Whole-school SCARF: Teaching and Learning
"School-based programmes of social and emotional learning have the potential to help young people acquire the skills they need to make good academic progress as well as benefit pupil health and wellbeing. Opportunities exist to develop and promote social and emotional skills through a dedicated Personal Social Health and Economic education (PSHE) curriculum – including statutory content regarding Relationships Education (RE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education. Statutory guidance on the implementation of the curriculum states that such content should be delivered in a ‘carefully sequenced way, within a planned programme of lessons" PHE Promoting children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing – p.16 Curriculum, teaching and learning.
This page will support your curriculum Implementation. It gives you tools to promote excellent teaching and learning within your PSHE (including RSHE) and wellbeing curriculum. Whether new to SCARF or not, this section helps you develop or enhance the skills and strategies needed for effective teaching in this subject. The positive impact of implementing the strategies it develops will cross into other areas of the curriculum and behaviour across the whole school.
Key elements
At the request of many of our teachers, we’ve created an additional bank of age-appropriate activities and strategies to help children focus at the start of a lesson. Because children’s needs vary we’ve created a variety of resources; use your professional judgement to choose which will work best with your class.
We've developed guidance to help you navigate this. It's important that all staff teaching these lessons read this section before they begin teaching SCARF lessons.
Here are new resources to help you introduce and embed the learning within each of the SCARF suggested half-termly units including more SCARF assemblies and colourful visual prompts to help embed SCARF values:
Although designed to work with the SCARF suggested half-termly units, schools creating their own scheme from SCARF resources will also find these resources valuable; as with everything in SCARF, they’re flexible and adaptable.
- SCARF assemblies for each of the SCARF values and each of the half-termly unit themes. Find out more and view the SCARF assemblies.
- Key questions to promote reviewing and thinking skills. One complete set for each year group, based on the SCARF suggested half-termly units. View the Key questions.
- Key vocabulary for SCARF lessons can be viewed in the Vocabulary Builder
- You may also find it useful to review this list of recommended books to enhance learning within PSHE (including RSHE).
SCARF lesson plans are designed to be easy to follow with all related teaching resources included and with best practice guidance in PSHE (including RSHE) education built in.
This short film shows you how SCARF plans and additional resources give you the tools for excellence in teaching and learning in this subject - and save you time in planning and resource preparation.
View the Growth Mindset guidance.
Search Growth mindset on our Subjects and Issues page for SCARF lessons that specifically promote the skills and attitudes of a growth mindset.