Personal Development

The curriculum at Dean Trust Wigan extends well beyond the academic, technical or vocational, to enable us support pupils to develop in many diverse aspects of life. Our ambitious intent for young people is reflected in our mission statement:

Why are we here?

• Our common purpose is to help children develop into confident, successful and responsible adults who are able to play an active part in society, regardless of their background or prior achievement.
• We strive to ensure pupils have high aspirations and are empowered to be employable in the future through a variety of routes including university, training or apprenticeships.

What do we do?  

We employ, retain and develop the best possible professionals who…

• Believe that success should be measured both by academic progress and achievement, and also by one’s personal and social development and contribution to our community and to society.
• Strive to deliver a first-class education where children achieve through high quality teaching, support and experiences outside of the classroom.
• Work closely with families to ensure that all our pupils are committed to learning and develop the character necessary to take advantage of all the opportunities we provide to succeed.

How do we go about leading pupils broader development and enhance pupils’ spiritually, morally, socially and culturally at Dean Trust Wigan ?

High Quality pastoral support to develop pupils confidence, resilience, independence, health and relationships.

Relationships, sex and health education: We understand the importance of educating pupils about sex, relationships and their health, for them to make responsible and well-informed decisions in their lives. The teaching of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education is planned to help to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. It allows us to promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at school and in the wider society. We have an obligation to provide pupils with high[1]quality, evidenced and age-appropriate teaching of these subjects. Our policy below, which was consulted upon with our community, outlines how our RSE and health education curriculum will meet the needs of all pupils and sign post to national and local services that can provide support. There are also links below that take you to our planned curriculum for PSHE and RE which detail how and when we teach our curriculum intent for this important element of our provision. The planned curriculum is underpinned by age appropriate group learning assemblies and form activity for the academic year.

Relationship, Sex Education and Health Education Policy

Form tutor and Pupil support team:  Our aim is to identify any concerns or issues at the earliest possible opportunity and remove any barriers to learning which may be preventing our students from reaching their potential and working hard in every lesson. We pride ourselves in knowing our young people well and working alongside the teaching and support staff we aim to develop positive relationships with them and their families. We respond as quickly as possible to any issues and ensure that difficulties are discussed and resolved in the best possible way. All of our students have a form tutor to greet them each morning and monitor their welfare during tutorial sessions. During these sessions, staff will deliver the Pastoral Programme which includes a focus on pupil signs of safety, mental health and well- being.   Our Year Teams work closely with both students and their families to offer support wherever it may be needed, including working alongside external agencies who may also be able to offer support. We support students through a Pastoral Support Plan, which is a document used to look at strengths and areas for development as well as what support students could access. This is used for low level mental health and well-being circumstances. If more support is needed this is sought out through an Early Help Assessment where a co-ordinated multi agency approach is needed

The non-teaching Pupil Support Team also offers help and support in the following areas so all students do the best that they can:

• Behaviour support/management
• Emotional help (including anger management and counselling)
• Academic support (including intervention work, specialised timetables and programmes)
• Restorative approaches
• Links to specialist external agencies when needed

Careers Information, education, advice and guidance to prepare pupils for future success in education, employment or training.

Preparing pupils for future success in education, employment or training from Year 7: We aim for every pupil to leave the school well prepared for the next stage in their career. Pupils should be well informed when making subject and career decisions. We want pupils to be inspired and motivated to fulfil their potential and for pupils need to understand career pathways and how opportunities may change in the future. This shapes pupil purpose. Our approach is supported by a range of meaningful opportunities to experience the next steps of education training or employment.

Extra Curricular activities programme to nurture, develop and stretch pupils’ talents and interests.

DTW ECA: We take great pride in being able to offer our pupils a wide range of extra-curricular activities,  before school, at lunchtimes and after school. Pupils gain a great deal from participating in extra-curricular activities and are asked for ideas for clubs and activities for us to provide.  First and foremost pupils are able to make new friends not only from their year group but from other year groups as well, this contributes to the strong sense of community in the school. Pupils develop a range of skills and talents through participation in the clubs which helps them in their studies and is valuable preparation for life beyond Dean Trust Wigan.

