The Big Picture Programme provides students with the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. Big Picture lessons will enable students to discuss the themes and topics linked to statutory content whilst also providing a broader programme which covers economic wellbeing, careers and enterprise education, as well as education for personal safety, including assessing and managing risk. It will help students to stay healthy and safe, while preparing them to make the most of life and work.
At Key Stage 3, students will build on the knowledge and understanding, skills, attributes and values they have acquired and developed during the primary phase. Big Picture lessons will acknowledge and address the changes that young people experience, beginning with transition to secondary school, the challenges of adolescence and their increasing independence. It will teach the knowledge and skills which will equip them for the opportunities and challenges of life so students can learn to manage diverse relationships, their online lives, and the increasing influence of peers and the media.
Students will develop their knowledge and understanding of three core themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World:
- Health and Wellbeing lessons, students will discuss age related topics linked to self-concept, mental health and emotional wellbeing, healthy lifestyles, drugs, alcohol and tobacco, managing risk and personal safety, puberty and sexual health.
- Relationships lessons, students will discuss age related topics linked to positive relationships, relationship values, forming and maintaining respectful relationships, consent, contraception and parenthood, bullying, abuse and discrimination, social influences.
- Living in the Wider World lessons, students will discuss age related topics linked to learning skills, choices and pathways, work and career, employment rights and responsibilities, financial choices, media literacy and digital resilience.
Careers Education and Economic Wellbeing lessons will also be linked to the updated Careers Development Institute (CDI) 2021 framework. ‘Career’ describes our journey through life, learning and work. We need actively to develop our careers to make the best of them. This process of career development takes skill as well as knowledge and the right attitude. Individuals need to work on their career development skills throughout their lives. The CDI’s Career Development Framework describes the six career development skills that people need to have positive careers:
Grow throughout life/Explore possibilities/Manage career/Create opportunities/Balance life and work/See the big picture
