At the Henslow School students are encouraged to develop real-life skills that will support them as they move towards adulthood. Within our Personal Skills curriculum, we offer students the opportunities to develop a range of life skills, such as self-awareness, effective communication, critical thinking and the ability to take on challenges. These personal skills support our students to improve their social and emotional literacy and underpin effective learning, positive behaviour and emotional well-being.

Students participate in both large and small group activities, promoting teamwork and social interaction. They are involved in face-to-face exchanges of thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions. This includes exploring both verbal and non-verbal elements of personal interaction. We complete work and activities to support the development of a student’s growth mind-set, metacognition and executive functioning, allowing them to become aware of their own identity and personal opinions about the wider world and themselves as individuals.

By developing a personal skills programme at the school, we aim to support our students to become positive individuals, who can recognise and celebrate their strengths and also identify areas of themselves which would benefit from further development.

Tutorial sessions provide an opportunity for students at the Henslow School to explore current affairs, considering social, historical and cultural events. Content ranges from weekly quizzes revolving around the news and exploration of real-life stories from the media and the celebration of key events, including charity activities.

Tutorial sessions also offer a safe and fun place where students can improve their attitude towards learning and enhance their overall performance by focusing on their own specific learning styles. They allow students to examine the current barriers they have towards learning and then provides them with opportunities to explore strategies needed to overcome these obstacles. It provides them with the chance to monitor their work and study habits and helps prepare our students to successfully achieve their academic and personal goals, both within and outside of school. Tutorials also help our students to settle in at the start of each day as well as after lunch and to prepare for their learning. 

For some of our young people the school environment may feel too pressured and stressful and they may need an opportunity to build relationships first before being immersed in lessons. Whilst we hope that all of our learners can benefit from subject specialists, sometimes a familiar face is an easier way to get started. This means that lessons can be delivered one to one, to support a transition. 

Other students benefit from opportunities to learn in environments other than at school and we support them to access various high quality providers.

The school also uses Century, an online learning platform to support independent learning online.

At The Henslow Secondary School we believe the development of reading skills is crucial to a young person’s long-term success; allowing them to access the full breadth of the curriculum by improving their language and communication skills. It is our belief that reading is the gateway to our students opening new doors and escaping into different worlds, broadening their knowledge and understanding of other cultures. More confident readers are stretched by exposure to national reading lists for KS3 and KS4 pupils with a range of books available in the School Library.