Pupil Development
Pupil development - development of the whole child is key to our children's education at St. Vincent's. Our vision that our children develop a strong spiritual and moral identity in a loving, nurturing environment is underpinned by our Catholic faith; We provide an outstanding level of education and pastoral support where we encourage our children to develop a growth mindset, love of learning and therefore fulfil their potential. Our aim that our children are happy, resilient and valued and that they are responsible young people who show respect to others and the environment in which they live in is in evidence on a daily basis. We believe that our pupils make a positive contribution to the community and leave St Vincent’s ready for the next stage of their learning and are very proud of this.
The need to develop children’s personal skills to live in a rapidly changing world, forms the basis of UNESCO’s drive to teach global citizenship skills to children and young people starting with early years education. It argues that education today requires a specific focus on education which can develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, values and attitudes learners need for securing a world which is more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable. In addition, education requires the development of certain soft skills:
‘social skills such as empathy and conflict resolution, communication skills and aptitudes for networking and interacting with people of different backgrounds, origins, cultures and perspectives; and behavioural capacities to act collaboratively and responsibly.’ (Keevey, J. and Chakroun, B. (2015) Level-setting and recognition of learning outcomes: The use of level descriptors in the twenty-first century. UNESCO: Paris).
We have a well established system of pastoral care and support for our pupils and firmly embedded within the curriculum are opportunities to develop these 'soft skills' -
Co-operative Learning Techniques (eg Kagan)
Personal Social Health Education (PSHE)
Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural education (SMSC)
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
As a forward thinking school we continually look for ways to develop our practice further. To this end, we have demonstrated a commitment to promoting pupils' personal development and skills by working towards achieving the Excellence in Pupil Development Award. We will keep you posted with developments and updates here.
