Personal Development

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."

1 Peter 4:10

Developing the Whole Child

At Corfe Castle CE Primary, our school values guide the behaviour and actions of the whole community. They sit at the heart of what we are trying to achieve.

Our four core values of Courage, Perseverance, Belief and Community form part of everyday language at Corfe. 
We actively teach personal development through our Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum and Relationships and Health (RHE). 

We are committed to doing this from Early Years upwards. We also make these links to our Religious Education curriculum and through Journey Days that encourage children to think about the ever changing world.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

We are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.  

 At our school we:

• help children to understand their emotions and feelings better

• help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries

• help children socially to form and maintain relationships

• promote self esteem and ensure children know that they count

• encourage children to be confident and embrace what makes them unique

• help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks

At Corfe Castle Primary School, we consider mental health and wellbeing to be as important as physical wellbeing. We promote its importance both within our curriculum as well as through the support we offer our children, families and staff.

Our commitment to promoting good mental health and wellbeing encompasses 6 priority areas:

• School culture and ethos
• Support for pupils
• Support for staff
• Continuous professional development for staff
• Working with parents /carers
• Working with external agencies.

Our school is wholly inclusive and we work hard to ensure all children have access to resources, provision and environments which support the development of their emotional needs.

Families across the country and around the globe are again facing uncertain times due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The situation is constantly changing and  is once again impacting on many different aspects of our lives. 

Over the last two school years, we have been working with our families, our children, and our staff to support their mental health both whilst in school and at home.  We recognise that things are not ‘normal’ in school. When things are not perceived as  ‘normal’ it can make people anxious and raise stress levels. Over time this can have an adverse effect on our well-being and our mental health. 

Although we continue to undertake thorough risk assessments and make time to listen to all in our community we realise that by sharing and talking we can work together to try to make things more comfortable for all. Feeling concerned and anxious is entirely normal when we’re faced with such an unusual situation. 

Taking care of our mental health and well-being will allow us to be in a better position to support ourselves and others to cope with the challenges we face.

We have, during the pandemic, collected a wealth of information about how to support our wellbeing- we thought it would be good to put all that information into one place and to again share it with you and our wider community.