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.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside his skin and walk around it.” Harper Lee
In Year 8, 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. In Year 8, students are encouraged to formulate their own considered opinions and compare them to other world views.
Year 8 | |
Life Lessons | Culture Lessons |
* Digital Literacy * We All Have Mental Health * What is Discrimination? * Conflict Resolution * Understanding Dependencies * Developing Relationships | * What makes a religion a religion? * How do religious believers make sense of the world? * Why is religion the way it is? * Can women have authority in religion? * Is death the end and does it matter? * How can celebration be used as worship? |