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PDMU is an integral area of learning in St Columba’s focusing on developing children’s emotional development, health and safety, relationships with others and development of moral thinking, values and actions.
In St. Columba’s our PDMU programme is aimed at encouraging children to:
- Develop personally, emotionally, socially and physically.
- Lead healthy, safe and fulfilled lives.
- Develop the skills, attitudes and values to enable them to become more independent, making informed decisions and taking increasing responsibility for their own lives.
- Gain an understanding of their contributing role in society.
Within St. Columba’s PDMU is infused throughout the school day and every teacher allocates a slot in their timetable where PDMU is taught as a discrete subject once a week.
Through the PDMU programme teachers provide opportunities for active learning and clear links are made to thinking skills and personal capabilities.
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The delivery of PDMU is carefully linked to the needs and interests of all children and gives each child an opportunity to explore;
- Self-awareness
- Feelings and Emotions
- Learning to Learn
- Health, Growth and Change
- Safety
- Relationships
- Rules, Rights and Responsibilities
- Managing Conflict
- Similarities and Differences
- Learning to live as members of the community.
Teachers use and adapt a variety of teaching styles such as individual, paired and group activities to help in the delivery of this subject area, looking at effective ways to link PDMU into the whole curriculum, via class discussion, topic work, circle time, cooperative games, and an agreed class charter.
It is also linked to initiatives that run in the whole school such as Healthy Breaks, playground programmes, School Council, Mindfulness and extracurricular activities.
Parents and people from the local community are often invited into the school to share their expertise and views with the children as well as to celebrate school assemblies, and concerts with the children.
In addition, we also have excellent links and work closely with a variety of external agencies, professions, voluntary bodies and charities who throughout the academic year will visit our children to share their knowledge and expertise. This close partnership is fundamental in promoting and supporting the learning and teaching of PDMU in St Columba’s as children are greatly influenced by society’s values, the values communicated in school and also the values held at home and within our Catholic Faith.
