Personal Development

“The curriculum provided by schools should extend beyond the academic, technical or vocational. Schools support pupils to develop in many diverse aspects of life.”

At Hinchliffe Mill we develop our powerful voice to enable us to make meaningful choices for a life of opportunity and success. We have planned an extensive Personal Development offer to ensure that our children are given as many opportunities as possible to grow and develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. We explicitly teach pupils the knowledge and skills they need to develop as confident, resilient, and mentally healthy individuals.

We do this by developing:

• Respectful communicators – who act and speak with care and respect, keep themselves and others safe and use their individual and collective voice to make our world a better place for everyone. 
• Resilient individuals - who give 100% because they have to take part in the choices we make. 
• Global Citizens – who understand their role in society and demonstrate respect for the environment, difference, community and wider world.
• Healthy Advocates - who develop the physical and mental strength to be successful, curious, happy in their cradle to career journey and prepared for the next phase of education.

Our Personal Development Opportunities and Experiences

Our Hinchliffe Mill Personal Development opportunities include:

• Giving children the knowledge they need to prepare them to play an active part in society (citizenship).
• The building of pupil's character.
• Opportunities for pupil's to develop interests and take responsibility within the school and community.
• Learning about the British Values and the Protected Characteristics.
• Learning about diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity.
• Learning about the world of work and business.
• Enhancements to support the development of SMSC elements.

Further elements of Personal Development include:

• Relationships Education
• Sex Education
• Physical Health
• Mental Well-being
• Wider Safety
• Economic Understanding
• Understanding of Technology and Media and safe use

During a child's time at Hinchliffe Mill they will take part in:

Weekly PSHE Jigsaw lessons: Jigsaw unlocks the potential for every child to become a happy, healthy and compassionate human being. The scheme empowers children as global citizens to use their voice to shape the world for the better. The Jigsaw PSHE scheme sets out clearly the knowledge and skills that pupils gain at each stage of their learning journey. It teaches children age appropriate knowledge and skills through the themes of Being in my World, Celebrating Differences, Healthy Me, Dreams and Goals, Relationships and Changing Me. The scheme covers all aspects of the RSE statutory framework.

Assemblies: Our whole school assembly on a Thursday focuses on a school value, British Value or a theme of the week. These are conducted by Mrs Sharma, with a visitor where possible to immerse children further beyond the school gates. 

Singing Assemblies: The children take part in a singing assembly each week with a focus on a diverse range of music. 

Weekly Picture News: Our weekly Picture News is designed to expose our children to current affairs, discover their interests and bring the world closer to their everyday lives. It inspires and engages children in real-life learning that they can impact and influence. These assemblies expose our children to a range of current issues including political, religious, cultural, environmental, social, moral, spiritual. Furthermore they make British Values relevant and meaningful and develop links between personal, school and community values whilst teaching children to demonstrate respect and tolerance of others.

Celebration and Values Assemblies: Every other Friday, Mr Bond hosts a celebration assembly. Children can receive our 'Honour of Hinchliffe Mill' Headteacher Award to celebrate the fantastic work they are doing, not only for themselves, but also the class and school community. Teachers also choose at least two members of the class to share work they have been completing to a high standard, and something to be proud of. We also celebrate what the children have been completing outside of school on our 'Shine Bright Board'. This could be anything from a sporting activity, to an act of kindness at home or in the community. We also hold a half term values assembly, where children are selected for one of our school values they have shown over the half term and are celebrated by loved ones, who join beforehand for a drink and treats. 

My Happy Mind lessons: As a whole school programme grounded in science and dedicated to building positive mental wellbeing, myHappymind helps children understand how their brains work and creates a culture that helps to build children's resilience, confidence and self-esteem. This will be officially re-launching in January 2026.

Contributions to the local community: We contribute towards our local community and beyond, raising money by supporting local charities and carrying out acts of kindness. This is a focus for us at Hinchliffe Mill this year, to immerse ourselves in our local community and give something back. 

School Performance: Each year the children perform a production at Christmas. Our Christmas production is whole school and performed at the Church Hall. We are also holding 'Summit's Got Talent' during the Summer Term this year. Children perform for staff and families from both Hinchliffe Mill and Holme School in an outdoor setting, where we join together to celebrate our wonderful children. 

Curriculum themed days/weeks: Throughout the year, children take part in a variety of themed days linked to various areas of the curriculum. Children take part in a range of lessons and activities to raise the profile of this area of the curriculum and foster children’s enthusiasm and excitement for it. In the past, we have had Curriculum Days focused on Science.

Music Lessons: We offer music lessons taught by a music specialist from Musica, ensuring children learn an instrument in Years 3 and 4, and a different instrument in Years 5 and 6. These are free of charge. 

