At Armthorpe, we believe every learner is an individual with a unique personality, characteristics and the potential to shine.  Inclusion therefore lies at the heart of everything we do.  Childhood is changing.  Our learners are growing up in a world defined by fast paced technological development living increasingly online, in spaces adults sometimes struggle to understand.  We place great value on preparing our learners to thrive in 21^st century Britain, not just academically but socially, emotionally, morally and culturally too.  It has never been more important to equip our students to adapt to and embrace change, develop their resilience and creative thinking skills whilst instilling a real love of learning.  The development of the whole person is imperative to us and therefore lies at the heart of our personal development offer.

The Personal Development tutor plays a key role as the only guaranteed point of daily contact with students.  It is imperative a good relationship is built as the PD tutor has multiple responsibilities in:

• Disseminating and setting expectations to ensure the highest standards of behaviour for learning.
• Ensuring our school values are modelled, understood and lived.
• Helping students develop socially, emotionally and academically to thrive at Armthorpe and beyond.

Our PD curriculum has been built around our school values, the British Values and the Gatsby Benchmarks to ensure key topics are covered to help our students grow.  The values curriculum supplements the PSCHRE curriculum but also gives the opportunity for student voice and for us to celebrate and monitor behaviour for learning.  PD topics interleave our school values to encourage our students think about how our school values are essential characteristics in the wider world.   We always share our PD plan with parents, as to heighten awareness of challenges our young people may encounter, we touch upon sensitive topics such as suicide awareness, drug abuse and bereavement to build understanding but also empathy.  In KS3, values topics also interleave with our daily reading programme where PD tutors utilise reciprocal reading strategies to read a year group novel with their group. For example, Fault in Our Stars, discusses cancer, tragedy and loss and facilitates conversation around physical and emotional resilience.

As a daily point of contact, our PD programme provides staff with the opportunity to build relationships and informally monitor mental and physical health, formally monitor attendance and be a key driver in the holistic development of PD tutees.

We actively encourage all our students to be leaders; we talk about ‘leaders doing the right thing when no one is watching’.  Assemblies are used to supplement the Values Programme.  Leaders in school disseminate key messages relevant to the values topic to support students moral, cultural and social development.  Where possible, local connections are made to add meaning and try to make the message as ‘real’ and ‘relevant’ as possible.

Executive Summary: Learning Beyond the Curriculum

The Learning Beyond the Curriculum framework by Consilium Academies Trust sets out a comprehensive and ambitious vision for holistic student development rooted in the Trust’s core values: Excellence, Equity, and Integrity. This strategic document outlines a five-year, extended curriculum journey from Year 7 to Year 11, designed to foster not only academic achievement but also personal, social, emotional, and ethical growth in all students.

The framework details a broad, inclusive, and aspirational approach to personal development, structured around eight pillars:

· Wellbeing – Emphasising mental and physical health through daily outdoor and active experiences, nutritious food provision, peer support networks, and themed wellbeing months.

· Leadership – Ensuring every student has meaningful opportunities to lead, participate in teams, and represent their school in a range of contexts.

· Academic Curiosity – Encouraging critical thinking and intellectual exploration through diverse curricular opportunities, cultural visits, and enrichment activities.

· Next Steps & Careers – Offering robust, equitable access to careers education, guidance, employer encounters, and work experience, preparing students for life after school.

· Communication, Numeracy & Digital Literacy – Building confidence and fluency in essential 21st-century skills through public speaking, debating, real-world writing, and external competitions.

· Sports, Arts, Culture & Interests – Providing every student with access to live events, creative pursuits, and non-traditional sports, ensuring broad and equitable cultural enrichment.

· Active Citizenship & Community – Developing socially responsible citizens through charity work, sustainability projects, democratic participation, and collaboration with local and contrasting communities.

· Discovery & Adventure – Creating opportunities for exploration through residentials, fieldwork, and cultural trips, including potential international travel and university visits.

The framework is deeply inclusive, recognising the importance of equity in opportunity and access, especially for vulnerable and disadvantaged students. It supports spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development in alignment with British Values and is implemented through a range of channels including PSHE, assemblies, awareness weeks, curriculum integration, and extracurricular programming.

This document represents a systematic, values-led approach to education, ensuring all students graduate not only with strong academic credentials but also as confident, curious, resilient, and socially conscious individuals, prepared to thrive in modern society.

SMSC

Ensuring students thrive spiritually, morally, socially and culturally

Our PSHE curriculum is written in the same way as other subjects to ensure the right content is taught at the right time. The sequencing and essential knowledge delivered is assured as a department in its own right.  It is our intent to deliver a curriculum that is accessible to all students to enable them to develop knowledge and understanding across five main areas; living in the wider world; health and wellbeing; relationships; financial wellbeing and careers in order to maximise their outcomes both in and after school. Developing mentally resilient, confident and healthy members of a society who can tackle many moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. This is especially important with the pressures of today’s society, such as dealing with social media, differing relationships and evolving job industries. PSHE is valued across the Academy and the UK for improving outcomes for all students, both personally and academically; therefore, it is essential it be delivered to the highest quality through a range of differing teaching resources and external agencies such as the school nurse; South Yorkshire police and the fire service.

The intent of the religious studies curriculum at Armthorpe Academy is to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage our students to gain an understanding of the varied beliefs within our school, local, national and global communities. The RE curriculum will help to develop responsibility and respect for all aspects of diversity socially, culturally and religiously to prepare students for life in modern Britain. By understanding these beliefs and views, students will have the knowledge and understanding to show tolerance and ultimately coexist. Our curriculum also allows and encourages pupils to form their own opinions on many of the big questions in life, a long with a wide range of ethical issues they may come across in life.