Health and Social Care

Curriculum Intent

Our Health and Social Care department is ambitious for excellence in all we do. We are never complacent and continuously deliberate the rationale for our curriculum. The inclusion and omission of units from our Health and Social Care and Child Development and Care curricula is reflective of our department’s priorities in fostering a well-rounded, coherent and cumulative understanding of the world for our students. This requires careful consideration and regular review.

As such, our curriculum is diverse and ambitious. Strong foundations are formed through the synoptic links between the content areas forming the Child Development and Care curriculum at KS4. The introductory content areas cover holistic development through the initial stages of life, the factors impacting development and the care and support required through these life stages. Subsequent content areas have a more specific emphasis on Early Years provision for children from zero to five, with different sections focusing on relevant legislation, roles and responsibilities and care values related to Early Years practice. Although focused on the Early Years at KS4, the curriculum is sufficiently broad and balanced to provide a robust foundation for those who would like to pursue a Health and Social Care curriculum at KS5 and beyond. At KS5 the first year of the Health and Social Care course is made up of mandatory units which again form a broad and balanced foundation for more in-depth study in Year 13. The optional units in Year 13 are chosen as they are reflective of both issues prevalent in wider society nationally and globally and relevant to the future career aspirations of the vast majority of our students. As such, optional units range from the study of Physiological Disorders which builds on the previous Anatomy and Physiology unit to an in-depth focus on Mental Health and Sexual and Early Stages of Development which includes the importance of legislation such as the Sexual Offences Act and sexual health factors.

Our teachers are subject experts who habitually advance their knowledge, consistently research and tune into current affairs to learn more about the topics we focus on. These issues are regularly discussed with our students who know that their teachers’ role model the values of learning, education and advancement of knowledge in their own practice.

Our curriculum is sequenced to facilitate students’ understanding not only of factual content but also to support their ability to make synoptic links so that their contextual comprehension is developed. They are required to understand how the practices within care at early years as well as health and social care have developed historically from the time of work and poor houses to the beginnings of the NHS (National Health Service) and the current focus on a much more holistic, person-centred and personalised approach to care. Students’ ability to make links across and within unit topics enables them to evolve a much broader and more holistic understanding of global health issues and challenges, health and social care practice and their impact upon individuals’ health and wellbeing.

Our students, including the most disadvantaged and those with SEND, develop deep knowledge of the broad and diverse curriculum offer. They become keen to and adept at debating the moral, ethical and societal complexities facing the health and care sectors whilst maintaining respect for the differing beliefs and value systems of others. The aim of the Health and Social Care department is to support students in developing not just a passion for life-long learning but also the self-regulation and metacognitive skills that will underpin their endeavours.

All Beacon students strive to make their MARK by being motivated, ambitious, resilient, and knowledgeable.