Whole School Learning Journey

Personal Development

The Abbey College Spirit, our character development programme underpins the whole of our school life.  Students work towards our three school virtues: Humility, Intuition and Passion.  Excellence in these virtues will equip our students with the skills and characteristics that they need to thrive in all areas of life, including their relationships and future careers.   Our form time programme gives students opportunities to reflect on their progress towards the virtues as well as building their sense of community and belonging in the school.  Social Studies lessons, delivered by a team of specialist teachers covers a wide range of Personal, Social and Health topics including unconscious racial bias, relationships and sex education and mental health issues.

Wider Personal Development

This is any activity, support or learning that helps pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepared for life and work with an impact on academic and non-academic outcomes.

Included within this definition are:

• Careers education - we hold the national Quality in Careers Standard, and are proud as one of the very few in Cambs to do so. This is a major taught and experiential programme and follows the Gatsby Benchmarks. For more information, see the information on our website: https://www.abbeycollege.cambs.sch.uk/students/careers-guidance
• Clubs and activities - much has been publicised on our programme and families state this is a good offer. For more information, see this link https://www.abbeycollege.cambs.sch.uk/students/oop
• Our taught curriculum on Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) which is reviewed annually by our student voice groups to make sure that emerging issues are addressed in addition to the statutory content.
• Assemblies, Form Time and the morning message - Our assemblies are diverse and seek to underpin the Personal Development Programme and promote and reinforce our values of Humility, Intuition and Passion. Regular assemblies are delivered on topical issues. These messages are further explored in Form Time and the morning messages are used to reinforce our virtues.
• Social Studies - Rights and Responsibilities and British Values, Celebrating Diversity and Equality, Staying Safe Online and Offline, Health and Wellbeing and Life Beyond School are some of the topics covered. Our Social Studies curriculum is also responsive to local and national issues such as vaping and social media trends. We also offer a unique Resilience Programme (iNEAR) which has led to our own academic publication owing to its impact. The Social Studies Programme is enhanced by one of our Offer and Opportunity Programmes (OOPs) called the Debating and Democracy Club, along with our Junior Leadership Teams who weekly discuss challenging current affairs or matters of school improvement. This process of democracy in action supports our promotion of fundamental British values. 
• Religious Education, Faith and Ethics curriculum - Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs is promoted in this curriculum and exactly why this is a core subject at Abbey College, and our students gain a greater understanding of religious diversity and practices for those religions represented in the UK. Planning for RE is directed by the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) - Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education.
• The Daily Mile - used to promote a healthy mindset and physical wellbeing. Students either walk and talk, or run and every year group from 7-10 participates in this along with their respective tutors.
• Physical Education - Our PE curriculum is a 'Concept' curriculum which promotes the acquisition of life skills through participation.  In addition, the promotion of the concept of “fair play”, following and developing rules, celebrating and rewarding success, accepting defeat and participating in activities that promote cooperation with others and inclusion for all, form an integral part of our PE curriculum.  
• Involvement in key local and national events (eg. Anti-Bullying Week, Black History Month, British Science Week,  Children in Need, Comic Relief, E:Safety Week, Mental Health Awareness Week, National Careers Week, Remembrance Day, etc).
• Student Voice groups - Volunteers from each year group act as agents for change, by sharing their perceptions of school life with us and collaborating to find solutions to any issues raised.
• Our comprehensive rewards programme - students can see the progress they are making in their wider personal development through our Bronze, Silver, Gold and Purple awards as well as our regular Flash Reward celebrations for those students who have been noticed as going above and beyond in a particular area of school life.

The Year 7 and 8 reports are changing this school year (2022/23). Instead of reporting on progress using P-, P, P+ and P++ they will report on achievement. Students will receive age related levels that move up through Emerging into Developing and Secure. For the most talented students the level of Mastery will be available. On reports the levels will read as 7S and 8E etc.

The scale is:

There are assessment grids for each subject which gives the details of the skills and knowledge that need to be demonstrated to achieve the individual levels. These will be used by staff in the Autumn assessments and published to the school website. This will enable parents, carers and students to match the report levels with the assessment grids and see what has been achieved and what further content needs to be demonstrated by students for the awarding of higher levels.

The levels are hierarchical and students who have made exceptional progress will receive levels from higher year groups. The GCSE courses at Abbey College start in Year 9 so students awarded 9D, 9S or 9M are working at GCSE standard.

The report will also include a Spirit score. The Spirit score ranges from 4-1 and is linked to attitude to learning. The score gives an indication of the amount of aspiration, independence, effort and pride in their work, that a student is showing. The new reports have columns where teachers can indicate key areas of concern by using an “X” in the appropriate column. No “X” means that there are no specific barriers to learning. This means that if a student has a low Spirit score of 2 or 1 then there is information to inform why the teacher chose to award that score.

If your child has a Spirit score of 2 or 1 then we advise you to discuss this with them and raise any concerns that you have with your child’s form tutor.

The new style reports for Year 7 and 8 will be issued at the end of November.