Curriculum – Life Skills

Curriculum – Life Skills

Life Skills

The Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

Life Skills at Southend High School for Girls aims to develop students with the knowledge, skills, and attributes that they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and prepare for life, further study and work in modern Britain.  Southend High School for Girls aims to provide a coherent programme of personal, health, social, citizenship and careers education, including post 16, post 18 and beyond. Students will be encouraged to maximise their personal development in order to progress and enable them the ability to enjoy success both in and out of academic. The Life Skills curriculum at Southend High School for Girls reflects the PSHE Association syllabus which equips students to live healthy, safe, productive, capable, and responsibly balanced lives through the three core themes of ‘Physical Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, and Living in the Wider World’. Through these core themes and a spiral curriculum, students are invited to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes whilst exploring the views of others even if they conflict their own. A main aim of Life Skills at Southend High School for Girls is to value, appreciate and consider what it means to be a member of a diverse community.

What does it feel like to be a student in a Life Skills lesson?

As a student of Life Skills, you are open to listening, debating, learning and celebrating the similarities and differences of those around us, especially within the Southend High School for Girls community. You will learn about the Equality Act, Protected Characteristics and British Values. You are encouraged to ask questions and expand your knowledge of the world around you so that you have everything you need to enter the world with confidence. You will have open conversations that focus on topics that are prevalent in the modern day; sexting, sexual harassment and consent, online safety, and risk taking to name a few. You will learn about how to reach out for support from the Safeguarding team in school and from External Agencies.

In Life Skills you will discuss the pressures of life; considering how to remain healthy both mentally and physically. You will be provided with a variety of coping mechanisms for example ‘how to think about nothing’ and writing journals.

Your Life Skills experience is also supplemented by a variety of external speakers that are specialists in topics such as Driving Safety, Drugs Education, Consent, Extremism and Online Safety. You experience these both in small classes as timetabled and as whole year groups off timetable.

Journey

Life Skills Curriculum

Year 7

Term 1

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Welcome to Healthy Puberty 

  • Healthy Living and Active Lifestyles 
  • Puberty and Periods 
  • FGM 

Living in the Wider world: Me Online 

  • Recognising Bullying  
  • Online Bullying 
  • Discrimination Online 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area

Term 2

Relationships and Sex Education: Is this Love? 

  • What makes a healthy relationship? 
  • Changes in Puberty and Teenage love 
  • Coping with change: Marriage, Divorce and Bereavement 

Living in the Wider World: My money, my life 

  • Managing a budget 
  • What is debt? 
  • Our emotions and money 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Term 3

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Risk and Peer Pressure 

  • Risky Money Behaviours 
  • Risk and online behaviours 
  • Peer Pressure 

Active Citizenship Project 

  • What is active Citizen ship? 
  • What do we want to see change? 
  • Effecting Change 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Year 8

Term 1

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Managing Myself 

  • Self Development 
  • Self Confidence 
  • Self Managers and Mindfulness 

Living in the Wider world: Living in My World 

  • British Values/Equalities act 
  • Online Grooming 
  • Discrimination in the Media 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Term 2

Relationships and Sex Education: Let’s talk about Sex 

  • What is consent and why does it matter? 
  • Sex in the Media and pornography 
  • Sexting 

Citizenship: Digital Literacy 

  • What is real and what is not? 
  • Staying safe online from financial scams 
  • Managing risk online – Debt 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Term 3

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Keeping me Safe 

  • Health responsibilities 
  • Smoking, Vaping and Personal Safety 
  • Cancer and self-checking 

Living in the Wider world: Careers Carousel 

  • Why I love my job 
  • My choices, why I love my subject 
  • Pathways and options 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area.

Year 9

    Term 1

Citizenship: People, Power and Politics 

  • How laws are made 
  • How people put pressure on the law 
  • A free press, tribunals and enquiries 

Living in the Wider world: Staying Safe in the World 

  • Support for victims of crime 
  • Knife Crime 
  • Young Offenders 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

     Term 2

Relationships and Sex Education: My body, my life 

  • Body Image and Peer Pressure 
  • Challenging Gender Stereotypes 
  • Spotting abusive and unhealthy relationships 

Living in the Wider world: Me in the Workplace 

  • My dream job 
  • Skills for the workplace 
  • Workplace rights 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area.

