Year 8 Personal Development (PD)
Personal Development at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School incorporates the subject areas of Citizenship, PHSEE, RE and Careers Education. Students are taught in mixed ability groups and receive two lessons per fortnight. The modular based course builds over three years (Yr7 to Yr9) to equip the students with the necessary skills and knowledge to begin to play their roles as young adults in the community.
Year 8 Personal Development Curriculum- Citizenship
- Liberties and Identities- What does it mean to be British? Including: Exploring personal identity, beliefs and values, what is diversity? Stereotypes and prejudice, Immigration and Refugees, Anti-racism, talking about sexuality and gender, Equalities Act 2010, Dementia awareness and Holocaust education- choices and dilemmas and what was the Kindertransport?
- Crime and the Law - including: What is the difference between rules and laws? Age of criminal responsibility, law and ages, Juvenile crime and motivating factors, Knife crime, Role of the police/police powers, Youth Courts, Restorative Justice and local crime survey
- National Politics and Political Families- including: How politics affects us, what is democracy? Different political systems around world, History of the Campaign for the vote, Why vote? Voting systems and elections, An MP’s job and the work of Parliament, Introduction to political parties- names, logos and party policies.
Personal, Social, Health & Economic Education (PSHEE)
- Managing My Own Money- including: Part time jobs, Key words/definitions, where do young people get their money from and how do they spend it? basic budgeting task, getting advice about money and debt, Gambling and Young people
- Managing Social Relationships- including: Self-esteem, boyfriends/girlfriends- factors that make for healthy relationships, recognising harmful relationships, ‘Trust Me’- sharing information safely online
- Drugs and Alcohol Awareness- including: introduction to illegal drugs- focus on cannabis and legal highs, ‘county lines’ drug dealing, motivating factors for using illegal drugs and where to go to get advice, understanding alcohol strength and units, effects of alcohol on the body and social impact of alcohol.
Religious Education (RE)
- Islam Project- which includes: The life of the Prophet Muhammad, The Five Pillars of Islam, The Qur’an, at the Mosque, festivals, Islamic calligraphy and art
Assessment arrangements
A formally assessed piece of work is marked on the 1-9 grade scale at the end of most topics. Students are given summative and formative feedback. For certain topics however, a formal assessment is not appropriate. Here an alternative way of measuring progress will be used- for example a quiz or other written/verbal knowledge check. In addition, regular self-review, peer review and informal feedback from teachers occurs.
Contact for further information - Mrs Joanne Sutterby
