Healthy individuals who understand the spiritual and emotional dimensions of health

Year 7 PSHCE -Health and Puberty

Healthy routines, influences on health, puberty, unwanted contact and FGM were the topics discussed with the Year 7 students this second half of term in PSHCE lessons.

The objectives of the unit included:

• how to make healthy lifestyle choices including diet, dental

health, physical activity and sleep

• how to manage influences relating to caffeine, smoking and

alcohol

• how to manage physical and emotional changes during puberty

about personal hygiene

• how to recognise and respond to inappropriate and unwanted

contact

• about FGM and how to access help and support

The Y7 students had vibrant conversations about these topics and were able to clearly explain the changes teenagers go through, the importance of talking to a trusted adult or peer to help manage their emotions and peer pressure, what consent means and that consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Discover what the students have to say about these objectives in next week’s newsletter.

Mme Mwangi

Working Collaboratively And Helping Others

Year 8 PSHCE - Careers and Community

During our PSHCE lessons this term we have discussed how we are a part of many communities. We have had discussions about how we fit into these and how our roles affect others. We looked at our school as a community and worked out how we could do some small things to support it. The year eights then used their skills in both early years and primary lessons to support teachers and pupils. Overall the children seemed to understand that they needed to give to a community as well as take from it; they needed to add value to where they were.

In the words of the class:

Renisa - I learned that when you work with young people you have to be understanding and patient..and not use complex language.

Tung’a - it was fun knowing the life of primary kids and reminds me of when I was a kid. I really enjoyed helping them out with learning.

Ciara - I learnt that a small change on a single community can have a chain reaction and effect on other communities.

James - I liked working with the early years kids. They were very cooperative and listening.

Taseen - It was nice teaching the primary kids. Some of them were friendly to me.

Jasmine - I enjoyed spending time serving the Year 5 students. I learnt that communities are really important.

Ms Mwaka in year five was very pleased for the extra mathematics support she said:

“I felt like I had extra teachers in my class. They grasped the concepts really quickly and they were able to support the year five children. Year fives’ are now expecting them every Wednesday!”

Ms Mwaka

Healthy individuals

Year 9 PSHE - Healthy Lifestyles

This half of term, the Year 9s have studied the theme of Healthy Lifestyles, learning what it is and why it is important to them. We have covered topics such as food and diet, physical and mental health, and finding balance in our lives. A big thank you to Isabell and Muhamed for preparing these articles.

Mr Took

Healthy Lifestyles by Isabell Year 9

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Healthy Lifestyle - By Muhamed Year 9

A healthy lifestyle can vary depending on what a person believes is a healthy lifestyle. What most consider a healthy lifestyle consists of 3 key elements: food and diet, mental and physical health and balancing leisure and work.

Food and diet is more of a physical health subtopic as it decides how healthy your body is, whether you’re getting the right nutrients, or indulging in unhealthy fattening foods. This is vital if you want a healthy lifestyle and not only helps your body work faster and better, you feel better too.

Mental and physical health sometimes go without credit, even though they both play important roles in sustaining a healthy lifestyle, with mental health starting to be recognised nowadays. Physical health and diet are sort of a pair: no matter how much greens you eat or meat you eat, those abs won't appear if you do not exercise and take care of your body physically. You also won’t be motivated to do anything physical if you have poor mental health, so all the components of having a healthy lifestyle sort of work in harmony.

Balancing everything by creating a schedule helps you work more efficiently too, there will always be time to play and have fun but everyone has to work hard too. Setting a schedule for yourself allows you to balance your life: at a certain time you can allow yourself to have fun but after a while you need to do necessary work.

Healthy individuals who make the right choices

Year 10 PSHCE - Influence

During the second part of this term Year 10 have been looking at the topic of 'Influence' for PSHCE. This topic covers a wide range of areas and we have been looking at both the positive and negative sides of influence. We started in week 8 by looking at the influence of alcohol before moving on to cigarettes and drugs. Further on in the term we looked at the human influences in life such as role models and peer pressure before finishing with the media and gangs. For the upcoming and final lesson of this topic the class will create a summary slide of what they have learnt before completing a short online assessment.

Below is a link to one of the video clips we have watched explaining why alcohol is especially dangerous to the vulnerable teenage brain.

Life-long learners thinking about the future

PSHCE Year 11

The Year 11 students have been working on thinking about their career choices, job interviews for the future and what is required for university applications. We have had some interesting discussions on subject and career choices. We have also been preparing in class mock interviews which students often have to go through as part of their application process with universities. Therefore they have started working on creating their portfolio of evidence and noting down various skill sets they may have to make their application stand out.

One of the starting points of this is the ‘Personal Statement’. They were shown some high quality sample statements which are normally written in sections. The students have worked very hard in creating an introduction that not only stands out but also encompasses their passion for a particular field of study. It is extremely valuable for the students to start thinking about this now as it will save them a lot of time and take the pressure off them when they start the formal application process in Year 12 or 13 amidst their A levels.

We have also watched some interesting video clips from students themselves on the transition between IGCSEs and A-levels or BTECs and what a leap it is. Something which stood out to the students was the realisation that when they embark on studies in Year 12 they will have to do a lot more independent learning in the study periods they will have which could be up to 3 hours a day. We have talked and discussed goals and what drives a person including Carol Dweck’s ‘Fixed versus Growth’ mindset. We have reinforced the importance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle and how important sleep is within this. Nabiha Janoowalla

We had various discussions and found the netsixthform.co.uk quite useful.