The Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience offers a comprehensive framework for understanding health and well-being
Equipping learners
It focuses on equipping learners with the skills and knowledge to navigate life’s opportunities and challenges. The core elements of this Area include physical health and development, mental health, and emotional and social well-being.
It encourages learners to understand how these components are interconnected while highlighting that good health and well-being are essential for successful learning.
Nurturing healthy, confident individuals
Achieving the vision outlined in this Area is key to nurturing healthy, confident individuals who are prepared to lead meaningful, fulfilling lives as active members of society. By fostering motivation, resilience, empathy, and decision-making skills, this Area helps learners become ambitious, capable individuals with a commitment to lifelong learning.
It also supports learners in becoming ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world by fostering respect, equity, active listening, and critical evaluation of social influences
Empowering learners
Through opportunities to manage risks, articulate thoughts and emotions, build and maintain healthy relationships, and embrace different roles and responsibilities, the learning experiences in this Area empower learners to become enterprising, creative contributors ready to engage fully in life and work.
Ysgol y Grango has a structured timetable to deliver lessons in Physical Education, PSHE and RSE to Years 7, 8 and 9. The school has timetabled lessons for Personal, Social and Health Education in Years 7 and 8 with a PSHE programme run in all year groups covering the elements of PSHE and RSE.
Homework
Homework can take a variety of forms including written tasks, revision exercises, online tasks and preparation for coursework or practical examinations. The aim of homework is to supplement the learning that takes place in the classroom and instil independent learning, a crucial lifelong skill. Staff aim to give ample time to complete homework tasks so learners should plan their own time carefully in order to meet deadlines. The frequency of homework can vary depending on the number of lessons offered over a fortnight.
The majority of subject areas make use of Google Classroom to communicate any homework requirements to the learners. I would encourage learners and parents/carers to check Google Classrooms regularly.
Parents/Carers should endeavour to provide a quiet space for their children to complete homework tasks. Where this is not possible, the school does provide such places for learners to access in their lunchtime or afterschool hours. Please encourage learners to discuss this with their tutors or progress leaders in the first instance.
Assessment
Assessment is an important aspect of a learner’s learning journey. Apart from indicating the current performance of an individual, assessments also inform learners and staff which areas they need to develop. At Ysgol y Grango, staff continuously assess a learner’s progress through a variety of methods. This could include informal assessment, such as quizzes or observations, or formal assessments, such as written tests or coursework.
Ysgol y Grango use an online system called Go4Schools to track and monitor individual learners. Learners and parents/carers can also access information such as reports and subject progress through their own Go4schools login.
Throughout Years 7 to 9 there are also opportunities for learners to sit nationally standardised assessments such as CATS, National Reading tests, National Procedural tests and National Reasoning tests, the outcomes of which inform future teaching and learning.