E-Safety: Coinciding with National Safer Internet Day, the children take part in a series of lessons focusing on staying safe online. E-safety lessons are taught regularly throughout the school year as part of our Computing curriculum, however Safer Internet Week is an opportunity for us to come together as a school to consider some of the dangers being online can pose, how to stay safe online and what to do if you are worried or need help. During this week, whole school assemblies focus on e-safety and children take part in additional lessons and talk time sessions in their classes.

NSPCC Speak Out, Stay Safe Workshops: Speak out Stay safe is a programme we use to support our safeguarding duties. The programme content links directly the curriculum and helps reinforce key messages about abuse and neglect. The children take part in a virtual assembly and class workshops to help reinforce and embed key safeguarding messages.

National Anti-Bullying Week: Usually takes place in the Autumn term. The aim of this week is to teach children what bullying is and what to do if they or someone that they know is being bullied. During this week, whole school assemblies focus on the different types of bullying and what help and support is available. The children take part in class lessons and virtual workshops which consolidates their learning. Our Jigsaw PSHE scheme also covers anti bullying themes in the Celebrating Differences unit.

Visits and Residential: In each class, children will attend at least one educational visit off-site. Trips are linked to a specific area of the curriculum and are carefully planned and designed to enrich the children’s learning in this area. Educational visitors are also invited into school throughout the year. 

Cherry Class - St David's Church

Oak Class - Cannon Hall Farm

Rowan Class - Yorkshire Sculpture Park - A 3 day residential every other year to Robinwood. The children take part in a range of activities including: canoeing, archery, rock climbing, high ropes courses and caving.

At Hinchliffe Mill children experience a wide range of exciting opportunities and activities as part of our Wider Curriculum subjects. These activities help to ‘bring learning to life’ and enable children to know more and remember more. Some other examples of these Wider Curriculum opportunities are listed below:

• Visits from experts and professionals in the world of work 
• Swimming lessons 
• Bikeability
• Summit's Got Talent
• Hatching chicks

Extra Curricular Enrichment Clubs: We offer a range of extra-curricular activities for children in all year groups. Children have the opportunity to attend clubs and activities after school. These are currently under development beyond sports clubs and Lego.

Forest School: We are extremely fortunate to have an area of school which is perfect for forest school. Forest school sessions help to develop: self awareness, empathy, social skills, communication skills, independence, self esteem and confidence and physical development including both fine and gross motor skills. Our forest school curriculum teaches children a range of experiences including: tree and plant identification, knot tying, den building, whittling and fire lighting.

Sporting Opportunities: Over the year children from all year groups have the opportunity to represent the school through various Pennine Sports Competitions. These vary from sports such as Netball, Football, Athletics, Cross Country and much more.

What's to come...

We currently hold our school forum once per term to hear feedback from the children. We will be expanding this by:

Rowan Class Jobs and Responsibilities: Every member of Year 5 and 6 will have a role of responsibility. Children will apply for jobs by presenting their qualities and skills strengths. Jobs are then matched to either their strengths or alternatively the jobs can be given to children to support a personal area for development. The jobs will consist of responsibilities such as: wellbeing ambassadors, play leaders, lunch time servers, litter pickers and sports leaders and much more. 

Junior Leadership Team: At Hinchliffe Mill, we actively encourage all children to ‘find their voice’ and strive to ensure that the children’s thoughts, views and opinions shape the learning experiences and opportunities that we provide. Throughout their time at Hinchliffe Mill, the children will have opportunities to work alongside subject leaders and have an integral role in supporting to lead a subject and furthermore support the school in our mission of giving every child ‘voice, choice and opportunity’. The Junior Leadership Team will be composed of children in Key Stage 2 and consist of a range of roles and responsibilities for leading different parts of school or areas of the curriculum. Successful candidates work alongside subject leaders to be the pupil voice for their subject. They will plan and organise events, take part in monitoring and assessment of their curriculum area, promote the school at events, support teaching and learning across the school and be role models for others.

Pupil Parliament: The Summit's Pupil Parliament will be a group of elected children from Year 5 and 6 at Hinchliffe Mill and Holme School's. Children in Year 5 will apply to represent a year group by writing a manifesto. The children of that year group then democratically vote for their winning manifesto. Pupil Parliament will meet weekly in their Pupil Parliament Chambers to discuss whole school events linked to personal development such as Anti-Bullying Week and E-Safety Week, share pupil voice ideas and suggestions and discuss our Jigsaw PSHE Curriculum to ensure that it is regularly updated and fit for purpose, meeting the needs of all children. The Pupil Parliament will also share messages with the whole school and make links with our local community. They will meet with local councillors and play an active community role creating campaigns and ensuring everyone’s voice is heard. They will take part in whole-school assemblies. Pupil Parliament will engage with events in our local area, and support us in becoming a democracy friendly school, which will be starting in December 2025.