Child Development

In Child Development at Paignton Academy we aim to provide students with the knowledge of antenatal care, birth and caring for a child up to the age of five, with childcare practical skills embedded into the curriculum.

By the end of Key Stage 4 we aim to have developed knowledge of decisions to have children, parental responsibility, pregnancy and the birthing process. The students will learn the postnatal process that occurs in the UK and study how to care for sick children and keep them safe. Students will learn how development occurs from the ages of 0 to 5 years old and how conditions and environment can affect development. The students will develop key practical skills incorporating feeding skills and observation skills that can be transferred to wider study or apprenticeships after they move on from Paignton Academy. The curriculum allows for key skills as a reflective practitioner to be developed so students can evaluate their own skills which are apt to level 3 study or work in the future. 

Students will deepen their knowledge and demonstrate their practical skills and think like a practitioner who works with children, drawing together knowledge, understanding and skills learnt across the 2 years of study. 

We aim for Child Development students to finish Paignton Academy with a skill set that will enable them to access level 3 courses or apprenticeships and with an excellent foundation of knowledge of how children develop and how to care for and keep children safe.