Welcome to Life & Culture!
The aim of the Life and Culture curriculum is to allow students to explore important themes in a safe environment where they develop the knowledge and skills to thrive as safe, healthy, responsible individuals in both the school and the outside community. These skills will aid students to manage their lives now and in the future.
The Life and Culture curriculum covers: the statutory PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) guidance which includes Relationship, Sex and Health Education; British Values Social; Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural (SMSC); and Religious Education. Topics are taught each term to cover and exceed these guidelines, ensuring each lesson’s content is relevant to age and current affairs.
The Life and Culture department is led by Miss Bruce, who teaches primarily Life Lessons with Miss Wells teaching most of the Culture lessons. They are also joined by other key teachers who teach Life and Culture lessons to specific year groups. The core curriculum is also supported by external visitors such as OM Health, a team of School Nurses who run tailored workshops to each year group of bespoke aspects of the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum.
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” Malcom X
In Year 9 students are timetabled one 50 minute lesson of Life and one 50 minute lesson of Culture each week. Within Life lessons, students learn about topics within: Health and Wellbeing, Living in the Wider World and Relationships. In Year 9 the focus of Life lessons moves to look at students responsibilities as they move from being children to young adults. Within Culture lessons, students answer “Big Questions” from one of the following themes: Philosophy, Theology or Human and Social Science. Religion and different world views are put into the context of modern life and society, as students in Year 9 explore how religious and non-religious people interact with the wider world.
| Year 9 | |
| Life Lessons | Culture Lessons |
| • Respectful Relationships • Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle • The Law & Me • Negative Influences • Intimate Relationships • Up for Debate | • Where does evil come from? • Where can we find truth? • Are all animals equal? • Can there be unity in a world of difference? • What moral guidance do sacred texts provide? • What is the meaning of life? |