Personal Development refers to how well a school prepares students for life by fostering their character, confidence, and resilience, as well as promoting healthy relationships and well-being. It's not just about academic success, but also about developing students' overall skills and understanding. 

Berry Hill’s curriculum extends beyond the academic, vocational or technical and provides for pupils’ broader development. The wide variety of initiatives, approaches and opportunities affords us the facility to enhance our pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development to a high quality. For example, many of the children who have attended our extra-curricular sports clubs have gone on to join teams outside of school. Similarly, the drama club has prompted some children to also join out-of-school drama groups. Our wide music provision, has already highlighted some previously-unknown talents which has had a transformative effect on some pupils’ self-esteem and aspirations (PA). School’s commitment to the performing arts and wide sporting opportunities instil the virtues of determination and teamwork.

At Berry Hill, we make our PD offer a priority. Our children know our school values well and enjoy the school reward systems, including voting for which of their peers have demonstrated each of the weekly values. Within each year group, our children experience a wide range of visits, clubs and visitors, which bring the curriculum (and beyond!) to life. We value our children's viewpoints and leadership, and have many opportunities for them to take leadership roles across school, including classroom ambassadors, sports leaders and school counsellors. They enjoy their roles and take them very seriously. 

Our school council have been key in developing a sense of civic duty amongst their peers, and have made decisions about how they might raise money for different charities in their local area. 

The children explore financial education in many different ways, but particularly enjoy our new dojo shop where they work hard to earn dojos and choose to save or spend them on a variety of prizes. 

As a school, we have carefully mapped out where our children learn about the British Values and protected characteristics, and our children speak about these with confidence.  We are proud of our children's approach to inclusivity, and we have a strong core belief that everybody is included. 

Through different experiences, our children are developing a wider understanding of the world and they develop their talents in many different areas through working with a variety of different agencies and seeking opportunities outside of our school.