HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE - learning journey & curriculum

hsc learning journey 10 13.pdf

We view education as a transformative process where our team helps students bring out their strengths and passions.  Through guidance and positive relationships, we aim to empower students to unlock their full potential, and transform lives by enabling students to become their best selves.  This vocational style curriculum model enables students to view their studies from the perspective of a practitioner and apply the person-centred approach to acquire an in-depth understanding of the needs of individuals and communities. 

We create opportunities through real -life scenarios, speakers and visits for students to become knowledgeable and skilled in explaining how a range of practitioners across public, private and third-party sectors meet the needs of these people and thereby enable them to overcome barriers and to live a healthy, productive and fulfilling life. Our students appreciate how integral communication, effective relationships and care principles provide the foundations of professionals’ work and are equipped with these skills to take into higher education or the workplace. 

From a wider perspective students can explain the challenges facing our nation’s health and analyse the role of services in diagnosing, treating and supporting individuals with a range of mental and physical health conditions.  They can think, talk and write like professionals, using terminology accurately and demonstrate an ability to empathise with others.   Students are actively engaged in the local community through work experience (often inspiring futures with direct career progression) and key stakeholders regularly share their wealth of experience when visiting our lessons. 

Students are frequently challenged to step out of the comfort zone of assessment methods used in many other areas of the curriculum, they are observed and assessed demonstrating a range of work related skills such as demonstrating effective one to one communication skills, delivering a health promotion campaign to a target audience, interviewing an individual about the impact of significant life event and managing a Multi-Disciplinary Team meeting for an individual with challenging behaviour.

Our curriculum challenges students to consider their perceptions and preconceived ideas about individuals in our society by investigating a range of issues such as why individuals with learning disabilities find it difficult to gain employment and experience a reduced life expectancy when compared to the remainder of society. Our STRIVE for excellence is whole-heartedly encouraged and all students are inspired to set their sights on achieving the highest grades possible. 

Our aim is to create an accessible and empowering educational experience for all, regardless of their unique learning environments. Our curriculum incorporates diverse perspectives, addresses varied learning styles, and embraces cultural sensitivity. By promoting a supportive and accessible learning environment, we aim to empower every student to thrive, regardless of background or circumstance.

We use our local context where appropriate to enable all students to ensure those with limited cultural capital opportunities are not disadvantaged. Inclusion, valuing diversity and equality are central themes throughout the curriculum and these areas are explicitly taught.  Student voice plays a pivotal role in shaping the curriculum, ensuring it remains relevant and responsive their needs, for example, students choose at target audience and topic for a health promotion campaign.  This fosters a sense of ownership and engagement.  

Our spiralised approach is employed to seamlessly build on previous units and foster deep learning. Concepts are revisited and expanded upon progressively, for example the Health Promotion unit in KS4 builds the foundation for more challenging ideas in the Public Health unit in KS5.  This ensures a continuous and interconnected learning experience. This deliberate structure allows students to deepen their understanding over time, reinforcing fundamental principles while gradually introducing more advanced topics. Through this spiralised design, we aim to cultivate a comprehensive and enduring knowledge base in health and social care which goes beyond Cleeve and prepares students for success in their future studies.  For example, research skills and adept use of data to substantiate their opinions are embedded in KS4 and become more refined throughout KS5.