Life Skills

Overview:

The aim of Life Skills at Newhaven King’s Park Campus is to equip our students with the transferable skills needed to be able to have fulfilling lives, both at school and for the future. For us, our students achieving independence is an exceedingly important part of the journey into adulthood.

So our students can develop and apply real world skills required for independent living, we offer preparation and guidance for areas such as: looking after themselves and others, making meals, communication and practical skills such as driving, decorating and home decor.

Our Life Skills curriculum gives students the opportunity to develop skills through the experience of daily activities both on and offsite. Through the Laser Qualification our students can work towards a strong foundation of essential skills to help them progress with confidence into the future.

Intent – why are we doing it?

We encourage our students to discover and recognise the skills required for independent living. Students gain the confidence and resilience to help them prepare, and raise their awareness for, the challenges of everyday living.

We also encourage students to learn how to recognise that this development of knowledge and skills will enable them to operate independently and effectively in life, learning and work.

We ensure students recognise personal growth and engagement in learning, develop transferable life skills and improve their life chances. We help our students have confidence in their own abilities, develop problem solving skills, including issues related to saving money and budgeting.

Through a variety of different projects planned this year, students will have a number of opportunities to practice these new skills, gaining in confidence and resilience.

Implementation – how are we doing it?

For the academic year 2024/2025 Life Skills have introduced several Laser units that will benefit students’ wellbeing and creativity, alongside supporting the transferable skills needed for future career plans and independent living.

These units, Art and Design Project, Communicating in a Practical Environment, Planning and Carrying out Research and Sewing Skills run alongside our more informal “Tea and Chatter” sessions which encourage friendships and enhance social communication. Later on in the year we will once again introduce our Introduction to Driving Theory and help students to apply for their provisional driving licences. Students learn through discussions, working with others and the practical tasks such as preparing events, researching and working as a part of a group.

Through art projects to redecorate the 6th form Common Room, to more ambitious plans to revamp the King’s Park garden, the students will learn the importance of planning whilst sticking to deadlines and budgets, health and safety when using hand tools, team work, general communication skills, how to cope with communication difficulties, hierarchies within an organisation and to positively critique their own work.

For the academic year 2024/2025 Life Skills have introduced several Laser units that will benefit students’ wellbeing and creativity, alongside supporting the transferable skills needed for future career plans and independent living. These units, Art and Design Project, Communicating in a Practical Environment, Planning and Carrying out Research and Sewing Skills run alongside our more informal “Tea and Chatter” sessions which encourage friendships and enhance social communication. Later on in the year we will once again introduce our Introduction to Driving Theory and help students to apply for their provisional driving licences. Students learn through discussions, working with others and the practical tasks such as preparing events, researching and working as a part of a group. Through art projects to redecorate the 6th form Common Room, to more ambitious plans to revamp the King’s Park garden, the students will learn the importance of planning whilst sticking to deadlines and budgets, health and safety when using hand tools, team work, general communication skills, how to cope with communication difficulties, hierarchies within an organisation and to positively critique their own work. Our students are helped to make informed choices and take part in activities which increase their chances of living independently and safely in own homes.

Impact:

We would like all students to develop skills such as teamwork, communication with others, how to dress and behave correctly for any given situation, and how to follow instructions – be they verbal instructions in the workplace, or written instructions on how to build flat pack furniture!

We would like to prepare our students to learn how to live independently by gaining skills in cooking for self, looking after a home, managing a budget, staying safe, have confidence in accessing services in the local community, gain transferable skills such as teamwork, communication with others, literacy and numeracy skills and develop personal skills.

We would like them to become confident, resilient and independent young people who are able to make the right choices and to use and apply their skills consistently in their daily lives.