PSD at Lord Williams's School

Lord Williams’s School is a thriving comprehensive school serving the Thame community and the surrounding rural area in Oxfordshire. The school actively encourages personalised learning and promotes personal, social and educational development. Senior Teaching Assistant, Lorraine Ray, and Second in the Learning Support faculty, Sarah Silver, explain how Asdan's Personal and Social Development qualification (PSD) fits in with the school’s ethos.

“ASDAN Awards and Qualifications have been delivered by our Learning Support Faculty for more than 10 years. We have run the Bronze and Silver Awards, Community Volunteering, Personal Finance Short Course and Life Skills, as well as CoPE at all levels, and we are currently piloting PSD.

"As a school, we are always reviewing the Key Stage 4 curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of all our students. Working in partnership with the Science Faculty, we are currently offering a single Science GCSE Award (delivered by the Science department) with the ASDAN Personal and Social Development Qualification at Level 2. We are aiming to achieve the equivalent of half a GCSE (the Award in PSD) for all students. For those showing self-motivation and increased ability to work independently, we set extension work to achieve the full GCSE equivalent (the Certificate in PSD). The students are thoroughly enjoying the course, as evidenced in their documented feedback. They really appreciate its flexibility and the fact that they can select their own areas of interest, thereby taking responsibility for their learning. The students particularly enjoyed the Cultural Diversity module, which helped increase their awareness and understanding of the multicultural society we live in.

"The course is ideal for ‘hooking’ disaffected students and broadening their social and personal awareness. As one student commented, 'Discussion and noting the main points is a good way for us to learn and we have covered a wide range of fun and interesting topics. We particularly enjoyed the Cultural Diversity tasks; we learnt so much and now have a much better understanding of the issues'.”