As is ‘the TDMS way’, we are creative thinkers at TDMS; we challenge ourselves to do things differently, informed by educational research and knowledge of our school community. We continually seek to improve our students’ performance outcomes, alongside developing who they are, and who they can become, as young people.

We are acutely aware that students at TDMS have lived through a period of unusual educational and global history. During this time, they did not have the opportunity to develop the social norms that those before them had done. Many became over reliant on virtual worlds online resulting in a decline in mental health with 1 in 5 young people now being reported as having a probable mental health disorder. The sudden rise of petrol, food, and energy prices driving a financial crisis for families, has meant parents/carers are out of the house working longer hours than ever before and with increasingly busy lives the relationships between schools and parents/carers have, for some, become more distant.

At TDMS, we recognise that the above factors have contributed to young people who lack the ability to deal effectively with everyday challenge and adversity. Building resilience is important for all young people because of the number of significant life events and challenges that occurs in the transition from being a child at home, to becoming a self-supporting adult. Evidence shows that resilience could contribute to healthy behaviours, higher qualifications and skills, better employment, better mental wellbeing, and a quicker or more successful recovery from illness.

Nobody raises children in isolation. Resilience building is in the best interests of young people and everyone in a community reaps the benefits when we can do that well, together.

From September 2024, TDMS will have an overarching focus on resilience, permeating all aspects of school life. We want our students to be able to cope with challenge and change; to ‘bounce back’ from whatever life throws at them, now or in the future. It is with this in mind, that we believe we can develop sustainable resilience in our students enabling them to achieve the best possible outcomes regardless of the difficulties they may face.

As a school community, working alongside our parents and carers, we have the chance to tip the scales towards more positive life outcomes for our students due to a number of educational characteristics which are associated with building resilience. These are:

• A sense of belonging and connectedness – feeling close to, a part of, and happy at school; and feeling safe.
• Teachers with high expectations.
• A resilience promoting curriculum which provides students the opportunity to practise self-efficacy, gain a sense of control, persevere and plan.
• Enjoyment of and participation in learning.

 Our students will need to develop resilience in the classroom and in their interaction with ‘hard work’, but in equal measure they will also need to develop a buoyancy to less significant challenges that are still related to school and/or are part of everyday life more generally. In our effort to be unapologetically ambitious for all our students, our work on developing and supporting student resilience will be centred around two key foci: 1. Academic – an ambitious curriculum that challenges students to know more and think more and 2. Wellbeing – a pastoral curriculum that supports students to develop their personal resilience and face the day to day challenges that life throws at them.

To aid clarity of communication for all stakeholders, our TDMS shared language will refer to our academic work as ‘resilience’ – the skill that can be developed with subject specific deliberate practice via classrooms – and our wellbeing work as ‘grit’ – the perseverance and passion required to achieve long-term goals via character building.

‘Resilience’ will be driven by our senior leaders, academic middle leaders, heads of departments, and their teams of subject teaching specialists. For a school environment to facilitate academic resilience it needs to be both high in challenge and support. Too much challenge and no support results in excessive stress, burnout, and isolation, all of which naturally hinder learning. Too much support but not enough challenge can lead to complacency and boredom.

We will be fostering a ‘never give up’ attitude, looking to increase rates of participation and attention in the classroom.

We will also revisit the curriculum, looking to create more opportunities to develop and extend writing stamina with GCSE and A Level demand in mind.

‘Grit’ will be driven by our senior leaders, pastoral middle leaders, heads of year, and their teams of tutors and pastoral colleagues. Setbacks, challenges, and pressures are part of the ordinary course of life; everyday difficulties experienced by the many which can impact emotional and physical health. For example, all students make transitions between Key Stages; some change schools during the academic year; some will receive assessment grades below their expectations; and some must adjust their future plans following academic performance in Year 11 or Year 13.

Our ethics and pastoral curriculums will evolve to include more focused work on buoyancy.

Teaching students about adaptability in the face of challenge at key points – whilst developing self-efficacy, problem solving, and developing further character skills such as motivation and social competence.

As a part of your child’s education at TDMS, we promote personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive ethics education programme. Our ethics education is the curriculum subject that gives students the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, and practical skills to live safe, healthy, productive lives, and meet their full potential. The ethics curriculum at TDMS is based on statutory requirements laid out by the Government which include content on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We are also mindful in the development of our curriculum that we need to react to the needs of our students and therefore we adapt the curriculum to focus on the needs of the cohort and the school community, continually monitoring and reviewing what is taught. You can access an overview of the curriculum here.

Ethics education is taught throughout the school in every year group and is monitored and reviewed regularly. All Ethics teaching takes place in a safe learning environment and is underpinned by our TDMS ethos and values. All topics are taught in an age appropriate and sensitive manner with the students learning how to accept the views of others and listen to each other appropriately. It is important to outline that in 2020 statutory changes were made to the requirements for Relationships and Sex Education, as well as the Health Education curriculum. Under Government guidelines, parents/carers are not able to withdraw their child from any aspect of relationships or health education. Parents/carers, however, are able to withdraw students from any or all aspects of sex education, other than those which are part of the statutory science curriculum and from Religious Education (RE). If you wish to withdraw your child from an aspect of the Ethics curriculum, please email office@tdms.worcs.sch.uk. You will be invited to have a discussion with our Curriculum Deputy and Ethics Lead as per Government guidelines.