Character education is directly taught at Lode Heath with the recent introduction of character and personal development lessons (CPD for short). Some topics are taught within subject areas at key points throughout the academic year whilst timetabled lessons are held with form tutors on a fortnightly basis. These are underpinned by our form time and assembly programme. There is a weekly focus across the whole school determined not only by statutory needs but also by local and national context. Individual lessons are produced bespoke to each year group to ensure that content is appropriately pitched for each age range. This approach enables not only to teach important aspects of character education but to broaden the focus by using a wide variety of supporting content during form time each day. Senior leadership lead the assemblies which take place for each year group throughout the week.

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Within the CPD lessons, student understanding is checked through a variety of assessment tools. Extended pieces of writing, debate style activities and short knowledge checks ensure that students not only explore the content of the lessons but that they are engaging fully with the objectives of the lessons. Opportunities are built into the form time programme for students to reflect on specific elements of their character education and for them to set goals and targets accordingly.

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Topics covered in CPD include learning skills, relationships and sex education, mental health, online safety, alcohol and drugs, financial education, British values, anti-extremism, anti-bullying, and anti-homophobia to name just a few. The full form time CPD learning journey can accessed below.