Curriculum for Wales brings health and wellbeing to the heart of teaching and learning and is a clear reflection of the importance that the Welsh Government continues to place on supporting the health and wellbeing of all children and young people in Wales now and in the future. Teachers and practitioners in schools and settings across Wales now have time and space to focus on the health and wellbeing of their learners because of the curriculum and not in addition to the curriculum. This change in emphasis provides practitioners with an exciting and challenging opportunity to design a responsive curriculum that supports the unique needs of their learners and enables them to understand how the different components of health and wellbeing are interconnected. Having a clear understanding of the holistic nature of the Health and Well-being AoLE is essential if practitioners are to seize and capitalise on the opportunity for positive change that this provides, recognising that good health and wellbeing is a key enabler for successful learning outcomes.
Discuss or create a mind map to consider what your setting already provides to support the health and wellbeing of all learners.
How much of this is embedded within the current curriculum and provided for all learners?
How much is additional and only accessed by some learners?
Children and young people in 21st century Wales face significant challenges to their health and well-being. A whole school vision for Health and Well-being should capture how an inclusive ethos and environment, and an authentic curriculum design will have a positive impact on all aspects of a learnerβs life both now and in the future. Developing a vision that permeates all aspects of school life will be most effective when undertaken collaboratively within the school or setting, across the cluster and with the wider school community, ensuring that there is a collective understanding that this Area must be a priority for everyone. Co-construction of the Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience should provide a comprehensive picture of the needs of the whole school community, addressing the unique needs of your learners. This process will need to include careful consideration of need from the basic to the complex, including physiological, safety and security, belonging, esteem and finally the learning needed to achieve full potential and creativity.
The following resources can also help you to identify the specific health and wellbeing needs of your learners:
π Health and Attainment in a Primary Education Network
π School Health Research Network
π Robin Banerjee's Sociogram Tools
π StreetCheck
What are the basic health and wellbeing needs of your learners?
How does your curriculum address safety and security?
How do your planned learning experiences address learnersβ psychological needs?
Now consider your whole school understanding of the world your learners live in. For the Health and Well-being curriculum to be truly authentic, it needs to connect with the life of the learner. The best way to gather this information is through connection and dialogue but there are other ways to support construction of meaningful experiences.
November 2019 Film of the Month competition winner is I'm the One, made by Eden, aged 15, in Powys.
I'm The One (Engaging for 11+), is a short mental-health focused film - shot in one continuous take - that takes us on a journey around a small village square, delving into the inner lives of a wide range of local people.
Having considered the statistics in this slides presentation and the content of the video:
What further challenges may face your learners?
How do these needs relate to the UNCRC?
π Children's Commissioner for Wales: UNCRC
Finally, think about the following questions:
Who do you currently collaborate with to support learner health and wellbeing?
Who else could you collaborate with to develop the Health and Well-being AoLE?
Learning experiences in all Areas should provide opportunities for learners to progress towards the four purposes. Consideration of the characteristics that lie beneath the headings of the four purposes will lead to an in-depth understanding of the vision of Curriculum for Wales.
As Curriculum for Wales is a purpose-driven curriculum, it is essential to understand the relationship between the Health and Well-being AoLE and the four purposes and consider ways in which this Area offers opportunities for learners to progress towards them. The four purposes are the shared vision and aspiration for every child and young person in Wales. At first glance it would be easy to make the mistake of thinking that it is obvious that this area of learning will simply help learners to become healthy and confident. However, when read and considered more closely it is clear that this AoLE plays a key part in supporting learners to also become ethical, informed, confident, creative, ambitious and capable.
The key to understanding the four purposes lies in becoming familiar with the characteristics that sit beneath the headings.
Highlight the characteristics with a clear link to the Health and Well-being AoLE. What do you notice?
How could you develop the highlighted characteristics of the four purposes through the Health and Well-being AoLE?
How could you develop the remaining characteristics?
The WFG Act is unique to Wales and demonstrates a commitment to improve well-being for all. This Act not only informs the high-level aspirations for educational reform, but also guide curriculum reform at a local level. The seven goals in the WFG Act clearly link to the statements of what matter and the characteristics of the four purposes and schools should consider these seven goals when creating their whole school vision for the Health and Well-being AoLE.
The statements of what matters encapsulate the essential learning required to realise the four purposes in each AoLE. They provide the key concepts for learning from age 3 to 16.
School and settings should consider the five statements of what matters for Health and Well-being in a holistic manner and should include them in their curriculum design both independently and interdependently.
There are five statements of what matters in the Health and Well-being AoLE:
Having read each statement of what matters in full, it can be helpful at this stage to create a visual and or/textual representation of each, to consolidate your individual or collective understanding of the learning required.
If you have created a visual for all five statements of what matters, can you begin to identify commonalities and connections?
The statements of what matters support and complement each other. They act as a βlensβ through which topics and issues can be explored, giving practitioners the flexibility to identify those which are relevant to the needs of their learners, their school or setting and their community.
The Health and Well-being AoLE is about every child. This activity gives you an opportunity to think about what that might mean for the vision for health and wellbeing in your school or setting. In small groups, use the template to build the βstoryβ of a learner in your school then bring the images you have created together to discuss how their varying needs are currently met by your curriculum and what changes you may need to make in order to address all their needs and support them in achieving the four purposes. As a starting point, think about:
Where the learner lives and their socio-economic circumstances
The family dynamic and support networks
The social groups they belong to/are excluded from?
Their ethnicity/language/faith
The gender they identify as and/or sexuality
Their school experience including additional needs
Their talents, opportunities, aspirations, challenges
Their health
This vision workshop for the Health and Well-being AoLE has previously been offered as online training, a recording of which is available opposite.
Having gained a better understanding of the vision and key principles of Curriculum for Wales, you may want to discuss with colleagues what the next steps are. To do this you could:
Further discuss the current needs of your learners
Consider how the whole school community can contribute to meeting these needs
Disseminate this vision to your wider community
Identify partners with whom you could collaborate.
A final thought
Health and wellbeing is the key to how we feel about ourselves and how we view our lives. Good health and wellbeing enables us to live fulfilling, productive lives and to make positive contributions to society. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It helps us determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. All learners deserve a curriculum that is inclusive and enables them to develop healthy relationships, to become positive in their own identities, and to develop competencies for promoting and sustaining their own well-being and that of others in a rapidly changing world.
It shouldnβt be left to chance.
To continue to develop your understanding of the importance of health and wellbeing in the whole school environment, further research and reflection can be undertaken to support your continuous professional development. The following videos and publications may be a useful start:
π Dan Siegel β The Integrated Mind
Author and clinical professor Dan Siegel explores relationships in the cultivation of well-being.
π Rita Pierson β Every kid needs a champion
Rita Pierson calls on educators to believe in their students and connect with them on a real, human, personal level.
π 'The Right Way A Children's Rights Approach in Wales'
π Y Ffordd Gywir: Dull Gweithredu Seiliedig ar Hawliau Plant yng Nghymru
