KS3: Citizenship

A high quality citizenship education helps provide students with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society. In particular, citizenship education should foster students’ keen awareness and understanding of democratic government and how laws are made and upheld.

Teaching citizenship will equip students with the skills and knowledge to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, debate and make reasoned arguments. It should also prepare students to take their place in society as responsible citizens, manage their money well and make sound financial decisions.

Students are taught about the democratic government in the UK, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarchy; about the operation of Parliament including voting, elections and the role of the political parties; the justice system, including the role of the police and the courts; the roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups and about money, including the importance and practice of budgeting and managing risk.

KS3: PSHE

All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 are taught Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (HE). This includes:

RELATIONSHIPS AND SEX EDUCATION (RSE)

1. Families.
2. Respectful Relationships, including Friendships.
3. Online and Media.
4. Being Safe.
5. Intimate and Sexual Relationships, including Sexual Health.
6. The Law.

HEALTH EDUCATION (HE)

7. Mental Wellbeing.
8. Internet Safety and Harm.
9. Physical Health and Fitness.
10. Healthy Eating.
11. Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco.
12. Health and Prevention.
13. Basic First Aid.
14. Changing Adolescent Body.

KS3: RESILIENCE AND CHARACTER BUILDING

The Resilience Curriculum at Carlton le Willows builds on the skills that students learn in Year 7 so  they are able to transfer learning during their development. Students are able to revisit the resilience skills each year and develop in-depth knowledge about resilience and how to apply the skills to various aspects of their emotional and social lives. Given that adolescence may be a time of potential challenge and/or adversity for many students, this comprehensive curriculum equips them with resilience skills that are familiar, salient and accessible. As students move through school the emphasis will gradually move from teaching the skills to learning how to apply them to the situations that are relevant to them.

The main resilience skills delivered are:

Being aware of our self-talk beliefs: We all have an internal radio station that interprets situations as they happen. Sometimes it can be unhelpful or inaccurate. Most of the time it works just fine and we don’t need to tune in to it.

A-B-C Model: Activating event or Adversity- the event that has happened (just the facts). Beliefs- the thoughts we have in that moment. They can be about why the Activating Event or Adversity has happened or about what will happen next as a result. Consequences- the way we feel and behave as a result of our Beliefs about the Activating Event or Adversity.

Habits in our Beliefs: Some patterns in our thinking are pessimistic beliefs- especially me/always beliefs that make us give up and feel bad. Habits of thinking aren’t always unhelpful but usually mean we are missing or ignoring important information.

Challenging our negative beliefs: We can question our beliefs to come up with more optimistic/accurate beliefs. More optimistic beliefs may be just as likely to be true and could be more accurate. When we do this it can have an impact on how we feel and behave and lead to more helpful outcomes.

Looking for Evidence: Our beliefs need to be as accurate as possible so we can deal with the reality (good or bad). We need to be a detective and find evidence to prove whether our beliefs are true and completely accurate.

Putting it in Perspective: Sometimes when we think what will happen next we catastrophize and get into a spiral of worst case thinking. None of these things have actually happened yet but we are not able to problem solve effectively as our thinking has lost perspective. To stop ourselves catastrophizing we can list the worst case and best case to then help us think more rationally and about the most likely. This has a calming effect and so we can plan what we are going to do next.

Real Time Resilience: When we have negative self-talk and it is distracting us from something that we need to be doing right now we can use tag-lines to dispute the beliefs.

Calming and Focusing: Sometimes our emotions are just too strong to be able to think! We can slow things down and calm our emotions using breathing, distraction and visualised relaxation techniques.

Assertive Communication: Communication should be confident, calm, controlled and clear. We can use this model: Describe the problem, express how this makes us feel, ask for change, and list the consequences of change.

Negotiation/Compromise: Sometimes we have to be prepared to compromise and work out a solution with other people. It is important to be clear on what we want, but to keep talking until a compromise is reached, then agree to a fair deal.

KS4: Citizenship

Teaching builds on the Key Stage 3 programme of study to deepen pupils’ understanding of democracy, government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Pupils are taught about:

·        parliamentary democracy and the key elements of the constitution of the United Kingdom, including the power of government, the role of citizens and Parliament in holding those in power to account, and the different roles of the executive, legislature and judiciary and a free press

·        the different electoral systems used in and beyond the United Kingdom and actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond

·        other systems and forms of government, both democratic and non-democratic, beyond the United Kingdom

·        local, regional and international governance and the United Kingdom’s relations with the rest of Europe, the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the wider world

·        human rights and international law

·        the legal system in the UK, different sources of law and how the law helps society deal with complex problems

·        diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding

·        the different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering, as well as other forms of responsible activity

·        income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.

KS4: PSHE

All Pupils in Years 10 and 11 are taught Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (HE). PSHE is categorised under three core themes: Living in the Wider World, Relationships, and Health and Wellbeing. The curriculum is sequenced so that the content delivered at KS3 is transferred and developed, and is transparent and salient. At Carlton le Willows we aim for the delivery to be age appropriate and respond to issues raised by the community, safeguarding team and pastoral support.

KS4: RESILIENCE AND CHARACTER BUILDING

Teaching builds on the skills that the students learnt at KS3 so  that they are able to transfer learning during their development. As students progress to KS4 the emphasis will gradually move from teaching the skills to learning how to apply them to the situations that are relevant to them.

Students will (Intent):

• Consolidate knowledge of resilience skills delivered at Key Stage 3.
• Apply the skills of resilience to be more resilient in current situations.
• Be able to use the resilience skills to assess situations for risk and opportunity.
• Increase ability to make good quality decisions when the decisions are more complex and ambiguous.
• Develop effective strategies for managing dilemmas, ambiguity and complexity.
• Increase ability to manage peer group influence effectively.
• Develop strategies to cope with the academic pressures of year 11.
• Identify and prepare for challenges and setbacks based on understanding and self.
• Remove barriers and cope with setbacks that might otherwise stop students from realising their full potential.