Main School

Health and Social Care

Health and Social Care

About 3 million people in the UK work in the health and social care sector, that is equivalent to 1 in every 10 people.  Demand for both health and social care is liable to continue to rise due to the ageing population, so it is undisputable that it plays a key role in UK society.  The demand for people to fill these vital careers will therefore continue to increase.   The Health and Social care department will nurture every student through their journey to develop their resilience, expression, and independence, growing into well-rounded individuals to succeed in today’s diverse society. Complimenting other subjects’ and the wider school, students will experience and study a vast range of Health and Social Care topic areas requiring them to demonstrate maturity and respect for others, coupled with high expectations means students will aspire to excellence. Students will become confident and fully prepared to manage their emotions for the many challenges and opportunities they face for their health and well-being, preparing them for life and inspiring them to work in Modern Britain.

Objectives and Key themes:

  • learners will explore different aspects of growth and development and the factors that can affect this across the life stages. They will explore the different events that can impact on individuals’ physical, intellectual, emotional and social (PIES) development and how individuals cope with and are supported through changes caused by life events.
  • learners will explore health and social care services and how they meet the needs of service users. They will also study the skills, attributes and values required when giving care.
  • learners will explore the factors that affect health and wellbeing, learning about physiological and lifestyle indicators, and person-centred approaches to make recommendations to improve an individual’s health and wellbeing.

Extracurricular and enrichment opportunities:

  • parentship of the ready–or–not tots
  • specialist professional speakers
  • documentaries and research tasks specialist to the subject

Our intent is to provide a fluid and dynamic knowledge rich KS4 option curriculum, which gives learners, access and progress to KS5 and beyond. The course is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning whilst building on their experiences of life. Year 9 students engage in a number of curriculums to begin with around a variety of different contemporary issues in health and social care inspiring curiosity for further knowledge. Students will ascertain research skills, using primary and secondary methods providing reliable evidence to use for supportive and critical arguments. These skills are developed through the Key stage in preparation for the application of the higher order thinking skills, evaluation and analysis required for KS5. Additionally, students benefit from experienced guest speakers from the local community to extend lessons beyond the classroom and support work related learning. This enables students to have a breadth of specialism outside of the course specification, giving them a real vocational experience.

Specification and exam board - Pearson - BTEC Tech Award (2022) Health and Social Care 

Summary of objectives for key stage 4 
Objectives and Key themes: 

  • the life stages and key characteristics in the physical, intellectual, emotional and social (PIES) development classifications and the different factors that can affect an individual’s growth and development
  • different life events and how individuals can adapt or be supported through changes caused by life events
  • health and social care conditions, how they can be managed by the individual and the different health and social care services that are available
  • the barriers and obstacles an individual may encounter and how these can be overcome
  • the skills, attributes and values required to give care and how these benefit the individual
  • how factors can affect an individual’s current health and wellbeing
  • how physiological indicators and an individual’s lifestyle choices determine physical health
  • the use of the person-centred approach
  • recommendations and actions to improving health and wellbeing and the barriers or obstacles individuals may face when following recommendations and the support available to overcome

Summary overview of curriculum in key stage 4

Students learn how people grow and develop over the course of their lives from infancy to later adulthood, the factors that may affect this, such as predictable and unpredictable events. Students will analyse this impact from a positive and negative viewpoint, demonstrating empathy and applying knowledge through the use of case studies. The curriculum allows students to secure skills for their social development, through culture capital content understanding how people are individual and can adapt to changes using local and national health and social care support.