Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Education
At Ark Little Ridge our aim is to provide effective, age-appropriate PHSE education that meets the needs of all our pupils within an inclusive and supportive learning environment. Our experienced and skilled teachers are committed to giving children the skills, knowledge and values necessary to live and learn safely in the modern world. Through quality delivery, it aims to develop:
- Confident individuals who know and understand how to live safe, happy, healthy and fulfilling lives
- Young people who are able to maintain positive, respectful and healthy relationships, within which they can thrive personally and socially
- Responsible citizens who understand they have rights and responsibilities that help them to make a positive contribution to society
- Successful learners who enjoy discovering new knowledge, making progress and achieving success
Cultural Capital & Enrichment
What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a pupil can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.
- Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success in our stratified society.
- Cultural capital gives a pupil power. It helps them achieve goals, become successful, and rise up the social ladder without necessarily having wealth or financial capital.
- Cultural capital is having assets that give pupils the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point.
How do we promote cultural capital at ARK Little Ridge through enrichment?
At ARK Little Ridge we ensure that every child has the chance to access a wealth of experiences, through a variety of ways. We endeavour to ensure that all pupils from Reception up to Year 6 have the opportunity to make termly visits to the surrounding community and beyond. We take advantage of our prime position on the south coast and enable our children to experience all that it has to offer in terms of its social, historical and geographical content. We plan for our lessons and extra-curricular activities to be broad and enriching.
We believe that learning from first hand experience is very powerful and provides lasting impact.
All visits link to the topic-based approach to learning that we promote at ARK Little Ridge. For example, children have visited the Hastings and Bexhill Museum as a part of the history focus on uncovering the past. Children studying animal habitats have visited Drusilla’s Park, looking at where animals live. Children have taken part in a dance festivals with the local secondary school to showcase their talents. Children compete in the town’s music festival and can experience performance in front of a live audience.
We invite experts into our school to work with our children, including novelists, dramatists, artists, musicians, foreign language experts and representatives from local services. Experts inspire our children to learn through sharing their passion for their subject area, which can raise our children’s aspirations for their future career
In addition to this, we organise special events, curriculum days, and family events to enrich our pupils’ lives and challenge them to aspire to be people who leave a mark on the world.
School Journey
In Year 6, the pupils have the opportunity to join the School Journey in the Summer Term. This action- packed week is full of challenge, fun and excitement with outdoor activities, night-time activities and sports to keep them actively stimulated. It is a wonderful chance for them to develop teamwork skills outside of the classroom in a new environment. The children develop their independence and prepare themselves even more for secondary school life.
Clubs
Children are offered the opportunity to part different extra-curricular clubs and activities. These are often oversubscribed and offer all children a wonderful opportunity to develop interests and skills. The school uses a range of external providers that bring expertise and specialisms to our extra-curricular activities.
Finance Curriculum
At Ark Little Ridge, we know that financial awareness is vital to children’s development. We are committed to teaching financial awareness alongside our Mathematics and Personal, Social and Health Education. All children will have discreetly taught sessions about Money from EYFS and throughout KS1 and KS2. Sometimes these sessions will be blocked together in a more in-depth study as part of our Personal Development curriculum.
We aim to give children the confidence, skills and knowledge they need to manage their money, now and in the future. We aim to teach financial education with a child-centred approach both in the classroom and at home.
