Lifeskills
Lifeskills is not a national curriculum subject. It is unique to Dove House School and was set up to enable the students to gain an understanding and a knowledge of everyday skills which will enable them to live as confidently as possible in the wider community.
The subject delivers the main strands of personal, social and health education, this includes all elements of sex education, birth control and personal health, with an emphasis on the value of family life. They will visit crèches to play with small children and study childcare.
Many of the programmes taught address the key issues of citizenship. This includes visits to the Houses of Parliament, guided tours around a police station and a law court.
The students will learn about everyday living, shopping, travelling on public transport and crossing roads safely. They will gain confidence working in the wider community and learn to find out information from a variety of venues.
Some lessons will enable the students to develop practical skills such as cooking simple dishes and meals so that they can live as independently as possible post sixteen.
They will learn to wash up, lay tables, make hot drinks and clean a kitchen. They will iron, clean shoes, load a dish washer and washing machine.
Throughout the year each teaching group will be invited to spend some days at an education centre. Here the students have an opportunity to put all these skills to the test. They will work as a team to run the day, planning the menu, shopping for the items, cooking and cleaning up at the end of the day. The students view this day as a treat but of course they are practising vital skills. Year 7 will be offered a short residential trip to the centre.
From Key stage 4 the students take part in a programme of community care and regularly help local residents in their homes or pay visits to residential homes.
In Year 10 and 11 the lifeskills programme works with the students to give them a wider understanding of the world of work. They are helped with interview techniques and they visit a variety of work places to find out about the types of jobs available to them.
Lifeskills works with the individual to help them reach their full potential, to enable them to become as independent and confident as they possibly can before leaving us at sixteen.