Term 3 

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Drugs 

  • Misconceptions around drugs 
  • Substance use and misuse 
  • Legal consequences of substance use and misuse 

Relationships and Sex Education: Families and Contraception 

  • Contraception 101 
  • Different types of family structures 
  • Characteristics of successful parenting 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Year 10

Term 1

Physical Health and Wellbeing: How Society Impacts Me 

  • Social Anxiety 
  • Social Media and Screen Time 
  • Peer pressure revisited 

Living in the Wider world: Me in my community 

  • Anti-social behaviour 
  • County Lines 
  • Terrorism 
  • Overt or Covert Racism 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Term 2

Relationships and Sex Education:   Be Aware 

  • Understanding consent and intimacy 
  • Forced marriage 

Living in the Wider world: Flying into the Future 

  • CV Writing 
  • Covering Letters 
  • Mock Interview Preparation 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area.

Term 3

Citizenship: Rights in my Community 

  • Human rights and Housing as a Right 
  • Human right and the right to be free from hate 
  • Human rights and Health as a right 

Relationships and Sex Education: Sex in the world 

  • The C card Scheme 
  • Choices in relation to pregnancy 
  • Managing sexual pressure 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area

Year 11

Term 1

Physical Health and Wellbeing: Getting me ready for the world 

  • Identity and diversity, body positivity 
  • Fertility and reproductive health 
  • Digital Footprint 
  • Skills for the future 

Citizenship: A kingdom united 

  • Multiculturalism in the UK 
  • A history of equality in the UK and where are we now 
  • We have more in common than that which divides us 
  • Extremism dialogues case study 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

        Term 2

Relationships and Sex Education: Sec and the Law 

  • Different types of relationships – Sexuality and Gender 
  • Choices around Sexual Health – impacts of drugs and alcohol 

Living in the Wider world: Life beyond Year 11 

  • Unifrog catch up 
  • Independent and Healthy 
  • Workplace Rights 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area

            Term 3

hysical Health and Wellbeing: Getting me ready for the world. 

  • Rest and sleep and personal safety 
  • Risk taking behaviour 
  • How to get support when things go wrong 

Assessment 

Students produce a mind map at the start of each topic and add to it at the end to self-evaluate how far they have moved in their understanding of the area. 

Year 12

 (Half term 1 & 4)

Topics 

  • Responsible Sexual Behaviour (RSE) 
  • Drugs and Alcohol (RSE) 
  • Online Behaviour and its Ramifications (RSE) 
  • Crime and Your Behaviour 
  • Fake News and Control of the Media 
 (Half term 2 & 5)

Topics 

  • Pregnancy (RSE) 
  • Salaries 
  • Campaign for change 
  • Politics 
  • Distribution of Wealth and Power 
(Half term 3 & 6)

Topics 

  • LGBTQ+ (RSE) 
  • Dealing with Disability 
  • Globalisation 
  • Considering your living arrangements 
  • Healthy Mindset (RSE) 

Year 13

  (Half term 1 & 4)

Topics 

  • Salaries 
  • Campaign for change 
  • Drugs and Alcohol (RSE) 
  • Responsible Sexual Behaviour (RSE) 
  • Food Budgeting 
  • Online behaviour and its ramifications 
  • Crime and your behaviour 
 (Half term 2 & 5)

Topics 

  • Road Safety 
  • Learning to drive and the cost of learning to drive 
  • Sustainable living 
  • Responsible sexual behaviour (RSE) 
  • Pregnancy (RSE) 
  • Travelling safely 
  • Life after retirement 
 (Half term 3 & 6)

Topics 

  • LGBTQ+ (RSE) 
  • Dealing with Disability 
  • Globalisation 
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