Personal Development and Mutual Understanding
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (PDMU) is an Area of Learning in the primary curriculum. It focuses on encouraging children’s emotional and social development, confidence, independence, and health and safety awareness, and on developing their moral thinking, values and actions.
The Education Training Inspectorate (ETI) stated in November 2024:
A culture of keeping safe is evident across the school. The health and wellbeing of the children is carefully considered in curriculum planning and the children’s experiences in school places a strong emphasis on developing healthy lifestyle habits, for example, encouraging them to take part in the Daily Mile initiative. Specialist interventions are used effectively to support small groups of children with their emotional health and wellbeing and sensory needs.
At Oakwood pupils, we encourage our children to think for themselves, to value their own particular tradition and to develop a respect for common culture and unique identity.
Our children are encouraged to make sensible and healthy choices about what they eat and drink, their activities and about the environment they share. Our Healthy Eating Policies and Provision have been recognised as exemplary by the ETI.
Our children air their views, discuss issues of importance to them, highlight their concerns and influence decision making at school and Board of Governors level through participation in Class and Pupil Councils and through their Eco Committee.
The Education and Training Inspectorate commented upon our young peoples' ability to voice their opinions in an extremely mature manner.
Relationships across the age groups are encouraged and older children support their younger friends in both work and play through an active and planned Buddy System and through their joint Super Learning Days.
Take Ten Programme
At Oakwood, we are delighted to have access to the Take Ten Programme school-wide.
TakeTen is a system that has been developed specifically for teachers and pupils to enhance their emotional health and well being and has been embedded at Oakwood for many years now. The recent allocation of DE Education Restart Wellbeing Funding means we are able to install Take Ten technology on all our class computers for use by all pupils.
Designed to improve concentration, behaviour, performance and results, TakeTen uses a combination of biofeedback and proven techniques to train children, young people and adults to control the way their bodies deal with stress.
This maximises their concentration and ability to learn and it only takes ten minutes of class time a day.
The central element of the Take Ten programme is the Biofeedback Monitoring system. By attaching a sensor to their ear and connecting it to the software on your PC, our children can monitor their heart rate variability and see whether or not they are in the zone.’
By using interactive software and games, our children develop strategies and techniques to achieve a balanced physiological state – the ideal state for learning.
Paws b
Paws b is a six session mindfulness course for primary schools delivered by AWARE. Paws b is taught with striking visuals, film clips and activities that bring mindfulness to life and aims to give our children mindfulness as a life-skill. The programme is being trialled with our Primary 6 children currently.