Personal Development is an area of school life that helps to develop students into well-rounded citizens, ready to take an active role in becoming responsible and members of society. At Cape Cornwall School we believe that this is all the more essential in an increasingly interconnected global society.

Students at Cape Cornwall School are typically polite, courteous and accepting. Visitors often comment on their good manners and helpful nature – our prefect team, headed up by our Head Girl and Head Boy epitomise this and feedback following Open Evenings and other school events often singles them out for praise. In her most recent visit, our School Improvement Partner fed back to the Leadership Team that during student voice, the Year 10 and 11 students felt that students in the school were ‘kind’ and ‘accepted difference’. A strength of the school is in its size and sense of community. This in turn supports positive relationships.

Personal Development is championed in the school in order to develop students as a whole, not just academically, to ensure that they are fully prepared for life in modern Britain. Students need to be able to envision ‘The Bigger Picture’ and understand that learning is linked to the real world and experiences. To support their personal development, Students are encouraged to take part in a range of sporting, cultural and charitable activities.  Links with local and national business enrich the curriculum offer and help to contextualise learning. It is our intention at the school to ensure students have secure foundations for progression into further education and apprenticeships. From Year 7, for example, students receive careers information with a clear focus on the Gatsby benchmarks and this is supported through focused careers sessions in PSHE lessons and tutor time.

The Personal Development programme at Cape Cornwall School is delivered throughout all subject areas and across a wide range of extra-curricular clubs. Lessons which deliver significant amount of subject knowledge linked to Personal Development include PSHE lessons, PE lessons and RE lessons amongst others. ‘Be Inspired’, pastoral programmes and assembly programmes also contribute significantly to the personal development at Cape Cornwall School.  This is supported by a range of extra-curricular events and school trips including the Duke of Edinburgh Award, trips to the theatre, geography and history field trips, and foreign visits.

Over the last year, there has been an increased, explicit focus on Personal Development as part of school development. A thorough review activity took place following students’ return to school on 8^th March to ascertain how the school’s curriculum, extra-curricular provision and pastoral system combine to help shape our students into the respectful, responsible and active citizens of the future.

Over the last few years, there has also been significant development of the PSHE and RE curriculum, supported by the Assistant Headteacher from St Ives School who works with us. We saw significant development of the careers programme with the Assistant Headteacher from St Ives School again providing support and training to the careers lead at Cape Cornwall. Bespoke careers support, advice and guidance is provided by external providers to Year 11 students.

Whilst the school was open, students signed up for various activities as part of the ‘Be Inspired’ programme and in 2020-2021, there was a review of student leadership, including the prefect system and the role of the Head Girl and Head Boy. Following the first national lockdown, in September 2020, a carefully planned tutor time programme was designed to maximise activity and interaction. A strength of the school is ‘Cape Active’ a programme of activities provided for students as part of lunchtime provision. This remains a popular part of the day and cannot be underestimated in terms of its positive impact on student attitudes and sense of belonging.

Please click on the links below to get a flavour of the various strands of the Cape Cornwall School Personal Development programme.