Helping Priory Shine:  Meet the Faces of Our PD Squad

Meet our PD squad - a valuable team in school who assist Ms Smith with all things Personal Development at Priory.

Year 8 Charlie P was Lead Practitioner for Personal Development Ms Smith’s assistant and started the Personal Development Squad in the last school year.

Year 7s Kaede, Jess and Emma have signed up alongside Year 8s Charlie M, Matilda, Lewis and Joshua.

Personal Development aspect of school life is extensive and overseen by Ms Smith. At Priory, this incorporates the Learning for Life (L4L) Period 6 curriculum, assemblies, L4L Days, visiting groups and speakers, Peer Mentoring, Citizenship - fundraising, Year and School Councils, clubs and activities, House Events, Pedro the Puffin appearances and careers activities. 

A couple of years ago Ms Smith decided she needed some pupil help with different aspects of Personal Development organisation, which could be given to a pupil assistant. 2025 leaver Umar H did this role effectively for a few years, but as Umar started to prepare for exams, continuity planning was required. Charlie P started to work alongside Umar ready to continue on from him. Over the months other pupils joined in including a group of Year 7s in September. 

Ms Smith said, “The group assist me in ensuring Personal Development runs smoothly, efficiently and timely. Through activities, they develop a variety of soft skills ready for employment, such as teamwork, leadership, communication, organisation, initiative, creativity, time management, adaptability and problem-solving. 

“They are also invited to assist in other Personal Development related activities as they have demonstrated maturity and confidence, knowing how valuable assisting and representing our school is. Our team is like a family within the Priory family housed in my office most breaks and lunchtimes. 
“Their keenness to help has enabled them to successfully achieve Priory Plus Awards and provides them with great work related experiences which they can reference for future Prefect, Senior Prefect, college, apprenticeship and job applications and interviews. They seem to relish the challenges, but also enjoy some of the highlights such as assisting Pedro!”

Charlie said: “We all help Ms Smith during breaks, lunch and after school. It can be little jobs, like finding a pupil or taking a message to another teacher.It can also be organising Priory Plus certificates into alphabetical order.

Matilda said: “Charlie is the main organiser. A Year 11 did it but when he left Charlie stepped in and asked me to help too and now we have a PD Squad. It’s good fun and it will also look good on our CVs.”

Lewis said: “I enjoy it. It’s learning new skills, such as organisation, and also it gives you some responsibility.”