Personal and Citizenship
Education

The PACE curriculum

At the British School of Chicago, we understand that for a child's holistic development some curriculum time needs to be assigned to address personal, social, topical and learning issues.  Personal and Citizenship Education or PACE is the medium through which this is delivered.  PACE covers three main topic areas which are:

• Personal education
• Citizenship
• Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL)

The curriculum then takes these topic areas and divides them further into subsections or topics these are.

Foundation Stage

In the Foundation Stage we use the Personal, Social and Emotional Section of the Foundation Stage Curriculum Guidance.  This teaches the children the basic skills for Personal, Social and Emotional development that they need in a variety of contexts, allowing them to develop as a person.

In Nursery P.S.E. is taught through a P.S.E. focus day, where different strands are looked at from the curriculum.  P.S.E. is also taught through all areas of the curriculum.

In Reception P.S.E. is taught through Circle time, show and tell and through all aspects of the curriculum.

Both Nursery and Reception attend assemblies, which are based on aspects of P.S.E. and are taught IPC, which addresses PSE issues, such as independence, social skills.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1 PACE is taught through circle time, assembles and with the class mascots.  The children address issues that are relevant to their year group and their own class.  PACE underlies all areas of the curriculum and is addressed in a variety of different contexts within the classroom.

This helps the children to develop as individuals, building on the skills they have learnt in the Foundation Stage.  Their independence grows, as well as their social skills with other children.

Key Stage 2

During Key Stage 2, the children learn about themselves as growing and changing individuals through:

• Being encouraged to express their own ideas and experiences
• Becoming more mature, independent and self-confident
• Learning more the wider world
• Developing their sense of social justice and moral responsibility
• Learning how to be more confident, making informed choices about their own welfare
• Taking responsibility for their learning

All these areas of development are taught through discussion and investigation in the personal goals listed in the IPC topics.  PSHE and Citizenship is also taught across the whole curriculum, through Science topics on Healthy Eating, discussions on Golden Rules of behavior in school, sharing equipment during a Math investigation and developing a school council run by the children themselves.  We encourage our children to take responsibility for themselves and their environment.  In this way we educate our pupils in order for them to become confident, independent, informed and responsible citizens.

Key Stage 3 and 4

The focus of the Key Stage 3 and 4 program is active participation.  Topics include:

• How do I learn?
• How are political systems organized?
• What do non governmental organizations do?
• How do charities raise funds?
• What are the latest issues surrounding the environment?
• What is my role in the local, national and international community?
• Alcohol and drug awareness
• Sex education

The topics are delivered in a variety of ways, group, individual and paired learning are all formats used to enable students develop deeper understanding of the topics and issues on the course.  To ensure that the curriculum is accessible to all students, a variety of learning methods are used.  These include role play, debate, discussion, letter and report writing as well as individual research and team work.  All of these methods are used to create a fun but informative learning environment in the PACE classrooms at Key Stage 3 and 4.

If you have any further questions please contact:

Foundation / Key Stage 1: vcollins@britishschoolchicago.org
Key Stage 2:  kferns@britishschoolchicago.org
Key Stage 3 & 4:  rwatkins@britishschoolchicago.org