Personal Development and Wellbeing
Personal development is the wider development of our students alongside their academic outcomes. Our aim is that students leave us with the knowledge, skills and character to succeed beyond school, as active and responsible citizens in a modern society.
This is how we help students to belong, aspire and succeed.
What is personal development
Personal Development at Penryn College is a planned curriculum and enrichment programme helping students form positive relationships, understand the fundamental British values, and take up opportunities beyond the classroom. The offer is sequenced across the five years, open to every student, and built into daily school life rather than added on top of it. We ensure we meet the statutory content that every school must provide through Personal Development including:
- Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)- Careers guidance
- Safeguarding, including mental and physical wellbeing and online safety.
The Foundations for the future
Our Foundations for the Future are real life skills, developed through research-informed practice. They describe what we want every student to be able to do by the time they leave, and they run through everything on this page:
Working with others – asking questions, solving problems, listening thoughtfullyUsing knowledge to explore and develop – combining ideas, evaluating, reflecting and inquiring
Being imaginative and curious – being creative, considering possibilities, staying curious
Taking ownership and action – being motivated, being resilient, using failure to learn, grow and set goals
Showing respect and taking responsibility – being kind and understanding, respectful and responsible
Read more about the Foundations for the Future.
The personal development curriculum
P4 – a lesson for every student, every day
We have made personal development an entitlement rather than an extra by putting a dedicated lesson, P4, on the timetable every day. It places a strong emphasis on reflection, self-awareness and personal voice, and it is where students learn to articulate what they think and why. The P4 curriculum is aligned with Lifeskills, so that what students discuss in P4 connects to what they are taught formally.
P4 covers:
Reading – building the habit and the confidence whilst opportunities to discuss and reflect on key personal development themes through reading.Learn to Learn (L2L) – how to study, revise, and take ownership of your own progress
Finding My Voice – our SMSC curriculum and our approach to oracy: spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, British values and citizenship, taught through structured discussion
Assemblies – celebration, aspiration and the shared moments of the school year
Finding My Voice: how we foster talk
We want every student to be able to say what they think and why. Across lessons and discussions we use a shared framework students know as VOICE:
Voice – express my thinking and share my thoughtsOthers – collaborate by listening and connecting ideas
Inquire – question and explore deeply
Critical thinking – analyse, question and reason
Evaluate – summarise and conclude
Lifeskills
Lifeskills is our taught RSHE curriculum, covering relationships, health and wellbeing, and living in the wider world. It is taught to every year group [within PE and Lifeskills]. Where a topic needs specialist input we bring in external speakers, and the programme stays responsive: if something is affecting our students or is in the news, we teach into it rather than around it. Small group sessions are available for students who need a more supported setting.
Find out more about PE KS4 / PE KS3 and Lifeskills KS3 / Lifeskills KS4.
Across the curriculum: SMSC and British Values
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is not confined to P4. A Year 9 English class arguing about justice in a novel, a Science lesson weighing the ethics of genetic screening, a Geography fieldtrip on the Fal estuary, a Maths lesson tracing ideas back through Islamic scholarship – these are SMSC as much as they are subject teaching. Alongside it we actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Careers education and digital literacy are planned across subjects in the same way.
SMSC and British Values, including what every department contributes.
Student voice
Students who are asked their opinion and see something change as a result learn more about democracy than any lesson can teach them. Student voice is built into the calendar rather than left to chance: half-termly community listening through P4, termly assemblies, half-termly leadership group meetings, the Big Voice annual survey, and focus groups across curriculum areas. What comes back is acted on, and students are told what changed.
Tutor time and assemblies
Every student belongs to a tutor group, and their tutor is the adult who knows them best. Assemblies mark the year together: celebration assemblies, aspirational assemblies from external speakers, employer talks and Job of the Week. Reading intervention, buddy reading and targeted support sit alongside this for students who need them.
Careers and next steps
Careers guidance is statutory, and it begins in Year 7 and runs to the day students leave. Every student has access to Unifrog, a planned annual programme, careers guidance interviews, work experience and mock interviews. Students who need more – including those at risk of not moving into education, employment or training – receive enhanced guidance. Stepping Stones supports the move up from primary school, and options and information evenings in Years 9, 10 and 11 support the moves that follow. Post-16 taster days, university trips and employer encounters help students picture what comes next.
Find out more about careers at Penryn College.
Enrichment
Extra-curricular clubs
Clubs run at lunchtime, after school and during the holidays, covering sport, the arts and academic study support. Breakfast club and our holiday programme are part of the same offer. Every student is welcome, and we work to remove the barriers that stop some young people taking part.
Find out more about clubs, fixtures and activities.
Wider enrichment and trips
Trips are linked to the curriculum, to careers and to enrichment. Recent destinations have included Roscoff, Alicante, Naples, Berlin and London, alongside ski trips, university visits to Oxford and elsewhere, and transition and tutor days closer to home. Students can also take on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Bronze and Silver, Ten Tors, sailing, instrumental lessons and Arts Award. Programmes such as Young Medics, TechGirls and Women in Engineering open doors for students with a particular ambition.
Leadership
Leadership at Penryn College is a real job with real responsibility, not a badge. Students can join the Student Council, become prefects or Head Student and Deputy Head Students, train as anti-bullying ambassadors, or take on sports leadership – running primary sports days, supporting Cornwall School Games events and coaching younger students. Beyond school, students represent us as Penryn Partnership Youth Leaders, YST Young Ambassadors, and members of Penryn Youth Council and Cornwall Youth Council.
Our wider community
We are part of Penryn, and the town is part of the school. Through the Penryn Partnership we work with local primary schools and community organisations. Students take part in our own traditions and events – Sports Day, Charity Week, the Community Christmas Party, Year 11 Prom – and represent the school regionally and nationally. Local clubs including Falmouth Hockey, Penryn Netball, Falmouth Football, Pauline Quirke Academy and Cornwall Dance School give students routes to carry on beyond us.
Wellbeing and Support
None of this works unless students feel safe and known. Talk is our support service for students, and our safeguarding and anti-bullying work underpins everything on this page.
Talk – support for students Safeguarding and anti-bullying Supporting your child
