empower pupils to make decisions and choices which impact them positively.
Staff deliver a curriculum which is both fun, challenging and embraces creativity.
Staff create an environment of high expectations, where pupils embrace challenge and have positive attitudes towards life and their learning.
Staff celebrate both similarity and difference with a view to improve representation for pupils, embrace diversity and challenging prejudice.
Pupils develop their emotional literacy and recognise or are supported when their emotional wellbeing impacts on decision making.
Pupils are encouraged to share their voice at every opportunity and we make decisions as professionals according to pupil want and pupil need.
Pupils have the opportunity to develop work related skills through employability days, the café, horticulture, the market stall, work experience, community events and other external trips and visits.
Pupils are prompted to encourage others to have caring and thoughtful attitudes.
Pupils are scheduled and prompted to engage with a healthy, active lifestyle.
Families are invited to share their lived experiences and cultural norms to provide our school with context, learning and meaningful understanding.
Families are invited to parent information sessions & training to reflect our whole school approach in the family home and engage with coffee mornings, audits and parent forum to contribute to our pupil led curriculum.
All stakeholders have a voice, creating a positive environment for working together and professional challenge.

Relationships, Health and Sex Education

Our RHSE delivery is taught via a stage not age approach. We use an interoception tool to help us baseline pupils and track their development. Our RHSE is a one year programme to allow us to be pupil led and respond to pupil need and fast pace trends or phases that all young people experience growing up. We are currently in the process of putting together an RHSE network made up of staff, professionals, parents and led by pupil voice and reviewing our RHSE delivery. If you are interested in joining this, please contact Lianna Taylor

Emotional Health and Wellbeing

At The Chiltern School, the Emotional Health and Wellbeing of our pupils is key to preparing pupils to be ready for learning. We use sensory ladders to help our young people recognise their own Emotional Health and Wellbeing and staff use this as a strategy to ensure they too consider the emotional health and wellbeing and needs of a pupil. It is essential that pupils who arrive a the start of the day feel regulated and able to access their education.

Our school routines enable pupils to feel safe and secure and know what to expect. The timings of the day and chosen sounds or music within classrooms to indicate transition times support pupils in knowing what to expect and therefore being prepared for their learning.

SMSC

Teachers at The Chiltern School and other attuned adults work to support young people to feel safe and secure, this aids their ability to learn. We feel this is best done where we build positive relationships with both the pupils and their families and get to know the child’s lived experience.

SMSC is embedded and delivered through our curriculum. Please see below our latest SMSC timetable.

SMSC is also delivered through Assembly to Formal and Semi Formal Learners, please see the latest Assembly plan below:

Formal Assembly:

Semi Formal Assesmbly: