Building Life Skills in LEH PSHE Programme

As an integral part of the British curriculum, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) sessions are designed to support students in the decisions they make now in their day-to-day lives; in understanding what to expect from the future, and in reflecting on the values they hold, which will help them to approach situations confidently as they move from childhood towards adulthood. The skills it develops are those promoting their future happiness and fulfilment.

At LEH Foshan PSHE is given a dedicated, hour-long lesson for all students as part of the normal timetable. All lessons are planned sensitively for each year group, and whilst the focus is on preparing students for a rewarding and fulfilling global future, our curriculum is tailored respectfully to local context and culture.

The first covers both physical and mental health, including managing emotions, dealing with stress, and avoiding unhealthy and dangerous habits and situations.

The second invites students to consider challenges and healthy approaches to a variety of relationships, including friendships, family, partnerships and marriage, rights and responsibilities in relationships, and staying safe in the online and offline world.

The third strand Living in the Wider World introduces our students to careers education, financial choices, media literacy and digital resilience, and social awareness, preparing them to embrace challenges and opportunities in the future world.

In this term, the school focuses on the Living in the Wider World strand. At the moment, students are doing the Careers modules differentiated for different age groups in which career choice, finance, research and presentation are involved.

In June, students will undertake a three-week project in their Houses researching local charities before putting their case forward promoting their identified charity to become the school's official charity. Following this project, students will participate in their final PSHE lesson of the year. For transition year groups: Year 11, Year 9, and Year 6 the focus will be on what they should expect moving up to the next level in their education, while for Year 10, Year 8, and Year 7 the focus will be on how they can use the upcoming holiday effectively to enable them to come back to school prepared and ready to continue their education.

Apart from being the Head of Physical Education Faculty and House Parent, Mr Lee Jones is also taking charge of the PSHE programme at LEH Foshan. He has many years of experience teaching in British schools in the UK and around the world including India, Mongolia, Kenya and China. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, and an MSc in Mental Health & Well-Being in Education with distinction.

At LEH Foshan our PSHE programme will be primarily delivered by the physical education department, as many of the topics covered fall into their areas of expertise but other teachers will be called upon to deliver more specialised topics including: the computer science department to deliver online safety, and math and business studies focusing on economic and financial education.

Life skills cannot be learned simply through theoretical lecturing and that is why our PSHE Lessons are full of practical content and activities such as discussions, presentations, group projects, workshops, experiments, such as the Egg Baby Experiment, etc.

We believe such activities not only allow students to put what they have learned into practice but also encourage them to develop our 8 C’s enabling them to become more confident in and prepared for future challenges and opportunities.

At LEH we are not just preparing students to achieve excellent academic results and enter the university of their choice for their chosen career, but we aim to prepare them to thrive and be happy in the world beyond school.

As the world is fast-changing, the course content of the PSHE programme will be constantly updated to make sure the knowledge and skills that our students have learned are applicable and transferrable after they graduate from school. We will also be looking at introducing more project-based studies combining different topics to the programme shortly allowing students to see how everything interacts.

Led by Mrs Carolyn Jones

Before this programme began, we sat down with the school nurse and discussed pregnancy and birth; we delved into a relationship with a new baby and looked at the changes babies can bring to a relationship – financial strain, relationship strain, lack of sleep, the joy of new life. We looked at the mother’s point of view and the father’s point of view.

The ‘babies’ arrived at school the following week, and individual students and student pairs were handed their new-born. The rules were simple –  

1. Your baby will travel everywhere with you.

2. You will care for your baby by always keeping it warm and happy.

3. Babies will not disturb lessons and are permitted naps in lockers during lessons.

4. You are not permitted to boil another egg if you break or lose the one you are handed.

5. All breakages must be cared for.

6. Baby journals must be completed.

The baby journals were daily reflections of their experiences; throughout the three days, our babies were taken to badminton, taken for COVID tests, bathed, dressed, and treated to family meals out.

When I touched my egg baby, Colin, the feeling of warmth flowed into my heart for the first time. Even though he was vulnerable like thin glass, he was as heavy as a real baby. The goal was simple, to keep him alive for just a few days, but the pressure that Colin gave me for that title of responsibility was heavy.  

On the first day, Colin was placed in a pencil case to make sure he could get a good rest and to prevent him from exhaustion or being hurt. On Colin’s second day, his body started emitting an odorous smell, so I decided to shower him. I adjusted the water temperature to 45 degrees Celsius and put him gently into the water; I used a soap sponge to wipe his body gently. After bathing him, I used a few pieces of soft tissue to dry his body and placed him on my bed. But suddenly, he dropped down from the bed! Fortunately, a book saved his life, and he didn’t hurt himself. After that, I decided I should place him in a safer place. I found a chocolate box that fitted him perfectly; I cleaned and disinfected the chocolate box where he lived. 

A few days later, it was time to say goodbye to Colin. I gave Colin back to Mrs Jones. I learned that being responsible was not an easy task, but I learned a valuable lesson from this meaningful experience.