At HGS we are preparing students to be a force for good in the world, as well as helping them to live a fulfilling life. Our planned academic curriculum is both broad and deep, and aims to prepare students fully for the next stage in their careers, following the maxim ‘learning without limits’.

Our personal development curriculum is just as ambitious and is carefully planned to complement students’ academic learning, enabling all pupils, including SEND, Pupil Premium and HPA, to develop the skills, confidence, resilience and independence to thrive in this rapidly changing world. It seeks to help our students to develop as responsible, respectful and active citizens who will play a full part in society and public life.

Our personal development curriculum is comprised of the following strands, and they work together to support and extend students’ knowledge, abilities and competence throughout their school life:

HGS Personal Development Strands

1. HGS CARES values: community, aspiration, respect, endeavour, service. These underpin everything we do and provide a clear pathway for students to move forward. They link to the work of our House System to develop our students’ character and leadership  
2. SRE/ PSHE work including EDI work (protected characteristics) and British Values
   • SRE Curriculum Overview (Year 7 – 11)
     
   • Homophobia Assembly
     
   • British Values Assembly
   • LGBT History Month – Alan Turing Assembly
   • Black History Month Assembly
   • Black History Month at HGS
   • Holocaust Memorial Day Assembly
   • Personal Development Planned Curriculum 2022 onwards
   • An Introduction To Political Philosophy
   • Humanism
   • Sexual Harassment
3. CIAG work including options choices and UCAS preparation
   • CIAG Overview
4. Learning outside of the classroom: trips, visits and external speakers
   • Computer Science Digital Enterprise Award
   • Year 8 ‘CSI Day’
   • London Trip
   • Lord Mayor’s Quiz Teams
5. Extra-curricular activities
6. Work to promote and support positive mental health  

OUR CORE PURPOSE

Our core purpose is to provide ‘excellence for all’ and we achieve this through the five CARES values that we embody, role model and teach: Community, Aspiration, Respect, Endeavour and Service. In practical terms, we have three pillars in our school of focus – a culture of respectful relationships, an aspirational and inclusive curriculum and expert teaching. As a result of our work in these three areas and our focus on values, we achieve not only our academic outcomes, but a broader set of outcomes in terms of kind, healthy, ambitious, knowledgeable, curious, enterprising, resilient, productive, responsible and reflective young people as they move on from our school community.

IMPLEMENTATION

These 6 strands are implemented through the following: 

• Student Voice  
• The House System:  designed to create opportunities to imbue our HGS CARES values in a fun, competitive atmosphere for pupils and staff.  
• Personal Development Curriculum 
• Enrichment Days  
• Assemblies  
• Form time:  Tutors and Tutees lead a variety of activities which weave into assemblies and Enrichment Days  
• The 6th Form Programme  
• Leadership roles, particularly in 6th Form  

Each year group, 7-13, has a specific context and differing emphasis on aspects of Personal Development. These are outlined in our separate year group personal development curriculum plans.

• Year 7
• Year 8
• Year 9
• Year 10
• Year 11
• Year 12
• Year 13