Personal Development

The personal development of all our pupils is at the heart of our mission as a school and we provide a wide range of education, information and opportunities which enable our pupils to develop their interests and talents, and to flourish as young people. Our personal development curriculum is equitable with all other curriculum areas and extends beyond a formal, taught curriculum.

The curriculum has been developed to incorporate key requirements linked to SMSC, British Values, Citizenship, RSE and the Protected Characteristics. Our broad and balanced curriculum offer also provides opportunities to develop our, ‘Be Halfpenny’ school ethos, which is directly linked to our pupil values, explicitly supporting the development of the key learning and life skills. The pupils are very aligned to their chosen school values and are aware that they underpin all aspects of school life – ‘Be Kind, Be Ambitious, Be Resilient, Be Halfpenny.’

We are extremely proud of the personal development offer we are able to offer our pupils at Halfpenny Lane and celebrate the fact that all the pupils across the different year groups are able to engage with such a wide range of different clubs/societies and learning experiences. Our half termly enrichment afternoons also provide the pupils with the opportunity to experience a wide range of different indoor and outdoor activities and games.

We firmly believe in the education of the whole child and do all that we can to enable each pupil to realise their potential, and to leave us as confident, well rounded citizens who are a credit to their communities.

We firmly believe that providing the pupils with strong foundations during their primary career, will provide them with the skill sets and personal attributes they require to access the next stage of their educational journey and when they enter the world of employment.

We wish for every pupil at halfpenny Lane to positively and proudly represent Halfpenny Lane to represent their school, both inside and outside of the classroom.  To help us achieve this, learning is enhanced through a range of different school visits, which take place from EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). We also welcome visitors and guest speakers into school to inspire our children on a regular basis.

The Halfpenny Lane pupils are afforded the opportunity to work together throughout school, as well as being recognised for their personal achievements, when awarded with a range of leadership opportunities - Head Boy, Head Girl, Prefects, Y6 Monitor, Sports Leaders and being voted a member of our Junior Government.

The pupils really enjoy working together as a class each year, as part of the whole HPL School Enterprise Project, which provides the children with a number of real-life opportunities to make a positive civic contribution to their local community.

The Halfpenny Lane ‘50 Things’ initiative, provides all pupils with the opportunity to experience, learn and achieve a wealth of different skills and experiences. These are carefully selected and are matched in line with the different age ranges of the pupils throughout school.

We also have important partnerships in place with local Forest Schools, Classroom Kitchen and Premier Education professionals, who visit to school to deliver specialist and bespoke sessions to the pupils. These sessions are invaluable and provide the pupils with additional opportunities to learn new and important life skills. As well as this, we welcome a professional table tennis, tennis, martial arts and rugby coach into school, who deliver sessions which add further breadth to the PE and active lifestyle offer we present our pupils with.

The Halfpenny Lane PE and Sports leaders work in close partnership with the Trust’s Primary PE coordinator to ensure our pupils can take part in multiple sporting experiences and competitions. This involves our pupils competing against other Trust schools and on occasions schools from the surrounding towns and wider region.

We encourage our pupils to give to others through one of our many charitable initiatives. The school community is immensely proud of the considerable funds we raise each year our close neighbour, The Pontefract Hospice.

The school’s newsletter is an excellent source of information and is a platform we use to share our news with the parents, stakeholders and local community.