Samantha Wright is a Learning Mentor Support and PSHE teacher at Coppice Valley Primary School, Harrogate and member of our Primary Teaching Resources library since 2018. The school is part of the Red Kite Learning Trust. It nurtures culture and puts an emphasis on growing and developing children through a curriculum of rich learning life experiences.
Who decided to take out a subscription to Young Citizens Primary Resources and why?
I initially worked at Coppice as a teaching assistant in key stage 1, but quickly progressed to a HLTA role and began teaching PSHE lessons across the school. I’ve always had an interest in social and emotional health, and this led me to working on a whole school mental health offer and developing my role in SMSC.
A good starting point for introducing my desired curriculum was the Young Citizens training courses. I found them easily accessible, they opened the door to the possibilities and value of the development of SMSC in school. These courses introduced me to the Young Citizens Primary Resources.
What I love about the Primary Resources lessons plans is the range of topics they cover which our pupils can easily relate to and give them a voice in the community and wider world. They offer a chance for our children to develop life skills such as lively debate, empathy, critical thinking and challenging prejudice. The children never fail to surprise me with their maturity in discussions and their balanced views.
We’ve recently introduced the Sustainable Development Goals to our school and used the Primary Resources as a starting point of knowledge and understanding on the wider issues of the environment and diversity and equality beyond the classroom.
How does the school use the Primary Resources subsription?
We have been using the lessons to enhance our PSHE curriculum. Recently we have used the resources to explore areas such as voting, democracy and the rule of law. Our SMSC values thread through the curriculum at Coppice, so we have the lessons readily available for staff to use across their subject areas. They are a fabulous resource as all the preparation is already done. They are well researched and there are no complicated resources to source. Additionally, I find the Awareness Calendar really helpful to plan special days in school as they have the lesson plans linked.
During the lockdowns and the move to remote learning the Primary Resources have been easy to adapt and an important chance for us to reflect on our values preparing our pupils for changes and developing resilience through learning.