PSHE Curriculum and school wide teaching to support pupils to be confident, resilient and independent, and to develop strength of character

What is PSHE education?

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education is a programme of learning that is designed to help children and young people grow and develop as individuals and as members of local, national and global communities.

PSHE Curriculum and cross curricular teaching

The aims of our PSHE curriculum and wider cross curricular subject teaching focus upon;

• Pupils knowing how to eat healthily, maintain an active lifestyle and keep physically and mentally healthy.
• Pupils having an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships.
• Preparing pupils for life in modern Britain effectively, developing their understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
• Promoting equality of opportunity and diversity effectively, to ensure pupils understand, appreciate and respect difference in the world and its people, celebrating the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities.
• Pupils being able to engage with views, beliefs and opinions that are different from their own in considered ways and being able to show respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law and no forms of discrimination are tolerated.
• Enhance pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Provides pupils with meaningful opportunities to understand how to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society.
• Ensure pupils know how to discuss and debate issues and ideas in a considered way.

There are links below that take you to our planned curriculum for PSHE and wider cross curricular teaching which detail how and when we teach our curriculum intent for this important element of our provision. The planned curriculum is underpinned by age appropriate group learning assemblies and form activity for the academic year.

Teaching Fundamental British Values: A key part of our work is to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain effectively, developing their understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Click on the link below to see how we go about doing this.

Unicef Rights Respecting School

Together young people and our school community learn about children’s rights, putting them into practice every day. Our Rights Respecting School programme is taught in PSHE and assemblies and shared with staff in training ad briefing and in our everyday actions. Our programme is not just about what children do but also, importantly, what adults do. At DTW children’s rights are promoted and realised, adults and children work towards this goal together.

There are four key areas of impact; wellbeing, participation, relationships and self-esteem.

The difference that a Rights Respecting School makes goes beyond the school gates, making a positive impact on the whole community.

• Children are healthier and happier
• Children feel safe
• Children have better relationships
• Children become active and involved in school life and the wider world

Click here to find out more about The Rights Respecting Schools Award | UNICEF UK

Developing pupils’ character

I Achieve -Pupils owning their own development: We believe that pupils everyday motivation an positive attitudes to learning are important indicators of attainment. We designed our I Achieve system with pupils. I Achieve provides the opportunities for pupils to take leadership of their own nurture, development, talents and interests, both in class and out of class. Pupils learning habits are explicitly taught and subsequently rated in every lesson. We factor in attendance to school and each pupils commitment to the life of the school before we make our half termly commitment and to pupil recognition in I Achieve assemblies.

Manchester United Foundation To support us in facilitating the extensive personal development of pupils we have an amazing partnership with Manchester United Foundation. The aim of our partnership is to use football to engage and inspire young people at Dean Trust Wigan to build a better life for themselves and unite the community in which they live. A key feature of our partnership is the dedicated Manchester United Foundation staff who deliver our educational and community outreach programmes to help our young people make positive choices in their lives. Our partnership focuses on 3 key aims:

Health – By contributing to young people’s ability to live a healthy lifestyle

Social Wellbeing – By giving young people a sense of belonging in their community

Employability – By improving educational and employment outcomes

Manchester United Foundation Website 

Pupil Leadership: We aim to provide pupils with meaningful structured opportunities to understand how to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society. This is a key feature of our commitment to ensure pupils know how to discuss and debate issues and ideas in a considered way. Many of our pupils have had leadership opportunities at primary school that they choose to build on in their time with us. Some pupils develop an interest in and realise their talent later. We provide a number of leadership routes that pupils can apply to  part of. These groups meet regularly with senior leaders to help shape our school community and help us to deliver our mission.  Our committees include;

• Literacy Leaders
• Pastoral Leaders
• Subject Leaders
• Inclusion
• Form Representatives