relationships and sex education
Brooksbank students learn how to stay safe and feel confident to develop happy and healthy relationships not only with others but with themselves too.
As part of the Identity curriculum we cover Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We address the curriculum in our own unique way through a series of lessons and interactive sessions know as our Identity Curriculum. These are iGen and iD lessons, assemblies, and dedicated iDays.
Our identity curriculum
iGen
Fortnightly lessons exploring themes through a series of novels.
iD
Fortnightly lessons for Year 7 based around resilience, growth mindset and developing transferable skills.
iDays
Days where the normal timetable is dropped to make way for specialist sessions delivered by teachers, visiting professionals and outside agencies, enabling us to take a deep dive into important topics.
RSE is embedded across the curriculum in a variety of ways and is featured in many subjects students study.
Year 7
In iGen our students read ‘I am Malala’, a book by 15 year old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban as she travelled home from school. This is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism and a young girl’s fight for the right to education.
Year 8
Year 8 students read ‘Refugee Boy’ by Benjamin Zephaniah. This book explores themes of war, family and self discovery.
Alem’s father is Ethiopian, and his mother is Eritrean. With both countries at war, he is welcome in neither place. To save him from the conflict in their homeland, his parents give him up to a new home. Alem finds himself in London, in the hands of social workers, lawyers, foster parents, teachers – in children’s homes, hostels, schools, courtrooms.
Year 9
Reading ‘We are all Made of Molecules’ by Susan Nielsen, our Year 9 students will explore a range of issues as the teenage characters navigate new emotions and relationships - including the idea of first love.
Stewart is geeky, gifted but socially clueless. His mum has died, and he misses her every day. Ashley is popular and cool but her grades stink. Her dad has come out and moved out- but not far enough. When Stewart’s dad and Ashley’s mum move in together their worlds collide… and not in a good way.
KS4
Our KS4 are currently reading ‘An Act of Love’ by Alan Gibbons. This novel is set largely in Yorkshire, and follows the lives of childhood friends Chris and Imran who celebrate the Millennium as inseparable blood brothers, they are both seven years old.
Following 2011 their lives have taken very different paths. One has joined and served in the Army, the other is a potential jihadi recruit. They are no longer friends, and there are bitter wounds between them which remain unhealed. Will their childhood bond be strong enough to overcome an extremist plot?