6th Form Personal Development Programme

In Harton 6th Form we have designed and developed a new personal development programme that will be timetabled for a discreet period of the week. This has allowed us to include a wider range of topics and skill development and forms a key part of how we help young people to have strong aspirations, challenge themselves and achieve positive outcomes and progression in the future. It also enables us to cover the Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education curriculum. We are very aware that young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, we believe that young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.

Year 12 Programme

Topics included:

• Positive mental health
• Life and stress management
• Importance of a Growth mindset
• Inspiration and motivation
• Reflection and planning ahead
• Development of key Skills and Qualities
• Keys to success
• From Comfort zone to Growth zone
• Failure and Resilience
• Successful learning traits
• Organisation and Time Management
• Effective learning strategies
• Importance of Super-Curricular activities and Work Experience
• Personalised Careers project – how to research future options
• Financial awareness and management skills
• Importance of balance and Steps to Happiness

Relationships	Health and wellbeing	Health and wellbeing
Respectful relationships Consent Assertive communication Equality and gender	Mental health and emotional wellbeing Mental health and emotional wellbeing Managing stress	Health choices and safety Independence and keeping safe The impact of substance use Vaping

 

Living in the wider world	Relationships	Health and wellbeing
Diversity and inclusion Living in a diverse society Challenging prejudice and discrimination Religious pluralism and tolerance	Respectful relationships Positive relationships and recognising abuse Strategies for managing dangerous situations or relationships	Intimate relationships Personal values, including in relation to contraception and sexual health Fertility Pregnancy

 

Year 13 programme

In year 13, students again have an allocated personal development lesson each week and the focus is very much on supporting students with positive future progression. We use the UNIFROG platform to help students to research future options and staff work with students to help them with UCAS registration and applications, CV development, interview preparation, apprenticeship applications and GAP year planning. The support offered in bespoke to each student as everyone has different aspirations and we work tirelessly to help these become a reality. We also ensure that we cover the Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education curriculum during this time which is vital in preparing young people for the future.

Relationships	Health and wellbeing	Health and wellbeing
Building and maintaining relationships New friendships and relationships, including in the workplace Personal safety Intimacy Conflict resolution Relationship changes	Resilience Healthy coping strategies Relaxation	Risk management Healthy eating and obesity Body image

 

Living in the wider world	Examination Preparation
Environmental ethics Religion and the environment	Revision skills

 

Personal guidance and support

In addition to the personal development lessons we also offer year 13 students personal one to one meetings with their tutor each two weeks. This allows students to be guided and supported in their studies and in planning for positive future progression.

Future Progression Support and Guidance

Harton also continues to offer very comprehensive progression support for all students and independent careers appointments can be booked with Mrs Kirton (Level 7 qualified independent Careers Advisor) throughout the year.

We are incredibly fortunate to have Mr Murphy (Careers Leader) who leads Careers across the 6th form and school and he organises a wide range of relevant events and guest speakers.

We also have Mr Gates (HE and HE+ Co-ordinator) who oversees the Cambridge University HE+ programme in the North East region and who also links closely with many HE institutions across the region and country.

We encourage all year 12 students to gain work experience as part of a Personal Development week in the summer term after the end of year examinations.

We aim to offer as many opportunities as we can to link learning with the world of work and to give real focus and purpose in everything that we do.