Personal Development

At TASE we value the importance of students’ personal development as much as their academic curriculum. Our commitment to student personal development allows students to experience events beyond the academic, vocational and technical.

Topics such as online safety, consent, healthy active lifestyles and economic education are delivered through our bespoke PSHE and RSE curriculum which helps students to make informed choices in their life. Students also have relevant and up to date career guidance in their bi-weekly careers session during form time. As a school we ensure we meet all of the Gatsby Benchmarks to provide our students with a world class careers programme which fully prepares them for the next step in their life.

The House system is at the heart of our personal development offer – all students are assigned to a house and have the opportunity to participate in daily house competitions. Awareness days such as Mental Health Day, Black History Month and Remembrance Day are marked through house activities to ensure students have respect and appreciation for the wider world.

Our INVOLVE extra-curricular offer ensures students have access to alternative, amazing experiences. Students can build their sense of identity alongside learning new skills by choosing with club they wish to attend each half term. Clubs on offer include the Duke of Edinburgh Award, sports clubs, vocal choir groups and journalism groups.

SMSC and British Values are at the heart of all we do at TASE. Alongside SMSC and British Values running through all of our academic curriculum we have additional opportunities where students recognise and learn the value of SMSC:

SMSC

At TASE we value the importance of character development and ensure every student is developing their spiritual, moral, social and cultural compass. Students are given the opportunity to develop SMSC through the curriculum, INVOLVE extra-curricular activities, trips, drop down days, form time curriculum and house activities.

Spiritual development

At TASE, students develop their own sense of identity, share their own feelings, personal values and beliefs alongside learning to respect others’ faiths and values.

Students develop their spiritual compass by:

All year groups engaging in a broad and balanced Religious Studies curriculum where students study a range of religious beliefs. Within the curriculum there is the opportunity for students to discuss and reflect on the religions they learn about.
Participating in weekly form time worship and bi-weekly collective worship where students learn about a range of cultures and faiths alongside reflecting on their own experiences.
Daily reflection time during form time.
Developing their sense of identity through INVOLVE clubs on offer. All students participate in a chosen INVOLVE activity for one hour a week.
Opportunities to participate in additional extra-curricular activities that run throughout the week.

Moral development

Students develop their understanding of right and wrong and how to behave in a way that is morally acceptable. Our core values of responsibility, empathy, honesty and respect resonate in all that we do to ensure students become well rounded citizens.

Students develop their moral understanding by:

All year groups have PSHE lessons which teach students about the rule of law and how the decisions we make can impact our life.
Students follow the behaviour system which shows positive decisions result in positive rewards. When students do make poor choices that are not in line with our school values they receive consequences for their actions. Students reflect on these decisions to help them not make the same poor decision again.
All students engage in both local and national charity work through the house system such as the food bank collections and raising awareness of Youth Mental Health.
Students gain insight in to other people’s lives and the barriers they may face through assemblies, collective worship and lunch time lectures. Topics have included disability, ethnic minority groups and gender.

Social development

We know how important it is for students to be able to interact effectively with others in society. Students learn about social norms, customs and traditions and are taught how to interact with people that are different ages, from different cultures and backgrounds. Students develop their social skills and ability to communicate effectively with all members of society through:

Speaking like an expert – students are taught to speak in full sentences with correct grammar in order to communicate effectively with others.
Our ‘STEPs’ initiative is used by staff and reminds students of how to speak to others and in return how we would like to be spoken to.
Students are taught to identify the characteristics of a healthy relationship through our PSHE programme.
Students are rewarded for positive behaviour which other students then mirror such as holding doors around the school building and using our manners when asking for something.
Students have the opportunity to experience a range of trips and competitions outside of school such as sporting fixtures, trips to colleges and university and visits to European cities. These opportunities allow our students to engage with different cultures and engage in conversation with people outside of our community.
Students in Year 9 can elect to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh award where they work in both teams and individually to complete challenges.
Our INVOLVE programme allows students to mix with students in their year group to find a common interest such as playing a musical instrument or being part of a school sporting team.
We have a number of student leadership opportunities such as House Captains, Well-being ambassadors and Sports Leaders where students interact with one another to discuss and debate certain topics. Students also have the opportunity to speak at school events such as recruitment and open evenings.

Cultural development

Cultural development at TASE involves learning about different traditions, beliefs and cultures which we live amongst in Britain whilst always promoting the important of British Values. Students are taught how to appreciate cultural differences by interacting in a variety of cultural experiences and from these experiences our students know how to respect and accept different culture. Alongside this our students appreciate how different customs and traditions may shape people’s perspectives. Our students’ cultural development is promoted in ways such as:

Visiting places of worship through our Quantum Leap challenges.
An insight into cultural experiences and days through our form time programme, Votes for Schools and Collective Worship.
All students participate in at least one INVOLVE club per week and are able to choose from a variety of clubs such as Amnesty club, sports teams, MAGNA art and The Archbishops Young Leader Award.
Students can compete in the House Extended Project where they research, create and read about an inspirational figure from either present day or History. Examples include Malala Yousafzai, David Attenborough and Anne Frank.
Participating in debate and voting through our Votes For Schools and our student leadership opportunities.
Students gain an insight in to a variety of cultures as part of the academic curriculum. An example of this is the variety of authors and texts studied within the English curriculum. Specific examples include Year 7 studying poetry by Padma Venkatraman based on Indian children with disabilities and Year 9 reading ‘The Flowers’ short story by Alice Walker which explores racism and violence.

House activities that take place at break and lunch times based on the theme of the week. Example areas include Remembrance, Black History Month and European Day of Languages.