An overview of our finance curriculum objectives, which are supported with resources from the HSBC Money Heroes project
| Strand | EYFS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Activity: Playing Shop | I can recognise the value of one penny and begin to recognise the value of coins. I can explore different combinations of coins for a given total up to 10p. I can give change from ten pence. I can apply number sense within the context of money. |
| Strand | Year 1 | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Activity: Coins, Coins, Coins | I can describe and name different coins I know the value of coins and I can put them in the correct order of value. |
| To practice money management | Activity: Toy Time | I know I have choices about saving and spending my money. I am beginning to understand I might run out of money unexpectedly if I do not keep track of it. I am beginning to understand that people may make different choices about how to save and spend money. |
| To think critically about purchases | Activity: To buy or not to buy | I can explain the difference between something that I need and something I might want. I am beginning to understand that people may make different choices about how to save and spend money. I can make spending decisions based on prioritising my needs and wants |
| Strand | Year 2 | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Book: Ed and Bunny Raise Some Money | I can name different ways money can be used e.g., saving, spending, giving. I am beginning to understand that people may make different choices about how to spend money. I know that my own needs and wants may be different to those of other people. |
| To practise money management | Book: Ed and Bunny Earn Some Money | I know I can save my money to use later instead of spending it all now. I can choose a safe place to keep my money e.g., money box, purse. I can make a simple plan for my saving and spending choices and stick to it. |
| To think critically about purchases | Book: Ed and Bunny Spend Some Money | I am beginning to understand that we might not always be able to have the things we want. I am beginning to understand I might run out of money unexpectedly if I do not keep track of it. |
| Strand | Year 3 | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Activity: Money through the Ages | I know that money has developed in many different forms throughout history. I can describe the many forms that money comes in today, and the variety of ways in which it can be used to pay for things. |
| To practise money management | Book: Super Stories for Money Heroes | I understand that it may not be possible to have everything I want straight away, if at all, and that I may need to save money for things in the future. I know that decisions I make about saving and spending my money can be influenced by, and have an impact on, other people. I can understand why it is important to help others e.g., by donating to charity. |
| To think critically about purchases | Activity: To buy or not to buy | I can explain the difference between something that I need and something I might want. I am beginning to understand that people may make different choices about how to save and spend money. I can make spending decisions based on prioritising my needs and wants |
| Strand | Year 4 | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Book: Super Stories for Climate Heroes | I know why it is important to help others e.g., by donating to charity I can explain how my spending decisions can help support others, e.g., buying fair trade products, using charity shops. I understand why we should all be critical consumers, thinking carefully about how we use our money |
| To practise money management | Activity: Keeping a record | I know there are ways of keeping track of my money and what I spend. I can keep simple financial records. I know some different ways of keeping track of my money. I can make a simple plan for my saving and spending choices and stick to it |
| To think critically about purchases | Activity: Shopping Sense | I know that the decisions I make about saving and spending my money can be influenced by, and have an impact on, other people. I am beginning to understand that different people have different attitudes to, and feelings about, saving and spending money. I can make spending decisions based on prioritising my needs and wants. I can explain how my spending decisions can help support others e.g. buying Fairtrade products, using charity shops. |
| Strand | Year 5 | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Activity: Going Digital | I can keep my money in a standard and/or online bank account and understand what benefits this might have. I know that cash is only one way to pay for goods and services. I can describe ways of paying that do not involve cash e.g. debit cards, credit cards, online payments |
| To practise money management | Activity: Budget Bonanza | I can plan and track my saving and spending by keeping simple records. I can take account of other people’s ideas and opinions when making decisions about saving and spending my money |
| To think critically about purchases | Activity: A Sporting Chance | I can make comparisons between prices when deciding which price is best value for money. I can use simple financial information to plan and manage a budget and keep track of my spending. I understand why we should all be critical consumers, thinking carefully about how we use our money. |
| Strand | Year 6 | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| To develop an understanding the role money plays in our lives | Activity: Billy’s payslip | I know that money is deducted from earnings to provide things we all need e.g., through taxes and National Insurance contributions. I am beginning to understand why and how some of the money we earn supports the wider community. |
| To practise money management | Activity: Super Supper Challenge | I can use simple financial information to plan and manage a basic budget and keep track of my spending. I know that some things are better value for money than others. |
| To think critically about purchases | Activity: A Sporting Fan | I can recognise when my choices around money are being influenced by advertising. I understand why we should all be critical consumers, thinking carefully about how we use our money |
British values
“At ARK Little Ridge our children will be secure in the knowledge of who they are, where they come from and confident in looking to where they will go next.”
At Ark Little Ridge British values are promoted in much of what we do throughout the school year, including our:
- School collective worship
- Through planned activity days
- Through sessions in targeted and age appropriate curriculum topics
- Religious Education & PSHE
- Our clubs and extra-curricular activities
- The work of pupil council and other pupil-led activities
- Our generally positive and inclusive ethos
As well as actively promoting British values, the opposite also applies: we would actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British values, including ‘extremist’ views.
The term ‘British values’ might be slightly misleading in that these values are integral to so many countries throughout the world – they differ in no way from the values of most western European countries. Below are just a few examples of how we promote British values.
