Personal Development

The Personal Development (PD) curriculum at Trinity Academy Leeds prepares all students to seize the opportunities and overcome the challenges they will face throughout their lives. As part of our One Curriculum, PD provides the bedrock for life at TAL; promoting British Values and active citizenship at every opportunity. PD provides the space for students to develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and in the future. PD provides students with a Voice to help them to deal with critical issues they face daily such as peer influences, online safety, mental wellbeing and change, as well as localised contextual issues such as health education and gang-related concerns. Our PD curriculum supports students to make informed decisions about the world around them, from using social media sites safely, to succeeding in their first job interview. The curriculum has been developed in line with the Relationships, Sex and Health Education government statutory guidance 2020, the Citizenship National Curriculum and the careers guidance and access for training providers. By ensuring a strong foundation through PD, we provide the safe environment to allow students who attend TAL to flourish and reach their potential.

At the centre of our PD curriculum design is the needs of our students. We have carefully considered the needs of our pupils, the aims and values at Trinity Academy Leeds and the local area of East Leeds. We have used local data from Public Health England’s child and maternal health (CHIMAT) data sets and joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA). We have also consulted with our students and used our own knowledge of our students’ needs. In our curriculum, every choice is deliberate. We have developed a ‘spiral curriculum’ where knowledge is carefully mapped to ensure it is regularly revised and returned to so that students can apply it in new contexts and thus deepen and refine their understanding. Our curriculum delivery is driven by the research laid out by the PSHE Association in the ‘A curriculum for life’ report published in December 2017. Students will develop age-appropriate understanding relating to three key areas: healthy relationships, health and wellbeing and living in the wider world.

The PD curriculum has also been crafted carefully in consultation with the designated safeguarding lead and will support the safeguarding of students at Trinity Academy Leeds. Students have weekly subject-specialist input from their Heads of Year. Students then work with their Team Leaders during an allocated weekly Team Time slot to unpick issues including domestic violence and abuse, and mental health to ensure they can safeguard themselves and protect their emotional and physical wellbeing. This has been developed in an age-appropriate manner and taking into account the prior attainment of our students. Alongside this, Inspire assemblies have been embedded throughout the year to provide opportunities to reflect on contemporary issues that our students may face including county lines, radicalisation, and knife crime. We believe these topics and conversations should not end when students leave the classroom, and we highly recommend that they are discussed at home, therefore, each term students receive a PD Knowledge Organiser with links to external support agencies. Students reflect on their own development through bi-annual Shine projects, which explore key themes through the selected novel which is read with students in weekly slots. Students spend time daily considering a carefully selected reflection image, designed to allow them to see their potential and that of others.

The PD curriculum has extensive links to other areas of our One Curriculum such as Empower, our award-winning careers pathway, our Involve co-curricular offer, as well as the core curriculum where key subjects such as computing, RS, history and science play pivotal roles in the delivery of key topics.

Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)

We firmly believe that students at TAL deserve access to the best quality provision in terms of ensuring that core content is delivered by subject experts. Our sex and relationships education is supported by the external provider BigTalk Education. We therefore know that all statutory content (and beyond) is being covered by subject specialists who will be able to answer any question asked by the students. BigTalk Education is passionate about contextualising the products delivered for students and meet regularly with the AAP responsible for RSE in order to ensure that provision remains appropriate, timely and caters to the needs of TAL’s diverse cohorts. The team from BigTalk Education focus on delivering factual information with no political or religious bias. However, their lessons and their team have an established set of values to which they adhere: respect, honesty, sensitivity, tolerance, trust, equality, empathy, support and empowerment.

BigTalk Education Website: https://www.bigtalkeducation.co.uk/.

BigTalk Education also offers guidance and support to parents: https://www.bigtalkeducation.co.uk/parents/.

Spiritual Development

At Trinity Academy Leeds, students explore their own personal values and beliefs and listen to others share their experiences. We know it is important that students respect all faiths and values. Students are given opportunities to discover and learn about the world and their place within it. The importance of using imagination and developing creativity whilst also taking time to reflect are key to helping students develop spiritually.

Students have a number of opportunities to develop spiritually:

• All students take part in Interfaith week and important calendar dates are recognised and celebrated within the academy community
• Our RS curriculum is broad and balanced and considered a core academic subject taken by all students at the academy
• Opportunities such as Empower and Involve encourage students to ‘Reach Higher, See Further and Shine Brighter’
• Recall and Inspire assemblies explore the TAL core values of Empathy, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility
• Students participate in Involve clubs such as Philosophy and Interfaith club
• Students are given an opportunity to reflect on their experiences during Architects review and their choices during Re-Build sessions
• Students explore their beliefs and family values through our Shine Projects
• Students reflect silently each day and observe an important image to help them reflect on the world they live in and the lived experience of others.

