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Health & Social Care

Subject Leader: Mr L. Mason


The H&SC curriculum aims to nurture every student and provide them with the key skills, processes, attitudes, knowledge and understanding required to develop their ability in KS4 and progress to the training and further education preparing them to work in the health or social care sector. As Health and Social care is not studied in Key Stage 3, the CS curriculum case studies are designed to equip students with a general understanding of some of the topics and scenarios covered in Health and Social Care and provide for a more informed decision when choosing options for Key Stage 4. 

Studying Health and Social care will help learners to make more informed choices for further learning, either generally or in the health and social care sector. Learners who generally achieve at Level 2 across their Key Stage 4 learning might consider progression to:

  • A Levels as preparation for entry to higher education in a range of subjects 
  • Study of a vocational qualification at Level 3, such as a BTEC in Health and Social Care or Childcare 
  • Apprenticeship or employment in a wide range of areas

The subject content contained within our curriculum is fully compliant with the specification linked to Pearson BTEC Level 1/2 award in Health and Social Care. Whilst studying this course, students learn about

  • human growth and development
  • the factors that affect growth and development including major life events
  • health and social care services
  • care values
  • barriers to accessing care
  • factors affecting health and wellbeing
  • Indicators of physical health
  • how to plan to improve health and wellbeing
  • the obstacles which prevent individuals from sticking to a health plan 

Health and Social Care helps students to gain an understanding of their own behaviour and processes, develop communications skills, build resilience, develop independence and confidence as well as time management skills. Students are encouraged to develop employability skills by planning and organising their time effectively to meet deadlines and complete coursework, developing teamwork skills in the role play scenarios and use technology to research and complete assignments. 

Topics are sequenced so that students gain an understanding of how they grow and develop from a baby to a sentient, reasoning adult and how a variety of influences can affect the adult who appears at the end of that process. Once students have developed a firm understanding of the theory, it is applied in case studies and then tested in a piece of independently researched and written coursework. As the learning progresses, links are made to prior learning and relevant references to their own lives helps foster a better grasp of complex ideas. 

Notes and worksheets are kept in exercise books, whilst coursework is completed electronically. Starter, plenaries and retrieval challenges as well as ILT tasks are used to help embed and retrieve knowledge.Interleaving of topics is a regular feature of lessons as students are encouraged to link knowledge from previous units and apply this in short case studies as well as their coursework and terminal exam. 

Students who excel in Health and Social Care have the opportunity to work at their own pace, apply their knowledge in different contexts, extend their work to the highest level and learn about specific careers in the health or social care sector.

The H&SC curriculum has links with the following subject areas: 

  • CS - healthy eating, mental health and wellbeing, drug abuse
  • PE - physical fitness and nutrition
  • Science - physical factors affecting health
  • Food Technology - nutrition

Students’ Cultural Capital is developed whilst studying Health and Social Care by welcoming visiting speakers from local care homes, agencies and health care providers, by facilitating attendance at local health academy events, giving students valuable insight into the day to day rigours, practices, challenges, rewards and opportunities offered by a wide range of jobs within the health and social care sectors. .Where this is not possible, cultural capital is gained by making virtual visits to  the work of health and social care by using film clips or texts to access care settings as well as give insights into the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of those working or living within those settings.

Students are encouraged to engage in wider reading and viewing relevant to Health and Social Care such as medical and nursing journals, documentaries and films based on true events.