Ket Stage 2

Keep on Track

Keep On Track is a life-skills programme for 7-9 year olds growing up in a drug using world; where the right decisions are paramount to a successful and valuable contribution to the community. It follows on from the On Track programme.

What is Keep On Track?

This programme of study has been written by teachers; for teachers, parents, carers and grandparents to use in their learning environments at home, in school and the wider community. An extensive research project was developed which enabled a detailed pilot scheme to be undertaken and this research has enabled the development of a set of completed resources. This is a cross-curricular programme that enables access to other areas of the curriculum. The resources created link with the national Curriculum.

Why was it written?

On Track, a life-skills programme for children in Key Stage One had previously been developed and there was already an extensive Programme of Study delivered in Nottinghamshire for Years 5 and 6. However, there was a lack of quality material to ensure progression of drug education in Years 3 and 4 linking to the ECM Framework. This programme of study was funded by Experian, has had the backing of Nottinghamshire Police, Nottinghamshire County LA, Nottingham City LA and our charity, Life Skills Education.

Keep On Track is a life-skills programme that teaches children:

How to weigh up risks and consider the consequences of their actions.
How to deal with pressures and influences.
The safe and responsible use and storage of medicines and other potentially harmful substances including volatile substances.
About the harmful effects of cigarettes.
About the potentially harmful effects of alcohol.
To assess their own learning, evaluate work completed and their actions in order to become a responsible young person in the community in which they live.
To be able to engage positively and responsibly with their parents, carers and grandparents.

How is Keep On Track structured?

There are a series of eight flexible, interactive lessons which can be adapted by individual schools according to local or national priorities. These lessons are accompanied by a series of Power Point Presentations to assist the teacher.

To enable teachers to engage parents, carers and grandparents positively there is an introductory Power Point explaining the learning intentions and structure of the lessons. At the end of the programme, there is an opportunity for children to share their learning with all Stakeholders in order to raise the profile of key messages learned and celebrate their achievements.

Pride Place

The programme centres around a fictional street, called Pride Place. At the beginning of each lesson, the children receive a letter from one of the characters from the Street. The characters have been chosen in order to explore the multicultural aspects of our society and the many different issues that arise in everyday life.

Characters

We explore the characters’ family and background, from a variety of different settings. There is even an opportunity for teachers and children to explore their own set of characters based on the school’s catchment area. Having read the problem letter and met the letter-writer and their family, the children discuss the issues and write a letter in reply, explaining what they have learned in the lesson.

A lady spraying her armpits in the bathroom

What did the research show?

Children, parents, carers and grandparents were concerned about a variety of key elements:

Behaviour

associated with alcohol and how people acted when under the influence.

Understanding

of safe procedures when coming into contact with suspicious packages.

Knowledge

that all medicines are drugs but not all drugs are medicines.

Stereotyping

children believed that drugs were only issued and used by ‘druggies’.

How does Keep On Track fit in with the National curriculum?

Including the Cross Curricular Links

Keep On Track provides teachers with a significant component of the PSHE curriculum, in that it encourages children to discuss and justify their views; it gives them the skills to face new challenges; it teaches them some of the ways of developing a healthy, safer and more responsible lifestyle.

Teachers can use the resources to create a series of lessons that demonstrate systematic progression. Through a range of teaching styles children, parents, carers and grandparents can have access to key elements of the PSHE and Science curriculum in order to develop understanding of the world in which we live.

The On Track crew - 7 characters from the worksheets

Cross curricular links:

There are further opportunities for teachers to explore Cross Curricular links in other areas of the curriculum, for example:

1) Geographical Enquiry: Looking at land use and why certain areas feel safer than others.

2) History: Issues that affect Society, how an area has changed over a period of time.

3) ICT: Filming, voice over recordings (podcasts), research developments, designing posters, website development opportunities, learning platform discussions.

4) Design and Technology: Design a storybook of an incident with pop-up mechanisms.

5) Art: Design a poster using a variety of different media.

6) Numeracy: Obtaining local service provider data e.g. the amount of syringes found in different areas.

Throughout the programme, children will be extending their understanding in a positive and supported way, in order to be able to deal with some of life’s more difficult challenges.