PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

FENSTANTON VALUES

Be resilient,

Be nurturing,

Be kind and respectful,

Be aspirational and reach for your dreams!

Resilience

You keep trying and don't give up when things are hard.

Respect

You care enough to think about other people's feelings before you act. You are tolerant and accept people for who they are, even when they're different from you. You use good manners.

Nurture

You take care of, protect, and look after yourselves and others.

Aspiration

You work towards your dreams, you are ambitious and you achieve.

Kindness

You help others and are friendly, supportive and thoughtful.

OUR HOUSE SYSTEM

Our House System is central to school life, fostering a strong sense of belonging, teamwork and healthy competition. Every pupil is part of one of our four houses—Luther King, Thunberg, Malala and Mandela—where they work together to earn points, celebrate achievements and participate in whole-school events.

The system encourages collaboration across year groups, promotes positive behaviour and helps to build a supportive and inclusive community where every child feels proud to contribute.

Luther King

Malala

Thunberg

Mandela

MENTAL HEALTH & WELL-BEING

We support pupils to understand and manage their emotions by creating a calm, caring, and inclusive environment where they feel safe to express how they are feeling. Through consistent routines, emotional literacy work, and trusted adults, pupils learn to recognise their emotions and develop effective strategies to regulate them. We place a strong emphasis on building supportive and trusting relationships, knowing that positive connections are key to emotional wellbeing and successful learning. By modelling empathy, respect, and understanding, we help pupils develop confidence, resilience, and the skills they need to form healthy relationships with others.

Blue Zone

Sick

Sad

Tired

Bored

Moving Slowly

Green Zone

Happy

Calm

Good to Go

Focused

Ready to Learn

Yellow Zone

Frustrated

Worried

Silly/Wiggly

Anxious

Excited

Red Zone

Mad/Angry

Mean

Yelling/Hitting

Out of Control

I need time and space

Zones of Regulation supports children to recognise, understand, and manage their emotions in a positive and practical way. Using a clear visual system, children learn to identify how they are feeling and connect those feelings to different emotional “zones,” helping them build awareness of their own emotions and behaviours. The programme also teaches a range of simple, effective strategies for self‑regulation, empowering children to move between emotional states when needed. By providing a shared language for discussing emotions, Zones of Regulation supports positive mental health, strengthens emotional resilience, and encourages children to develop lifelong skills for wellbeing and learning.

PUPIL EMPOWERMENT

At Fenstanton, we believe that every child should feel valued, confident and capable of making a positive difference. Pupil empowerment is at the heart of our approach; we actively encourage children to develop their voice, share their ideas and take an active role in shaping their learning and school community. Through opportunities such as pupil leadership roles, school councils and collaborative learning, children are supported to build independence, resilience and a strong sense of responsibility.

We are committed to creating an environment where children feel safe to express themselves and are heard with respect. By nurturing curiosity, critical thinking and decision-making, we help pupils to develop the skills and confidence they need not only to succeed in school, but to thrive beyond it. Our aim is to empower every child to believe in their potential and understand that their contributions truly matter.

House Captains

Our House Captains are role models who demonstrate our school values and lead by example. They take pride in representing their house, supporting whole-school events and encouraging team spirit among pupils. Through this role, House Captains develop leadership, organisation and communication skills, while helping to motivate and inspire others to take part, contribute and achieve their best.

Peer Mediators

Our Peer Mediators are trained to support their peers in resolving minor disagreements in a calm and respectful way. They play an important role in promoting positive relationships across the school, helping children to develop empathy, communication skills and strategies for managing conflict independently.

School Council

Our School Council provides pupils with a meaningful voice in shaping the school community. Representatives from each class meet regularly to share ideas, raise concerns and contribute to key decisions. This ensures that all pupils feel listened to and valued, while developing confidence, leadership skills and a sense of responsibility.

Play Leaders

Play Leaders take an active role in organising and leading structured games and activities during playtimes. They encourage inclusive play, support younger pupils and help to ensure that break times are safe, active and enjoyable for everyone.

Lunchtime Monitors

Our pupil Lunchtime Monitors support staff in maintaining a calm, orderly and positive environment during lunch. They model excellent behaviour, encourage kindness and assist younger pupils where needed, helping to promote a strong sense of community and responsibility across the school.

