PACE
PACE (Personal And Citizenship Education) is a key part of our curriculum and covers Personal, Social & Heath Education, Fundamental British Values, Citizenship and Social Media & Online Safety. Our PACE curriculum has been designed in collaboration with students, parents and staff and has been updated to include the new, mandatory Relationships and Sex Education which became compulsory from 2020.
In Years 7-11, our PACE curriculum follows themes and topic areas that support the development of our school character values The 5Rs. In the Sixth Form, our PACE curriculum is designed to help our students make informed lifestyle decisions and to prepare them for their chosen destinations once they leave The Hemel Hempstead School. PACE sessions in the Sixth Form are delivered in form time each week and are supported by a wide variety of guest speakers. Through our PACE curriculum our students learn how to become healthy, independent and responsible members of society.
'A comprehensive and well-planned programme of personal, social and health education (PSHE) is in place. This ensures pupils learn about relationships and fundamental British values in an age-appropriate way. As a result, most pupils develop highly respectful and tolerant attitudes'.
Ofsted, December 2022.
Year 7
The theme for Year 7 PACE lessons focuses on one of our 5R school values; Resilience. Students start by getting to know our school, our character values and learning traits. Students then look at family relationships, friendships and bullying. The Year 7 PACE curriculum also teaches students about physical health & fitness, healthy eating, personal hygeine and puberty. Students develop their understanding of resilience and online safety. They also have PACE lessons that support careers education.
Year 8
The theme for Year 8 PACE lessons focuses on one of our 5R school values; Respect. Students start by looking at stereotyping, respect and equality. In Year 8 they also revisit relationships and health which builds on their understanding from what they did in Year 7. Students also look at personal finance, basic first aid and the UK political system. The Year 8 PACE curriculum also looks at mental wellbeing and the careers education builds on what they did in Year 7.
Year 9
The theme for Year 9 PACE lessons focuses on one of our 5R school values; Relationships. In Year 9 students revist personal finance to support the work they did in Year 8. In Year 9 students cover the compulsary RSE topics including bad relationships, consent, intimate & sexual relationships and sexual health. Lessons also cover drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
Year 10 and 11
The theme for Year 10 PACE lessons focuses on one of our 5R school values; Responsibility. Year 11 lessons focus on our value Reflection. In Year 10 students revist work on relationships. They also look at health, elections, humans rights and citizenship.
In Year 11, PACE lessons are used to support students to develop their study skills to prepare them for their exams. They also have a First Aid refresher.
In Year 10 & 11 PACE lessons students also do a lot of work on careers education to prepare them for making informed choices when they finish school and developing their understanding of skills in the workplace.
PACE in Sixth Form
PACE sessions in the Sixth Form are designed to support the personal development of our students as well as to continue developing our school character values; The 5Rs. PACE sessions have a particular focus, all of which are age appropriate and designed with students - they tell us the things they'd like to know more about! Topics are also covered at appropriate times across Year 12 and 13 to support students at appropriate times. For example, at the start of Year 12 we cover 'Driver Safety' before they start learning to drive. Work is done on revision and exam preparation before trial and final exams. In Year 13, students look at topics such as UCAS applications and moving away to university.
Our Sixth Form PACE topics include target setting, driver safety, drugs & alcohol, health living, next steps, revision skills, money management, democracy and voting and stress management.
