PSHE Day excitement in school
Our second PSHE Day this term gave all our pupils and students the opportunity to approach the term on a high with some very exciting and challenging takeover sessions to be enjoyed across each year group.
Year 7 and 8 focused on Safety from the perspective of home and community. As students are becoming more independent, they need to understand the importance of keeping safe. They also explored how stress may be experienced as a consequence of using social media and how this can affect our daily lives.
With Teams presentations from the Fire Service, both Y7 and 8 also participated in TeenSafe: Water Safety – raising awareness of issues surrounding water safety, cold water shock and tombstoning.
Additionally, our Y7 pupils considered their rights and responsibilities and were given the chance to:
- understand the difference between a rule and a law.
- gain a greater understanding of the law to recognise that it protects them and that they must adhere to the law. If they fail to do so then they will have to face the consequences.
- know the minimum legal age for a number of different activities.
- understand why there are minimum age restrictions for certain activities.
It isn’t all serious – we gave Y7 forms the chance to get creative and have fun in Samba workshops, offered Active Team Building sessions in the Sports Hall and even opened up a Languages Café with some super cheese tasting and French feedback sessions.
Meanwhile, Y8 pupils covered Youth Alpha sessions with visitors from local churches allowing pupils the chance to reflect and consider the Youth Alpha culture in relation to their own local links. The experience also included Collective Worship with Michael, our Chaplain and our visitors.
Over to Year 9 – Careers became their focus for the day, whilst learning about and how to identify core values and consider how these values will impact their wellbeing, actions and goals. Year 9 also explored the key worker roles within the public sector and the qualities and skills required for these jobs, gaining knowledge and understanding of the skills required to apply for a key worker position of interest to them.
Using the START platform, they created their own online digital careers profile, considering their interests, goals and skills and exploring post-16 study and career choices in addition to gaining employer knowledge in the local area.
The START platform was also explored by Year 10 although the focus of their day centred around Drugs and Alcohol, learning how to manage peer influence in relation to alcohol and other drug use. It also enabled them to delve into Drug Science in the Labs – a scientific exploration of the effects of drugs on our bodies. They capped this off by consideration of the wider consequences of drug use and strategies for seeking help regarding substance abuse.
At this point, Year 10 broke up the day by Meeting the Military in the Sports Hall, exploring teamwork and cooperation and careers in the armed forces.
Year 12 meanwhile moved ahead with their Career Planning Journey. They participated in a personal statement workshop with representatives of Northumbria University and chose sessions from a Careers Carousel with a range of employers which included BAE, BBC and Psych (both virtual), NHS, and brand talks from local agency factored as well as talks on Gap Years and University options.
All in all, each year group finished the day with plenty to reflect on and talk about.
many thanks to Mr Gillthorpe for his organisation of the programme and pulling everything together.