Our Vision for Personal Development: The PfA Framework

At Market Field College, our mission is to empower students to develop the skills, confidence, and self‑determination needed to shape their own adult lives and move successfully into the next stage of their journey.

Our Personal Development framework is rooted in our core values of Respect, Excellence and Friendship, ensuring every learner develops the resilience, character, and agency to navigate adulthood in ways that are meaningful to them.

A Curriculum with Intent: The Five Pillars

The Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) curriculum underpins life skills learning across all pathways at Market Field College and acts as the strategic vehicle through which learners are prepared for learning, life, and work. It provides a structured, purpose‑driven framework that ensures consistency, progression, and equity across the college, while remaining flexible and responsive to individual needs, aspirations and EHCP outcomes.

The PfA curriculum brings together life skills, personal development, employability, RSHE, and enrichment into a coherent, whole‑college approach, supporting learners to develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviours required for adulthood.

The curriculum is structured around five interlinked pillars:

1. Independence

• Learners develop the essential life, personal, and financial skills needed to live as independently as possible. This includes managing everyday home tasks, maintaining personal wellbeing and safety, accessing the community, and handling money confidently and responsibly.

Impact: Learners build confidence, resilience and autonomy, enabling them to manage daily life with increasing independence, and reduced reliance on outside support.

2. Employability

• Learners develop the knowledge, behaviours, and practical skills needed to prepare for employment, enterprise, and meaningful participation in the workplace. This includes understanding recruitment processes, developing effective communication, and workplace conduct, gaining real‑world work experience, and exploring enterprise and community engagement.

Impact: Learners are supported to develop transferable employability and life skills that promote independence, self‑advocacy and meaningful participation in society, with progression pathways tailored to individual needs, abilities, and aspirations.

3. Community & Civic Engagement

• Learners develop the knowledge, confidence, and behaviours required to participate safely, respectfully, and positively within their local community and wider society. This includes understanding shared values, respecting difference, navigating community spaces, and developing awareness of social and environmental responsibility.

Impact: Learners build social confidence, cultural awareness, and a sense of belonging, enabling them to engage appropriately in community and civic life, express respect for themselves and others, and participate meaningfully in society according to their individual needs and capacities.

4. Health & Wellbeing

• Learners develop the knowledge, skills, and self‑awareness needed to maintain physical health, emotional wellbeing, and safe, respectful relationships. This strand supports learners to make informed choices about their bodies, mental health, relationships and online safety, while building resilience and understanding how and when to seek help.

Impact: Learners build confidence, resilience and self‑management skills, enabling them to look after their own wellbeing, form healthy relationships, stay safe, and access appropriate support. All learners are supported to develop positive attitudes towards health and wellbeing, in ways that reflect their individual needs, boundaries and life experiences.

5. Creative Arts

• Learners develop confidence, creativity and personal wellbeing through participation in a range of creative, physical, and enrichment activities. This strand provides opportunities for self‑expression, collaboration and challenge, supporting learners to explore interests, build resilience, and experience success beyond academic learning.

Impact: Learners build confidence, self‑esteem, and a sense of achievement, enabling them to engage positively in creative, physical and enrichment activities that support wellbeing, social development and meaningful participation in education and everyday life.

Curriculum Implementation: Overview

Our curriculum provides a broad, balanced, and consistent offer across all pathways, ensuring equity for every learner regardless of starting point, and is designed to meet the ambitious targets set out in each student’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) as part of their 16–19 study programme.  Skills are mapped from Entry 1 to Level 1, creating clear progression routes that allow learners to develop at the right pace with appropriate challenge.

The framework supports flexible delivery, enabling staff to select the most relevant units for their learners while maintaining consistency across the college. Statutory learning, including PSHE and RSHE, is fully integrated and woven throughout the Preparation for Adulthood framework, ensuring coverage is meaningful, contextualised, and progressive.

Learners are supported to understand and reflect on their own progress, helping them to recognise their achievements and build confidence in their personal development journey. Progress is further recognised through integration of the AQA Unit Award Scheme, capturing small‑step, meaningful achievement through external accreditation. The curriculum is reviewed annually to ensure it remains current, relevant and aligned with statutory requirements and inspection expectations.