Health and Social Care.

Health and Social Care introduces students to the specialist knowledge and skills needed to work in various care settings. Underpinning the qualification is a focus on core values and communicating with individuals so as to maintain their dignity and sense of being valued. 

Often students have been disengaged substantially from learning when they come to us, so we are keen to offer the opportunity to work on a practical subject that will provide a good basis for further study at college. We aim for students to become independent learners through encouragement and guidance and reflection, giving students the opportunities to achieve to the best of their ability.

This is an option subject for KS4, and is taught by a subject specialist. Students study for the OCR Cambridge National Level 1/2 in Health and Social Care, and are taught for four lessons a week.  The course consists of one exam and a compulsory coursework unit plus an additional coursework unit.  Much of the course involves independent work.  There is also a practical skills element e.g. roleplay; planning out a health promotion campaign.

All students are aware of the learning intention at the start of the lessons and this is continually referred back to in order to inform progress and learner understanding..  Modelling is an important part of teaching strategy, and we follow the “I do, we do, you do” model when new materials or concepts are introduced.

Through a variety of activities using stimuli such as film clips, quizzes, games modelling etc students are challenged to address the issues studied in connection with real life and the issues surrounding Health & Social Care.

This course can be a demanding one and students are expected to complete much of the work independently which has helped them with organisational skills as well as giving them the opportunity to work on their literacy skills, especially with background reading.

Challenging our learners in a variety of different ways that increase resilience provides our students with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to begin their journey into the sector. As a result, this course will help them progress onto the next stage of their further education pathway. Many of the students who take Health & Social Care will go on to do a further course in this at college, so this course gives them the foundations for this additional study. 

Upon completion of the coursework element, our students have a sense of pride that they have been able to produce a substantive piece of work, something that they have not previously had the self-belief or perseverance to do.

OCR Cambridge National In Health & Social Care L1/2

AQA relevant unit awards

We are mindful of the needs and backgrounds of our student cohort.  We understand that some of the subjects covered can lend themselves to issues that our students have experienced in their lives.  Staff are aware of this and will teach in a sensitive and appropriate way.  We want the students to know where they can get support if needed and aim to give them the tools to deal with situations that may not be safe for them.

All staff are aware of the procedure for dealing with any disclosures that may occur.

Literacy skills are an integral part of our Health & Social Care curriculum.  A wide variety of text types is used; including explanation, information, argument and instruction - this then enables students to access information.  We have a mini library of relevant books and resources that students can access in the lesson to enhance knowledge or read to assist their non-examined assessments

We support reading in the classroom with a range of strategies, including teacher reading aloud; using the Frayer model to develop new vocabulary/break down word understanding; and reading around the word.

To follow

Students are assessed on two pieces of coursework plus an exam in Year 11.

In addition we have a variety of assessment tools we use including:

• Constant formative assessment in class

• Extended writing - conclusions

• Investigative work of a key question

• Verbal assessment via questioning

• Using data to draw conclusions