I Thought We Had Our Personal Development Offer Sorted… Then I Properly Looked at It

This week’s episode is an honest reflection on what started as a simple PSHE/RSHE update… and quickly became something much deeper.

With the revised DfE RSHE guidance coming into force from September 2026, this episode explores why reviewing your personal development curriculum is not about adding more content, but about sharpening what already exists.

It focuses on the shift from coverage to coherence, precision and sequencing, and asks a crucial question:

Are pupils actually learning what they need to stay safe, thrive and navigate the world they’re growing up in?

In this episode, I explore:

Why “we cover it” is not the same as a well-sequenced curriculum

The key shifts in the 2026 RSHE guidance, including:

Teaching before risk arises

Greater transparency with parents

A stronger focus on prevention and safeguarding

The growing importance of teaching around:

Online safety, AI and digital manipulation

Gendered narratives and harmful social norms

Boundaries, relationships and help-seeking

How personal development is being more sharply evaluated in inspection, including: Curriculum coherence and sequencing

What pupils actually know and remember

Inclusion, pastoral care and real-world preparedness

Why experiences alone are not enough — and must sit alongside a knowledge-rich curriculum.

Key takeaway

This isn’t about doing more. It’s about being much more deliberate — knowing exactly what pupils should learn, when they should learn it, and how it prepares them for real life.

🎧 Premium Resource (This Week)

This week’s premium offer is especially practical. When you join, you’ll receive:

✔️ My fully updated Primary Personal Development Curriculum Clearly sequenced from EYFS to Year 6 Aligned with RSHE 2026 and safeguarding expectations Designed for coherence, progression and impact

✔️ Full access to 37+ previous premium episodes and resources, covering: Safeguarding Curriculum design Behaviour Inclusion Inspection readiness Early years and Strong Foundations Personal development and wellbeing

🔗 Join Premium Membership

Access this week’s curriculum and the full resource library here:

👉 The Leadership Lens Premium Membership

https://the-leadership-lens.mykajabi.com/premium-membership

In last week’s episode, I explored why so many school development plans don’t quite do what we hope they will. We looked at the idea that we often focus too heavily on goals, rather than the day-to-day systems and habits that actually drive change in schools. We also reframed the starting point for planning away from “what do we want to achieve?” and towards “what are our persistent problems?” This week builds directly on that thinking. Because once you’ve identified your persistent problems, the next step is deciding what to do about them. That’s the moment where most plans either become genuinely powerful… or quietly fall apart. In this episode, I introduce the concept of premortems, a simple but incredibly powerful way of strengthening your school improvement plans before you implement them. Rather than waiting to evaluate something after it hasn’t worked, a premortem asks you to imagine that your plan has already failed, and then work backwards to understand why. It sounds uncomfortable, and it is, but that discomfort is exactly where the insight sits. In this episode, I explore: Why we tend to move too quickly from identifying problems to implementing solutions What a premortem is and where it comes from How premortems create space for honest, risk-aware thinking within leadership teams A step-by-step walkthrough of how to run a premortem effectively in your school A detailed school-based example focused on improving reading fluency in lower KS2 Three non-examples of premortems that look right on the surface but fail in practice — and what goes wrong in each case How to use premortems to strengthen your school development plan before it reaches the classroom 🧠 Key takeaway Identifying the right problem is only half the work. Designing the right response, and properly stress-testing that response before you implement it, is where school improvement either succeeds or quietly falls apart. Premortems help you do exactly that. 💡 Premium Membership If you want to take this straight into your own setting, this week’s premium resource is designed to do exactly that. As a premium member, you’ll receive: A full slide deck that walks you step-by-step through the premortem framework Clear guidance on how to structure and facilitate the session with your team A resource you can use immediately in SLT meetings or wider leadership discussions Premium membership also gives you access to the full back catalogue of 36 episodes, each with accompanying resources including: Training scripts Slide decks School development frameworks Practical tools you can use straight away Topics covered include safeguarding, behaviour, personal development, curriculum design, retrieval practice, alternative provision, and much more. 👉 You can join here: https://the-leadership-lens.mykajabi.com/premium-membership It’s £11 per month, and each week you’ll receive a resource linked directly to the episode, designed to support your work as a school leader in a practical, usable way.

• Why traditional SDP approaches often fail to shift practice
• The power of focusing on persistent problems instead of broad priorities
• How small, daily habits (1% changes) compound into real school improvement
• The difference between goals vs systems — and why systems win every time
• A psychologically informed approach to planning that actually embeds change

• A psychologically informed School Development Plan template that will genuinely drive change in your school
• Worked examples so you can see exactly what this looks like in practice

• Training scripts & slide decks
• Templates & checklists
• Curriculum documents