Personal Development at Primrose Hill

At Primrose Hill, we are dedicated to educating children both academically and personally. Our whole curriculum, which includes every national curriculum subject as well as enhancements to this through experiences and opportunites. develops and supports their personal development.

Our role in the personal development of our children is essentail - we see our curriculum and the enhancements as our way of providing children with a secure understanding of their community and the role they can play in society as well as preparing them for life beyond the classroom.

Learning Legends at Primrose Hill

Personal development is a key element of our children's time at Primrose Hill. We have developed our Learning Legends to promote the qualities of independence, resilience, co-operation, respect and curiosity. These are displayed in all classrooms and every half term, children take home their 'Be Your Best Tracker' which communicates to parents how their child is developing each of these qualities. 

Owlcotes Elements

Our children's personal development is also supported by the Owlcotes Elements. The strands of the Owlcotes Elements aim to provide our children with opportunities, experiences and teaching to develop them as people, ready for their next steps in their education and ultimately to play an active role in our society. 

Further information can be found in the Curriculum section of the website. 

We support and educate children to manage their lives, now and in the future, and help them to learn everyday, life skills, including:

• Relationships Education
• Keeping safe and how to stay safe online
• Healthy eating and the importance of exercise
• The Five Ways to Wellbeing
• The promotion of good mental health

Throughout the school year, we are fortunate to have various visitors to help children in their personal development:

• Police
• Fire Service
• First Aid Trainer
• Railway Safety Team

 Raising Aspirations Week

We hosted our first Raising Aspirations Week  at Primrose Hill on 12th June 2023 which was aimed at our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.  We wanted to give them a flavour of the world of work and to open their eyes to various jobs and professions they might like to pursue in the future. We wanted them to see that our curriculum links to real jobs and professions.  We invited a range of visitors in to spend a short time talking to a group of children about their job or profession.  The visitors shared ‘a day in the life of a..?’,  discussed the skills and qualifications needed for their role, and explored how our curriculum would support this role.  We were really keen to have a wide range of jobs and professions represented and we were delighted with the response we had from parents and the wider community.

Monday

Pupils were visited by a journalist who shared her experiences and  her inspirations for news stories.  She taught the children some shorthand and discussed how varied her job could be.  BT Openreach set up three outdoor activities for children to try.  They talked about the skills and qualifications needed to be an engineer and how children use their facilities in their day to day life.  Pupils were also visited by a local GP who explained her route into the medical profession and discussed how caring, patient and empathetic doctors need to be.  The day was finished off with a talk from a light and sound engineer.  He explained what his role involved and pupils were particularly interested in finding out how different light and sound backgrounds were made.  Pupils also took part in a virtual meet with an experienced journalist who discussed his work as a travel and sports journalist.  Some pupils then had a virtual meet with a charity fundraiser too.
 

Tuesday

Pupils were visited by a midwife.  She explained how important science was in her day to day job.  She shared with pupils what a typical day was like, how she must be a good listener, stay calm under pressure and work as a team to deliver babies safely.   A local businessman also shared his story about how he made his oney.  He discussed his route into marketing and the need for self belief.  He also explained how each person plays an important role in his business and how they all complement one another.  A paediatrician discussed her specific role as a diabetologist.  She discussed what that meant, what her day looked like and the path she took to get there.   A local baker also talked to our pupils about how she set up her own business whilst completing a law degree in the pandemic.  She explained how resilient and determined she needed to be when those around her had doubted her.  She explained how she organised the marketing and delivery of her products too.

Wednesday

Pupils were lucky enough this morning to be visited by a team of NHS workers from the cardiac unit in Leeds General Infirmary.  Each person spoke about their specific  role.  Some were nurses, research nurses, doctors and  domestics.  It was evident that it takes a huge team of skilled workers to look after us. Our pupils learnt about  how their curriculum in school relates to these jobs.  Our pupils had excellent relevant questions about heart operations!  A representative from Yorkshire Water answered questions about how the water we use in our house and school is cleaned and treated.  She explained about the varied roles within the company and the skills she needed to complete her job on a daily basis. Two young paramedics then explained about the highs and lows of working on the ambulances.  They talked about the need to be organised, how to stay calm under pressure, be friendly and have good communication skills.  They talked about how they calculated correct drug measurements, attended road traffic accidents, struggled to get through busy traffic and attended life and death situations every day. 

Thursday

Pupils were visited by a climate change researcher. She explained that knowing about the climate millions of years ago can help how we tackle climate change today. Many of our pupils were very interested in what they could do to slow climate change and how we all have a part to play in looking after our planet.  She discussed how important our geography curriculum was to educate us about environmental issues. A wedding planner talked to some pupils about how she organises parties for a living.  She has to plan things very carefully, listen to people’s wishes and make sure everything goes to plan on the couple’s special day.  Pupils were also visited by another surgeon- a tree surgeon. The tree surgeon showed us various heavy equipment he uses, how he needs to protect wildlife in trees, how he must keep himself and other staff safe and pupils heard how loud the woodchipper was.

Friday

Police dog handlers visited pupils and they explained how various breeds of dogs were used to sniff out drugs, cash or guns.  Some dogs were used to follow the scent of people to find missing persons or to recover injured bodies from an accident or a natural disaster.  Pupils saw a dog demonstration, some sat in the police cars and operated the lights and sirens too!  They learnt that these police officers were highly skilled and had created strong bonds with their police dog so they could be successful in their job.  The visitors explained some challenging and dangerous situations they faced and some uniform and equipment they had in order to keep themselves safe from criminals. Pupils also had a visit from a lawyer who explained how our recent debating work was a crucial skill to be a successful lawyer.  She explained that sometimes she had to appear in court , how she had to be well prepared and organised and how there are various routes into this career. Some pupils had a visit from an accountant.  She discussed how maths is the backbone of this job.  She explained how she works out  profits from selling products.  This role requires an element of flexibility when scheduling things.  She talked about how you should have excellent communication skills to be an effective accountant as you deal with many people from different backgrounds.

Wellbeing

At Primrose Hill we know that it is really important to find, and practice, positive ways of thinking as they can help  through life's ups and downs.

There are some simple things that we do that can help boost moods and keep us happy. They're easy to do and don't cost a penny.

They're known as the 5 ways to wellbeing and they are:

• keep active
• take notice
• connect
• keep learning
• give

Online Safety

Online Safety is taught each half to all year groups and parents are regularly sent information about how to support this at home.

Please use the following lnks below to access further Parental Information and support regarding Online Safety.

https://parentzone.org.uk/

https://nationalonlinesafety.com/guides

Self regulation

At Primrose Hill we believe it is important to give children the tools to self regulate their emotions. Deep breathing exercises are an excellent way to self-regulate.

When we experience unpleasant emotions , our body responds- we start to breathe faster, our hearts start racing, we get knots in our stomach etc. We can't really control our emotions but we can control our behavior and how we can react to our feelings. Our bodies and minds are connected. That's why there's a physiological response to emotions. Deep breathing helps calm down the body by controlling the physiological reactions, which, in turn, calm our minds as well.

Each half term children are introduced a new breathing technique. Here are the breathing techniques children have been introduced this year. 

Useful Links