Moral Development

At Trinity Academy Leeds, we dedicate time to ensure our students recognise right from wrong; understand that they have a choice and the consequences of poor choices. We teach our students to respect others, the law and educate them on the consequences of breaking the law. In the curriculum students are afforded opportunities to investigate moral and ethical issues and can use their voice to offer a reasoned viewpoint.

Our students are guided to make the correct choices and display positive behaviours towards others which will enable them to live a safe and happy life. Our four core values, Empathy, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, are integral in guiding our students to be good people.

We develop students’ morality in a number of ways:

• During TAL camp and during student induction, students are introduced to our core values and how to embody them
• Inspire assemblies focus on historical and contemporary figures with a strong moral compass that link to the TAL core values
• Students explore moral issues through Building Stories
• Our Re-Build sessions are rooted in developing students’ moral compass
• Our character curriculum, The Build, rewards students who display strong morals and kind behaviour, culminating in an end-of-year celebration event
• The TAL Absolutes ensure that students respect each other and the staff that work with them each day
• Students are taught the difference between right and wrong during our daily bulletins and our weekly Conduct Curriculum inputs and students are given the reason why our values, absolutes and behaviour for learning policy is so important to their development
• Students are regularly given opportunities to support each other and their local community: litter picks, work with local charity Burmantofts Senior Action and our Earthshot initiative
• Students have the opportunity to join Involve clubs which develop their moral compass, for example, Model United Nations and Philosophy Club.

Social Development

At Trinity Academy Leeds, the social development of our students is incredibly important to all of us. We know how vital it is that students can use a range of social skills appropriately in different contexts and appreciate diverse viewpoints. In modern Britain we want our students to demonstrate tolerance of the views of others and be able to resolve conflicts with a wide range of people. Students also develop an understanding by engaging with British values (democracy, the rule of law, liberty, respect, and tolerance) which is taught within our RS curriculum.

From the moment students join us at Trinity Academy Leeds, the importance of teamship is impressed on our students. They are taught how to work together effectively with different ages, genders, races and religions. Students have the opportunity to develop their school community and contribute to their local community which ensures that when they leave school they can engage with society’s institutions and form successful relationships with others. We support students’ social development in a number of ways:

• Students are taught in Build Teams; they have a Team Leader and a live-out democracy through the election of their Team Ambassador
• Students can participate in a range of leadership roles such as Reading and Earthshot
• Students are taught British Values through RS
• Habits of discussion and oracy skills are taught explicitly through the curriculum
• Students are taught about healthy relationships and behaviour through weekly morning inputs from their Heads of Year and structured discussions with their Team Leaders, following the PD curriculum map
• Students are rewarded for social development through The Build, our character curriculum
• Students have the opportunity to experience a range of trips/opportunities/competitions outside of the academy
• TAL has forged links with Burmantofts Senior Action to support elder members of our local community
• TAL has partnered with Lloyds Banking Group to run Duke of Edinburgh expeditions with our students.

Cultural Development

Trinity Academy Leeds serves a diverse community with a wide range of languages spoken. At TAL we celebrate this; it is what makes our school community so very special. As part of this, we teach students how to develop tolerance, understanding and appreciation of other cultures. Students are taught how to appreciate cultural influences, to understand the role of Britain’s parliamentary system and to participate in cultural opportunities. We know how important it is to understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity and promote this through our TAL Equality Pledge. Students have opportunities to enhance their cultural capital through art, theatre and Empower careers opportunities.

Students’ cultural development is promoted in a number of ways:

• Visiting places outside of TAL, through our Empower pathway to see diverse exhibitions, meet professionals and engage with a wide variety of careers and cultural-capital themed experiences
• All students take part in an Involve club every week and are able to choose from a range of exciting options such as Myths and Legends, Rock Climbing, Chess and Maths Around the World
• The arts are championed at TAL and students can take part in over 15 hours of free tuition including: orchestra, dance and drama. TAL has partnered with industry greats to create a world class offer: Opera North, Northern Ballet
• Our weekly Inspire assemblies focus on inspirational role models from various cultural backgrounds that have embodied our core values
• Students explore other cultures as part of the curriculum across the humanities, English, Spanish and technology
• Students create and exhibit their Shine projects, for example, Roots and Wings that allows students to delve deeper into their heritage and highlight their culture
• Students are part of a Build Team and look out for other members in their team and are taught the importance of working together.