Being part of Hastings, East Sussex and Britain and playing our part in the Global Community
As a school, we value and celebrate the diverse heritages of everybody at Ark Little Ridge. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of our local community and Britain. In general terms, this means that we celebrate traditions, such as customs over the year and various cultural days where we learn about the traditions of different cultures in our community.
We also value and celebrate national events, Remembrance Day and other events through our program of assemblies. We also have links to our local church, St Peter and St Pauls.
Furthermore, children learn about being part of Britain from different specific perspectives within their curriculum topics, for example:
- Geography: where we ensure that children have a better understanding of what Britain is, learning more about its capital cities and counties, its rivers and mountains, where Britain is in relation to the rest of Europe and other countries in the world.
- History: Britain and its influence in modern times is woven into our thematic topics. The history of where we live and come from.
- Music: study of British composers and their influence worldwide
- Art: study of how British artists influence others.
Democracy
Children, parents and staff have many opportunities for their voices to be heard at Ark Little Ridge. Democracy is central to how we operate.
An obvious example is our Pupil Council. The election of the Pupil Council members reflects our British electoral system and demonstrates democracy in action: candidates prepare to talk to their peers about their vision, pupils consider characteristics important for an elected representative, pupils vote in secret etc.
The council is made up of two representatives from each class, plus a school council chair and vice chairperson. The Pupil Council meets regularly to discuss issues raised by different classes. In the past, the Pupil Council has chosen local charities to support, and visited the town hall in Hastings to gain a deeper insight into our Democratic System. We have also had visits from the Mayor of Hastings.
Other examples of ‘pupil voice’ are:
- Children agree their Class Rules at the start of term
- Class Reading Champions are elected
- Children have the opportunity to form groups and clubs
- Pupils monitor and evaluate behaviour / rewards in school and feedback to classes
- Play Leaders are trained to support pupils in meaningful play at lunchtimes. They apply for this position and are interviewed.
Rules and Laws
The importance of rules and laws, whether they be those that govern our school or our country, are referred to and reinforced often, such as in assemblies and when reflecting on behaviour choices. At the start of the school year, each class discusses and sets its own class rules, a set of principles that are clearly understood by all and seen to be necessary to ensure that every class member is able to learn in a safe and ordered environment.
Our pupils can demonstrate what our rules would look like in their daily actions. These values are reinforced in other ways:
- Visits from authorities such as the police and fire service
- During Religious Education, when rules for particular faiths are thought about
- During other school subjects, where there is respect and appreciation for different rules – in a sports lesson, for example
Individual Liberty
Alongside rules and laws, we promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs. Through the provision of a safe, supportive environment and empowering education, we provide boundaries for our young pupils to make choices safely; for example:
- Choices about what learning challenge or activity to do
- Choices around the participation in extra-curricular activities
- Choices about lunchtime options
Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, such as in our e-safety, drug, relationship and PSHE lessons.
Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Ark Little Ridge Primary Academy is in an area which serves a mainly white British population, however this is changing and it is vital we prepare our pupils to exist in an area that is rapidly changing culturally. We are proud to promote and celebrate the different backgrounds and beliefs that our pupils are encountering on a daily basis. Mutual respect is implicit in our aims and ethos.
Our pupils know and understand that it is expected that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have, and to everything, whether it is a school resource or a religious belief.
Children learn that their behaviour choices have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community should treat each other with respect.
Specific examples of how we enhance pupils understanding and respect for different faiths and beliefs are:
- Through religious education and other lessons where we might develop awareness and appreciation of other cultures – in English through fiction and in art by considering culture from other parts of the world.
- In depth study during community themed days, where we celebrate and enjoy learning about the differences in countries and cultures around the world
Sadly, no school can guarantee that there will never be instances which are contrary to this value. At Ark Little Ridge, such instances are rare and are treated seriously.
Healthy Schools
We want all children to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to live healthy and active lives. We have been awarded the internationally renowned Healthy School award, which recognises our school’s healthy practices.
All Ark Little Ridge children have the opportunity to participate in many healthy, positive activities both during and outside school hours. All children participate in lots of Physical Education on a regular basis. We also run several in-school and after-school clubs and activities.
Our school offers each child the opportunity to purchase healthy, delicious school lunches each day (please note that from September, 2014, every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 is entitled to a free hot school lunch).