Personal Development
Burnt Oak Primary School provides a wide, rich set of experiences to support pupils’ personal development both through the National Curriculum and through the extra-curricular activities, which the school organises to enrich the experiences of pupils.
Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development
As a school we provide many opportunities to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Some examples within each of these areas include:
Social
These include opportunities to take on responsibilities and make a positive contribution to the school, for example:
- Ambassadors
- House Captains
- Peer Mediators
- Prefects
- School Buddies
- School Council
- Sports Crew
Moral
- Assemblies
- Circle time
- Philosophy for Children
- PSHE lessons
Spiritual
- Assemblies
- Mindfulness
- RE lessons
- Visits from religious leaders
- Visits to places of worship
Cultural
- Visits to cultural sites e.g. museums, Rochester Cathedral and Chatham Dockyard
- Dance, music, drama and theatre workshops
- Studying the works of great writers e.g. Shakespeare
- Visit to the Houses of Parliament and mock elections
- Taking part in sporting events e.g. Mini Youth Games
- Creating artwork for display e.g. at Mid Kent College, Victory Academy and the RSPB centre
Developing pupils’ character skills
At Burnt Oak, we aim to equip our pupils to lead happy and successful lives, by supporting them to develop positive character skills. Also referred to as ‘essential life skills’, these include self-control, confidence, social skills, motivation and resilience.
Through the Building Learning Power we support pupils to become powerful learners and we celebrate pupils’ achievements in this area in weekly assemblies and through classroom displays.
We provide many opportunities for pupils to develop their resilience, motivation and confidence within lessons by challenging pupils to aim high and achieve their very best. We also offer enrichment activities which allow pupils to apply these skills e.g. through yoga, sports, outdoor and adventurous activities, archery and circus skills.
As a school, we aim to raise pupils’ aspirations in a variety of ways, including through opportunities to work with visiting athletes, artists and other professionals from a wide variety of sectors including science and engineering.
Wider opportunities
Pupils are offered a broad range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests both within lessons and during extra-curricular activities or clubs. These include opportunities to:
- Learn to play a musical instrument (violin, guitar, recorder and Djembe drums) and perform at the Brook Theatre
- Sing as part of a choir and perform at the Central Theatre, Rochester Cathedral and the O2 arena
- Participate in drama workshops e.g. BAFTA kids and Shakespeare
- Take part in dance from a variety of cultures e.g. Bangla dancing
- Enter writing and poetry competitions and have their work published
- Develop their sporting talents and take part in Mini Youth Games competitions
- Develop their social, emotional, mental and physical health through yoga and mindfulness
- Engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) events, including bridge building and Robot Wars.
Our extra-curricular activities and clubs have a strong take up and we particularly encourage pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in these.
Pastoral support
The pastoral support within the school is a particular strength and alongside Place2Be, the Pastoral Team offers the following support to pupils who are experiencing social and emotional difficulties:
- 1:1 counselling
- Animal Assisted Play therapy style interventions
- A Nurture group
- Emotional Literacy Support with a trained ELSA
- Social skills, anger management and self-esteem workshops
- Lego therapy
- Targeted support for vulnerable pupils by our Learning Behaviour Mentor, Family Liaison Officer and Pastoral Manager.