An Inside Look at Lifeskills Class

At Dulwich, we adhere to holistic education and believe education must go beyond books, bricks and mortar. Instead, it must be a bridge to the world, with teachers who put students first, so they become doers, creative thinkers, innovators and leaders of tomorrow. One important aspect of holistic education is preparing students for life beyond the classroom, and our life skills classes are one of the ways we achieve that.

Lifeskills is skills for life. We cover topics that are useful and relevant for living and studying, enabling students to thrive when they leave Dulwich. Topics such as mental health, sex and relationships, alcohol, drugs and tobacco are dealt with sensitively, allowing students to explore these issues in a safe, non-judgmental environment. Topics such as social media usage and bullying are taught across all year groups, but the age-appropriate content variation will be applied, depending on the year group. This allows the students to develop their knowledge and awareness that is age-appropriate. Students find these lessons deeply engaging as they develop their confidence in giving opinions while listening to others and practising responses to real-life scenarios. 

Mr Garnhum, Mrs Crozier and Ms Atterton are the core teachers responsible for planning the courses. We believe that the program that we have developed, challenges students and opens a dialogue about topics that they may not have thought about before.

“I have already attended several life skills classes in the last couple of weeks. As a freshman, they provide great help with my new life in high school. The life skill classes in year 10 mainly talk about how to fit into this new life. The first class gave us an introduction to what we are going to learn during our four years of high school. In the classes that followed, we were taught how to deal with bullies and shown that if it happens to you, you need to speak out, do not just suffer in silence. Teachers will always be willing to help you. These strong words really impressed me and gave me the courage to ask to change my dormitory. Now, I feel happy every day thanks to the support from the life skills class! In Life Skills, we also learn about teamwork, which helps us with our steam projects (which we are working on right now). All in all, the Life Skill classes at Dulwich are a great help! They make me feel comfortable and confident in this new high school environment.”

--Anika L.

“Lifeskills class is very helpful for me and my other classmates also find it useful. We learned how to stay safe, for example, what can we do and who we can ask for help when we are bullied. These are actually a very suggestive learning experience for us to understand how to deal with problems by ourselves.”

--William Q.