Teaching Staff
Head of Department
Mrs S McNicholl
Teaching Staff
Mrs McAleese
Mrs Niblock
Welcome to the Health and Social department here at Loreto!
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Health and Social Care is a subject which allows our Post 16 pupils to study the work of Health and Social Care providers in Northern Ireland, both practically and theoretically. Some of our past pupils have gone on to become doctors, nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, environmental health officers, to name but a few.
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Health and Social Care at Loreto
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The Health and Social Care department here at Loreto has three members of staff; Miss M McIlvenny, Miss N O’Neill and Miss A Crawford. As a department they work closely together to ensure that Health and Social Care is delivered across Year 13 and 14 groups in a stimulating environment. Outside speakers, ICT, videos and pupil presentations are all used to add to the diversity of the delivery of the subject. This makes Health and Social Care an extremely popular A-Level subject choice.
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The subject itself has been rapidly growing in popularity and numbers in the past few years and now we usually have two classes in each year group. Health and Social Care is usually delivered in a computer suite due to the need to be researching and completing work online. Currently, we have two Health and Social Care computer suites in school, one of which has been newly built for Health and Social Care use only, meaning the students have can unlimited access to computers to carry out research or complete their coursework. The new suite is fitted with eighteen computers as well as a new Promethean Activboard, allowing lessons to be successfully aided by technology.
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A look into Health and Social Care in Year 13
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In Year 13 the classes look at three separate modules. The ‘Promoting Quality Care’ (AS.1) and ‘Communication in Health, Social Care and Early Years Settings’ (AS.2) modules are both coursework based and therefore rely on the pupils completing five tasks for each. These pieces of coursework require attending a week long placement in October of Year 13, organised by the class teacher alongside the individual pupil. These placements usually take place in an early years setting such as a primary school or a medical setting such as a hospital. The pupil can decide themselves which area they would enjoy and they then go out and enjoy a working week. When they return, these pieces of coursework are completed. In AS.1 they will look specifically at how the workplace they have visited promotes quality care for their service users in terms of values of care, legislation, health and safety features and policies. Moreover, in AS.2 they will also look at how the different forms of communication are used in these different areas such as verbal, non-verbal, written and electronic communication.
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There is also an exam module in Year 13 called ‘Health and Wellbeing’ (AS.3). During this module, the students will investigate health and ill-health, with particular focus on physical, social and psychological health. They will look at how ill-health occurs as well as the impact that it has upon the service user physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. Furthermore, they will look at who is responsible for the promotion of health worldwide as well as particularly focusing on how health is promoted locally here in Northern Ireland.
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A look into Health and Social Care in Year 14
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Similarly, in Year 14, they look at three modules. The ‘Public Health and Health Promotion’ (A2.4) and ‘Supporting the Family’ (A2.5) modules are coursework based and they rely on the students carrying out independent research. The Health Promotion module looks at how the Public Health Agency supports and promotes positive health practices in Northern Ireland. This module also requires the Year 14’s to carry out a health promotion activity of their own where they deliver a presentation based on a current PHA promotion to a group of Year 8’s within the school. The Supporting the Family module requires the pupils to research different family structures. They also investigate the wide range of services available to families and the support that these services offer. Students produce a case study that describes their findings. They also investigate and produce a report on how statutory services and voluntary organisations support families with significant issues.
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There is also an exam module in Year 14 called ‘Providing Services’ (A2.3). In this module, students develop knowledge and understanding of service provision in the health, social care and early years’ sectors. They examine how policy, legislation and demographic characteristics can influence service provision. Students also explore the role of practitioners and how they work in partnership to identify and meet service users’ needs.
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Further Information
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Further guidance and information about the CCEA syllabus we follow for both Year 13 and 14 can be found here https://ccea.org.uk/post-16/gce/subjects/gce-health-and-social-care-2016.