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Personal

Development

At Dussindale we recognise that the primary years are a key time for children to develop their own identity and aspirations for the future. As well as academic development it is essential that children are given opportunities through the curriculum and beyond, for their personal development.  We understand the crucial role we can play in helping children to prepare for their adult lives so they can go on to engage positively in society. The opportunities we can offer them while at Dussindale will impact upon their future, helping them to develop the core values we hold at the school. This is why Personal Development is at the heart of our curriculum offer.

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Autumn Term 2 Memories

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Lifelong Learning

At Dussindale we understand the importance of the PSH/RSE curriculum and its power to equip our children with the knowledge, understanding and emotions they need to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s society. We want our children to have high aspirations, a belief in themselves and realise that anything is possible if they put their mind to it.

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As a school, we have recognised that our children need support developing their emotional resilience and personal perspective. To fully support them in this and to make our children society ready, able to keep themselves safe and able to succeed in all areas of life we have chosen to teach PSHE through the scheme Jigsaw. 

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With a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, Jigsaw 3-11 helps us deliver engaging and relevant PSHE/RSE curriculum with a whole-school approach. Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness allowing our children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus.

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Our Life Learning curriculum includes the statutory RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education) and it’s enhanced content has been developed in consultation with the wider stakeholders of the school, including parents.

Dussindale Discovers

Providing our children with rich, diverse and cultural experiences broadens their horizons and shows them the endless possibilities available to them. We have carefully planned our enrichment program from EYFS to Year 6, to ensure that our children have a range of opportunities and experiences before they move onto high school. We also welcome a wide variety of educational visitors to school, including sports specialists, authors and a number of others who are specialists in their fields. These activities form a valuable part of the children’s learning and development. 

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Experience Days

To enhance our curriculum and provide meaningful learning opportunities, we aim to provide the children with a variety of experience days. We love seeing our children and staff dressed up as Ancient Egyptians or Superheroes, for example, participating in activities for a range of themed days such as World Book Day.

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Residential Trips

During the year, our older children are fortunate enough to attend various residential trips. These include overnight stays at venues at Eaton Vale and Gilwell Park Scouts Centre.  To prepare our children to stay away, our younger children all look forward to the Year 2 sleepover at school where they get to camp in school with their friends, participate in evening activities and enjoy breakfast in the morning. 

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Clubs and Activities

We have an exciting range of after-school and lunchtime clubs including drama, athletics, girls football,  choir, cooking, nature, reading, art and many more.  The clubs are run by our staff and are free to our pupils.

Mental Health

Our school values of being resilient, friendly and hopeful are promoted through our school’s culture. When our children experience challenging times that affect them emotionally, we are here to support them so they can continue to grow to be the best they can be.  Through our PSHE, RSE and Dussindale curriculum all children learn about what they can do to manage and maintain their own positive mental health. They are taught when to when to seek help, what help is available and what can affect their mental health. Children have mindfulness taught as part of their weekly PSHE lessons and learn how the 5 Ways to Wellbeing can help them to maintain a healthy mindset and body.

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We have a dedicated Pastoral Care Team that supports pupils who at times, need some additional support through challenging times.

Pupil Leadership

We believe that the views, experiences and influence of our pupils are a crucial part of our drive to continuously improve our provision. We therefore seek ways to listen to the views of our pupils and involve them in decision-making so that they are engaged as partners in the life of the school. We create meaningful roles for pupils to allow them to develop leadership skills. Our Pupil Voice and Peer Leadership Roles are:

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  • School Council

  • Mental Health Ambassadors

  • Library Leaders 

  • Digital Leaders

  • House Captains

  • Play Leaders

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