Society & Relationships

Our Coaching Programme

We believe that coaching lies at the heart of our institution. It provides the opportunities to develop our core values of character, courage and conscience that are vital in ensuring their success and happiness both at school and beyond. The programme we offer helps develop and foster these skills as well as provide a sense of community and cohesion that can support them through their time here. 

Central to the personal development of our pupils is our coaching time curriculum. Alongside the daily schedule of academic lessons every pupil is provided with half an hour each day across Year 7-10 (Year 11 have 30 minutes per week) in which they meet with their coach and coaching group made up of their peer group.

Within this protected time pupils are able to explore the wider world and the experiences they will face beyond the confines of the academy. It is our aim to prepare our students and ‘coach’ them to face these challenges in an educated and informed manner.

At the heart of these sessions is our PSHE, RSHE, SMSC and British Values provision in which pupils are coached through the complex and moral dilemmas of growing up as well as helping them develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. We also aim to help our students stay healthy and safe while making the most of life and work. The PSHE provision follows the PSHE association framework and has three main themes throughout the content they will cover. The three themes that all lessons connect to are:

1. Health and wellbeing
2. Relationships
3. Living in the wider world

Within each of these broad topics pupils build upon the knowledge and understanding, skills, attributes and values they have acquired and developed during their primary phase. The content we cover also acknowledges and addresses the changes that young people experience, beginning with transition to secondary school, the challenges of adolescence and their increasing independence.

We also wish to teach the knowledge and skills which will equip them for the opportunities and challenges of life, how to manage the diverse relationships they will encounter, their online lives and the influence of both their peers and media.  It is hoped that through these topics pupils will develop the character to face these problems and make a more educated decision, have the conscience to understand the complexities and varying opinions that exist around these controversial topics and courage to follow their beliefs.

Alongside the PSHE elements of the programme, coaching consists of other core strands that enhance the students experience. Each student follows the programme outlined below as part of this experience;

• Bulletin – Students receive a weekly ‘noticeboard’ of opportunities within the academy and important updates. These can range from sporting opportunities to clubs and societies that are on within the school week. Alongside this are important notices as well as additional maths and literacy opportunities for students to complete.
• Reading for pleasure – Once a week students have the opportunity to read from a book of their choice. We strongly believe in the importance of literacy in developing the character, courage and conscience of our pupils, and for half an hour each week pupils will be expected to silently read. We encourage our students to visit the library regularly and expect all to embrace this opportunity and discover the written word in what ever format they choose.
• Assembly – As part of our collective worship pupils will also partake in an year group assembly once a week. Assemblies range from current events that are influencing the lives of our students, historic events that we believe require recognition and remembrance to moral and spiritual topics all of which help shape the conscience, character and courage of our students. Themes relating to both the Citizenship and Religious Studies curriculum are explored.
• Topical debate – In order to develop the conscience and courage to investigate the world as well as shape their own character we also promote topical debate. Within this programme we select key events that are unfurling within the world around us and discuss these in a structured manner. Each coaching group will read through an academic article often from a current newspaper and discuss the topic with their coach. We believe that this is vital in not just allowing the girls to broaden their horizons and cultural capital, but also essential in developing the character to develop their own opinion, conscience to follow their beliefs and understand and respect the others and courage to involve themselves in these complex and sometimes challenging topics.    

We pride ourselves on the relationships that we try to foster between the coach and their coaching group. It is our intention that a coaching group will travel through their academic journey alongside their coach. We believe this is fundamental to their progress, as the coach is able to guide and help them through the challenges they face as they grow, as well as foster the character, courage and conscience we aim to instil in our students. This relationship is also developed between the home of our students and their coach with parents / carers having the ability to contact their coach as the first port of call should there be an issue they require support on.