Key Skills & Personal Development 

We recognise the importance of developing children’s skills throughout their time at Parkgate House.  So called ‘soft skills’ such as communication, resilience, problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking and creativity are increasingly important life skills, and we see these as key aspects of children’s personal development.  Our rich curriculum, our House System, our Virtues and PSHE Programmes, our pupil positions of responsibility and our comprehensive extra-curricular programme provide an array of opportunities for pupils to develop these key skills. 

In particular, we encourage our pupils to enhance their resilience, increasing their ability to overcome challenges and to reflect on these as learning opportunities.  As the children move up the school, they assess their own resilience using our bespoke Resilience Scale – this aspect of self-reflection proving to be a very powerful means by which to improve.  Pupils consider how they respond to setbacks, how long it takes them to return to ‘normal’ when they feel discouraged and how they adapt to new situations, as well as reflecting on whether they can even laugh at themselves at appropriate times.  Our Parkgate resilience resources have now been incorporated into the Jigsaw PSHE programme, used by over 7000 schools in 20 countries. 

Working alongside our well-established PSHE programme, pupils in Prep 6 have a specific Personal Development lesson each week as part of their curriculum.  This is used to prepare the children emotionally for senior school exams, interviews and then for transfer to senior school itself.  The pupils work collaboratively on developing techniques such as imagery and mindfulness, learning what works for each other and what to use themselves.  They work on calming self-talk and controlling irrational thoughts as well as time management.  We discuss feelings around moving to senior school, scenarios that may be encountered and practical steps to take to feel better prepared.  Equipping them for greater independence in the future, they also learn about Emergency Aid, discussing problem-solving and how to respond in an emergency.  

Our Personal Development programme is designed to strengthen the pupils’ emotional intelligence and improve their own critical thinking, readying them for the challenges of their future education and helping to ensure they think flexibly enough for the world of work beyond.