Bluebell Meadow Primary School

Bluebell Meadow
Where there are no limits to what we can all achieve

Life Skills

The teaching of Life Skills in Bluebell Meadow Primary School fits in with our rationale and aims for our whole school curriculum:

They include ensuring that the curriculum:

  • Has the needs of the children at the heart of everything we do
  • Is based on a strong foundation of oracy
  • Meets the needs of our local community
  • Is full of exciting, enriching and enjoyable learning experiences
  • Provides opportunities for our children, staff and parents to all learn together.
  • Positively improves academic outcomes
  • Prepares our children to become positive role models in and effective contributors to Society
  • Gives our pupils the chance to become the very best versions of themselves. 

 

Vision for Life Skills 

The Sutton Trust report on ‘Life-skills’ – supported by numerous Education Endowment Foundation research projects -  highlights a number of key findings.

  • Adult life requires a range of skills in order for people to flourish, both in the workplace and in their daily lives, from the confidence and motivation to seek challenges and complete tasks, to the interpersonal skills that aid teamwork and other social interactions. These essential life skills are crucial to people achieving their potential, and therefore it is natural that they should also lie at the heart of our education system.
  • Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in particular don’t have access to the benefits that enrichment activities outside the classroom can bring, such as debating, volunteering and the performing arts
  • With increasing automation, it is the ability to show flexibility, creativity and teamwork that are increasingly becoming just as valuable, if not more valuable, than academic knowledge and technical skills.
  • Every young person should have the opportunity to build their confidence, motivation and resilience in ways that will benefit them for life.

With this in mind and in line with our overall ethos of providing the very best education, opportunities and experiences, we will be delivering a life skills curriculum to our children on a weekly basis.

We feel this will prepare our children for life outside of school by:

  • Finding new ways of thinking and problem solving
  • Developing self-confidence, self-worth, self-awareness and resilience in all students.
  • Developing employability skills and supporting challenging career aspirations
  • Developing principles, values and integrity
  • Developing knowledge of how to keep healthy both physically and emotionally
  • Developing financial capability.
  • Developing skills so that the children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.  

Teaching of Life Skills

Life Skills is taught as discrete subject. Objectives are taken from the ‘Asdan Life Skills Challenges’ scheme which will support our children to develop skills for learning, work and life.

The school uses a variety of teaching and learning approaches in Life Skills lessons, including:

  • Providing opportunities for the children to discuss, exchange and share ideas, experiences, facts and opinion on given topics.
  • Allowing the children to share their opinions and views through debates in order to develop effective communication skills.
  • Using role play to explore real life situations and unfamiliar concepts and develop the skills of negotiation, assertiveness, communication and self-awareness.
  • Using storytelling to tell narratives with specific themes such as assertiveness, negotiations, and decision making. Using them to help identify choices they make on a day to day basis and the consequences of making decisions.
  • Asking probing questions and posing problems which allow the children to brainstorm as a way of expressing their ideas with others, teaching children to value, respect and accept others contributions.
  • Playing games and planning activities to interest and excite the children and teach them how to clarify difficult issues, discuss sensitive issues, enhance communication skills and learn and practice new life skills

We recognise the fact that we have children of differing ability in all our classes, and so we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this through a range of strategies, which are differentiated by task, expected outcome and/or support from peers or adults.

 

Recording of Life Skills

Activities completed and skills taught will be practical in nature. Photographic evidence and video presentations will be collected and skills may be showcased in whole school exhibitions to fellow pupils and parents. Evidence will also be collated and work celebrated in class books.

 

Assessment of Life Skills

In order to assess the children in life skills, staff will informally measure children’s work against the assessment framework – ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to develop the appropriate skills and knowledge expected of them; whilst providing feedback which will enable each child to develop their skills further.

 

Monitoring of Life Skills

Monitoring takes place regularly through lesson observations and through talking to the children – ensuring they enjoy each subject and can recall the key knowledge and skills of what they have been taught.