Learning for life

What students learn this year:

Year 8 focuses on taking personal responsibility. Students start with physical and mental health – exercise, diet, dental health, sleep and the HPV vaccination – and then look at personal safety and managing risk, covering fireworks, smoking and vaping, alcohol, drugs, water and road safety. In the spring they explore identity, belonging and community, including bias, stereotypes and the protected characteristics, before turning to the online world: media literacy, algorithms, personal data and the business of influence. Summer brings healthy and unhealthy relationships, consent, sharing images and preventing gender-based violence, and the year ends with practical money skills.

The programme meets the statutory RSHE requirements on physical health, drugs, alcohol and tobacco, internet safety and harms, and respectful relationships. Work on discrimination and protected characteristics supports the Equality Act 2010 and the school's commitment to anti-racism, while the online-safety unit reflects Keeping Children Safe in Education and the Online Safety Act. Financial-education lessons contribute to the national priority of financial literacy for young people.

Termly overview

Half term	Theme	What students will learn
Autumn 1	Health and wellbeing	Exercising for mental and physical health; taking responsibility for physical health; maintaining a balanced diet; dental health; understanding HPV; the sleep factor; climate change and wellbeing
Autumn 2	Personal safety – managing risk	Firework safety; looking after your personal safety; smoking and vaping; alcohol; legal and illegal drugs; water safety; staying safe on the roads
Spring 1	Belonging and community	Who am I?; identity and community; bias and stereotypes; discrimination and protected characteristics; values and constructive disagreement; diverse and supportive communities
Spring 2	The online world	Media literacy – staying safe online; the business of influence; feeding the algorithm; protecting your personal data; gaming, social media and algorithms
Summer 1	Healthy and unhealthy relationships	Healthy relationships; sex and consent online; sex, relationships and the media; consent – why it is essential; sharing nudes; preventing gender-based violence; sexual harassment and harmful behaviour
Summer 2	Careers and financial decisions	Challenges and rewards of work; what does success mean to me?; how to read a bank statement; how to use a bank card; how to save money; how to manage debt