What is our vision for Personal Development 

At Harris academy our ASPIRE Personal Development curriculum is designed to prepare students for adult life. It aligns with our school vision as it will take students beyond Rainham and support our ambitions for all our students to be profoundly human. 

We provide a curriculum rich in knowledge and experiences to ensure students become happy, safe, successful and respectful individuals who are unafraid to tackle injustice and can engage effectively in society. The knowledge acquired through the curriculum will ensure students are informed to make empowered decisions about their future destinations and safe, confident choices when faced with challenging situations in their lives or communities.

Through the ASPIRE curriculum we support students to develop six core character traits for success. By the end of their academic journey at Harris Academy Rainham students will become confident, resilient, curious, informed, kind and ambitious individuals who are equipped to fulfil their innate potential, in our ever-changing world.

Our personal development curriculum has been inspired by the 7 habits of highly effective teens by Sean Covey. The habits help students to: 

• Be ambitious 

• Improve relationships with friends and parents 

• Make smarter and informed decisions 

• Understand and overcome self-destructive habits 

• Define your values and what matters most to you 

• Enhance key skills 

• Increase your self-confidence and be happy 

• Find balance between school, work, friends, relationships, and everything else 

We have carefully designed our PD curriculum to teach the habits and develop these underlying principles. Our ASPIRE personal development programme aligns with our school values Belong, Believe, Become. We want our students to belong and so we believe they should be educated in six core aims to ensure they ASPIRE to BECOME: 

 

 

How do we ensure our vision becomes a reality? 

Our curriculum is implemented in many ways: 

1. PSHE/Citizenship lessons 

2. Morning Learning guide sessions 

3. Personal development enrichment drop down days and activities 

4. A carefully planned and sequenced assembly map for KS3 and KS4 that directly links to our morning learning guide curriculum 

5. Extra-curricular activities before and after school 

6. Careers curriculum, experiences and activities 

7. Guided reading programme  

8. A wider curriculum that includes essential experiences, trips, external speakers, student voice and whole school events or celebrations