LIFE SKILLS - learning journey & curriculum
life skills learning journey 7 11.pdf
In Life Skills in Years 7-11 the intent is for the curriculum to provide students with the knowledge and skills so they become productive citizens.
It will transform lives by challenging their assumptions on issues such as LGBTQ+. The powerful knowledge of Life Skills ensures that students have the opportunity to become more confident, creative, resilient and critical thinkers.
It creates opportunities to discuss, in a safe environment, the issues linked to growing up in modern Britain, such as online safety. They will be asked to discuss sensitive issues in a respectful way and be sign posted to support, if needed.
The Life Skills curriculum will inspire futures as in each year group there are lessons dedicated to careers and encouraging students to think ‘big’ and envisage themselves in the world beyond school. To compliment these sessions, students will find out about tax, national insurance and the difference between gross and net pay.
Students will be introduced to the world of politics and learn how the voting system works in the UK. They will have the opportunity to take part in a vote having watched the party political broadcasts for the main parties. They also discuss democracy and will have the opportunity to engage in the big philosophical debates such as law and justice.
The lesson based Life Skills curriculum is enhanced by enrichments days which allow the school to bring in outside agencies such as School Beat, to talk to students about issues specific to students living in the area.
The KS3 curriculum goes beyond the national curriculum by bringing in outside speakers to develop student knowledge on wide ranging life topics such as sexting and key British values such as democracy. It builds from KS2 where students were introduced to the different relationships that exist in modern Britain.
At the end of KS3, students will have been given the knowledge associated with the choices they will be faced with as they move through life. They will have the mastery to make the right choices, having discussed the risks associated with choices, such as ‘to vape or not to vape?’.
At the end of KS4, students will have the knowledge surrounding responsible decision making for example sexual consent and the mastery to decide when it is freely given.
The curriculum enables students to think, write, talk and behave as good citizens, understanding there are many different ways to live peacefully within our increasingly diverse and wonderful world.
The Life Skills department at Cleeve works by the principle that every individual students opinion and experiences are important and the teachers involved deliver the lessons with sensitivity. The lessons aim to develop student understanding of issues discussed to dispel any myths surrounding the topic.
Life Skills classrooms at Cleeve can best be described as ‘inclusive and safe’ where the focus is on discussion. Resources are structured to be accessible to all. The focus on ‘talk’ rather than simply writing allows all students to get involved. It also provides flexibility and allows teachers to adapt to meet the need of the students in their class.
Students are made to feel valued and that their contribution is important. The aim is to create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable to contribute.
The curriculum encourages discussion of the wider world beyond the classroom and helps students build on their life experiences so far. For example, they learn about different political parties and take part in a mock election.
Every effort is made to ensure students see themselves represented in the curriculum as they learn about different identities, families and faith.
Life Skills is a truly spiralised curriculum as it revisits topics in KS3 that learners discussed in their primary schools at KS2. This continues throughout KS3. Examples of key topics that are revisited and discussed at an age-appropriate level include drugs, alcohol and vaping. Moving from learning about the dangers associated with drugs to wider societal issues such as addiction and social exclusion.
Our resources on consent are a good illustration of how a topic develops with each year. We start with a session on permission seeking in year 7 and gradually build up to sexual consent in year 11.
As with all our subjects we recognise the importance of assessing student knowledge. Life Skills assessments are more focused on in-class questioning which takes place at the start of the lesson with a prior knowledge quiz. This continues during the lesson with teachers using a range of questioning techniques to assess learning. This enables students of all ability to take part and demonstrate their knowledge.
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