INTENT

At Fenstanton, our intention is to nurture happy, healthy children, who, when they leave Fenstanton, will do so with the knowledge, understanding and emotions to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s diverse society. We want our children to have high aspirations, a belief in themselves and to meet their full potential. In an ever–changing world, it is important that they are aware, to an appropriate level, of different factors which will affect their world and that they have the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, and practical skills to make safe and informed decisions to live safe, healthy, productive lives.

We develop pupil’s Personal Development through our PSHE curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills which will enable children to access the wider curriculum and prepare them to be a global citizen now and in their future roles within a global community. It promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils, preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences for later life. Our Relationships and Sex Education enables our children to learn how to be safe, and to understand and develop healthy relationships, both now and in their future lives.

We are all aware of the important role the PSHE curriculum has in supporting schools to implement the 9 protected characteristics of The Equality Act 2010.

IMPLEMENTATION

EYFS

From the EYFS, Personal Development and citizenship is taught as an integral part of topic work and is embedded throughout the curriculum. In EYFS, Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is a prime area of ‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ and the PSED Early Learning Goals. At Fenstanton, PSED plays a crucial part in building strong relationships with children starting with our induction sessions, home visits and building partnership with parents. We are very good at adapting our transition arrangements to meet children’s individual needs depending on their age or stage of development. Our first topic of the new academic year – Me and My Community also supports transition and with building strong and positive relationships at such a key time in children’s educational journey

KEY STAGE 1 & 2

At Key Stage 1 and 2, Personal Development is taught through a clear and comprehensive PSHE scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. We ensure we cover the Health and Well-Being, Relationships and Living in the Wider World Learning Opportunities set out in the PSHE curriculum which comprehensively covers the statutory Health Education and Relationships Education guidance.

PSHE

Pupils are taught PSHE using the National Curriculum, covering all of the above and 'aims to prepare children for life, helping them to know and value who they are and understand how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world’. Our curriculum develops age-appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding and there is a strong emphasis on emotional Literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health. It includes opportunities to allow children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus. A range of teaching approaches are used including circle time, discussions, role play, practical experiences and visitors into school where appropriate. In addition, enrichment opportunities broaden pupils' experiences and promote aspirations for the future.

At Fenstanton, in addition to Relationships Education, we also teach aspects of Sex Education that is covered in our Science Curriculum. Alongside this we teach about different kinds of relationships, including same sex relationships, and gender identity because it is important that our children should understand the full diversity of the world they live in and be prepared for life in modern Britain.

PSHE themes include:

Healthy minds and healthy bodies
Anti-bullying positive friendships
Living and growing
Different families, same love
Managing change
Staying safe

It also identifies links to British Values, and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) Development and is taught in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and ethos of the school.

WIDER CURRICULUM

We believe that focusing on developing a 'Growth Mindset' in our children will help them to build resilience, independence and confidence; embrace challenge; foster a love of learning; and increase their level of happiness. We do this through the language we use in class, praising children for their efforts, and using language to encourage children to change their way of thinking. This supports both our school and PSHE aims and values, and we focus on Growth Mindsets in all aspects of school life.
PSHE, including SMSC and British Values, is an integral part of the whole school curriculum, and is therefore often taught within another subject area.
Visitors such as emergency services and the school nurse complement our PSHE curriculum to offer additional learning.
We encourage our pupils to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. We challenge all of our pupils to look for opportunities to show the school values of resilience, aspiration, nurture, kindness and respect.
Assemblies are linked to PSHE, British Values and SMSC and cover any additional sessions that would benefit the whole school.
PSHE, British Values and SMSC displays throughout school reinforce the PSHE curriculum enabling children to make links.

IMPACT

By the time our children leave our school they will:

Be able to approach a range of real-life situations and apply their skills and attributes to help navigate themselves through modern life
Be on their way to becoming healthy, open minded, respectful, socially and morally responsible, active members of society
Appreciate difference and diversity
Recognise and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual respect, Rule of law and Liberty
Be able to understand and manage their emotions
Be able to look after their mental health and well-being
Be able to develop positive, healthy relationships with their peers both now and in the future.
Understand the physical aspects involved in RSE at an age-appropriate level
Have respect for themselves and others.
Have positive self-esteem.

LINKS

Please see year group overview pages for Personal Development topics taught each term.

Curriculum Overviews

FENSTANTON