PSHE Primary school sessions

Year 6 pupils from St Barnabas and St Paul's primary school at Bank Top took part in a six week healthy lifestyles programme based at the Healthy Living Centre. The sessions ran weekly and were facilitated by the Healthy Living Centre team and other specialists.

The sessions included various health topics that related to young people using fun methods such as discussion, team games, group work, quizzes and art. The first session was based on physical education, an introduction was given through doing some team ball games and taking pulses for half an hour. A discussion was then given on the importance of physical education and about the heart, how the body needs oxygen and how obesity and fat deposits can lead to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes etc.

The second session focused on healthy eating. The traffic light game was played to get started. This was played by showing the children pictures of food and asking them to place the food in order of health, e.g. red don't eat, amber eat in moderation and green eat lots of. The children then discussed their choices. They took the session further by looking at vitamin C. They talked about what foods had vitamin C in it and how its good for the body also how all healthy foods contain these and that they are important. The session then finished with a talk about five fruits and vegetables they could eat a day.

Mental and emotional well being was the topic for the third session. The session focused on exploring feelings such as what makes them happy, sad, angry, excited, scared. The children discussed which feeling they liked to feel the most and looked at activities that made them happy. To close the session there was an explanation on how doing things that fill your time and make you happy keep your mental and emotional well being healthy.

The fourth session was on bullying, focusing on how you would feel if someone didn't like you, people being different, and all people from whatever culture having one thing in common......... to be accepted and liked. We looked at what is bullying? Why do people bully and how bullying can affect a person. A game was then played called Bully Court, this game was played by giving each group a card to act out, ten minutes were given to think about the role they were going to play. Once this was done there was a discussion on the outcomes with the class and what they think about it.

For the fifth session P.C. Paul Meades a community police officer came in to speak to the children about drugs. Each child was given a booklet about drugs including the law and drugs and the dangers and effects of drugs, once the book was completed they received a certificate.

Smoking was the final session, a big draw out of a human body was placed in the middle of the class, the children then wrote down the dangers of smoking and placed their answers on the right parts of the body. The children were then put into two groups and had a quiz on all the topics they had been learning about over the last six weeks. The winning group received prizes. A healthy living session evaluation sheet was given to each of the children to complete, a few of the children's comments are below;

Year 6 pupil : "The bits I enjoyed most about the sessions were when the police man came in."

Year 6 pupil : "The bits I enjoyed most about the sessions was when we made a poster and the quizzes."

Year 6 pupil : "From the sessions I learnt about drugs and health."

Year 6 pupil : " From the sessions I learnt about teamwork."

Year 6 pupil : "From the sessions I learnt about how illegal things could get you in big trouble."

Abdul Mulla (Manager)
abdul.mullablackburn.gov.uk