Session Descriptors
A Year
Health:
Healthy Eating – looking at what is meant by a healthy diet and the consequences of a poor diet.
Self-Esteem – examining the importance of a good self-esteem and teaching students’ strategies to help them to improve their self-esteem.
First Aid – teaching students essential First Aid skills such as how to assess a casualty, CPR and the recovery position.
Sexual Health – explaining the law on sex, types of contraception and the risks of unprotected sex.
Cancer – teaching students how to examine themselves to check for either breast or testicular cancer.
Careers
Politics – educating students about the political system in the UK including how to vote.
Curriculum in the workplace – to allow students to make links between their current subjects and future career paths.
Work Skills - describing the different ways enterprise skills can be put to use in different work environments
Business Enterprise Day – a day run by the Business Department examining business and marketing strategies.
Apprenticeships and T-Levels talks from providers in the local labour market.
Experiences of the workplace through our Careers Fair.
Relationships
Human Rights – an examination of the status of human rights across the world.
Global Relations – to look at different forms of prejudice and discrimination across the world.
Types of Relationships – to understand the traits and impacts of healthy and unhealthy relationships.
The power of voice – to consider how to discuss our emotions in an effective manner.
Spot Bullying – to teach students strategies for dealing with both face-to-face and online bullying.
Personal Development
Social Media – outlining the positives and dangers of using social media.
Stress & Anxiety – examining the affect stress has on the mind and body and strategies for dealing with it.
Depression – to understand the symptoms, causes and strategies for dealing with depression.
Emotional Resilience – to help students to examine how to deal with every day challenging situations.
Drugs – to examine different types of drugs, their effects and the law on them.
Alcohol – understanding the short and long term effect of alcohol on the mind and body.
Scenarios Sessions - reflecting and applying key content and understanding from other sessions.
Families – examining different types of family units, their legal status and the impact of these relationships.
Respectful Relationships – to understand the meaning and importance of consent in relationships.
Dealing with conflict - to learn basic assertiveness skills, the difference between aggression, passive and assertive.
I Year
Health
Eating Disorders – to help students to understand the symptoms and types of eating disorders and what help is available for those that need it.
Resilience – to teach students strategies to help them to be more resilient.
Staying Safe – a look at a range of scenarios including but not limited to; how to stay safe online, unexpected pregnancy, underage sex.
Drugs and Alcohol – explain the difference between and types of legal and illegal drugs, their effects and the law.
Personal Hygiene – examining the short and long term effects of poor personal hygiene.
Careers
Work Shadowing – students will spend the day with an independently organised work experience with an organisation of their own choosing.
Career Planning – looking at the difference between apprenticeship and university education paths.
Finance – to show students how to budget and have a healthy financial lifestyle.
Politics – examining the different political parties and how the political system works.
Applications – to look at what makes a good applications letter.
Employment Skills – to allow students to reflect on their work shadowing and demands of the workplace.
Apprenticeships and T-Levels talks from providers in the local labour market.
Experiences of the workplace through our Careers Fair.
Relationships
A variety of sessions on the core beliefs and practices of religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and the practices of Yoga and Meditation.
Respectful Relationships – examining the laws on sex and the importance using contraception.
Disability – exploring misconceptions and stereotypes associated with disabilities.
E Year
Health
Healthy Living – to help students understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
Staying Calm – to provide students with coping strategies for staying calm in stressful situations, such as exam pressure.
Online Presence – to educate students on how to be safe online.
Personal Health – to inform students of the risks of STIs and where to get help in the case of an unexpected pregnancy.
Smoking – to understand the dangers of smoking.
Careers
Alongside these sessions, students will also have individual mock careers interviews with external volunteers.
Future Planning – to allow students to consider their post-16 options
Where am I now? – students to reflect on their College or Sixth Form taster days.
CV Writing - to look at what makes a good CV.
Further and Higher Education Talks to examine the different routes available to students post-16.
Applying to College or Sixth Form – to examine effective applications to College or Sixth Form.
Relationships
Philosophy and Ethics and Question Time – gives students the opportunity to reflect on different philosophical and ethical scenarios and pose questions to members of different religious faiths.
Body Image - examining the impact of harmful imagery on an individual’s own mental health, self-esteem and relationships with others.
Sexual Health – to discuss and understand issues relating to the laws surrounding sex and social media
Gender Stereotypes – examining issues associated with gender stereotyping.
Sixth Form
Get Work Ready day
On this day our Lower Sixth students work with over twenty professionals from different industries, developing their soft skills through a range of active workshops and mock interviews, and learning more about the opportunities open to them after Sixth Form.
Relationships & Health
Sexual Consent & Sexual health – students discuss sexual health issues and boundaries and the meaning of consent within relationships, with guidance on where to get help if needed
Staying safe as new drivers – Through a presentation made by Hertfordshire Fire Service and other road safety bodies, students understand the factors that lead to young drivers having a disproportionate number of road collisions, and how to keep themselves safe. This is followed up with a talk from an ex-firefighter in year 13.
UK’s political system – A workshop to help students to understand the democratic processes in the UK, as well as the role of their MP. This is developed further through a visit to Parliament in Year 13.
Homelessness – the local organisation Herts Young Homeless work with students to help them understand the causes of homelessness and consider ways to access support if they experience challenging home situations.
Managing anxiety – this workshop helps students to recognise anxiety as a continuum, with everybody experiencing some anxiety at some times. Self-management techniques are encouraged and support within college is signposted to students.
Careers
Work shadowing – in Year 12, students are all encouraged to complete one day of in-person or virtual work shadowing. Guidance is provided on how to access virtual work experience, through sites such as www.theforage.com which typically last 5-6 hours. Students aiming for specific careers or courses after Sixth Form, such as Vet Medicine or Primary Education are supported in finding further work experience before they apply.
Further details of the comprehensive programme of support offered to students to help them identify, research and apply for their post-18 destinations can be found here.
“Plan your future” day
On this day in the Summer Term we invite recent ex-students of the college to return in order to offer their advice and information to our current Year 12s. Between 40 and 90 ex-students join us for this event each year, and their advice forms part of a multi-week programme during which Year 12 students will be given the chance to visit universities and apprenticeship providers, and to begin their post-18 applications.
Preparing to leave home
Cooking healthily – students practice cooking a range of healthy meals on a small budget as part of our “Preparing to leave home” carousel of workshops
Basic car maintenance – Students are given a hands-on demonstration of how to change a car tyre, check fluids, check the tyre tread, and other essentials.
Living on a budget – with an eye to living independently for the first time, students work through a weekly budget, learning to prioritise their needs and wants.
Visit to Houses of Parliament
Building on the workshop on Politics in Year 12, students visit the Houses of Parliament for the day, touring both houses, meeting their local MP and participating in a workshop to better understand our democratic processes.
