Last half term, we ran an entire REAL drop-down day at St Crispin’s School, Wokingham. REAL stands for Relationships, Esteem, Aspiration and Lifestyle.
It was a great chance to have genuine, much-needed conversations with these brilliant young people – on the topics that most concern them.
For one activity, the young people had to categorise things under “things that just happen” or “things that we choose to make happen”. There was a great debate about where “trust” fitted.
We also had a good, in-depth discussion about whether sex is something that “just happens”. The students brought up issues such as whether it “just happens” if you are intoxicated or whether you still make a choice.
They were really interested to learn the legal standpoint on sex, sexting and consent, which is such an important topic.
As always, the students enjoyed hearing about and discussing real life stories and scenarios – particularly one that highlighted the dangers of sharing social media contacts with strangers.
A teacher even told Michelle: “I learnt things today that I never knew!”
We’ve got our next REAL session coming up at The Emmbrook School this week. We’re looking forward to creating a safe discussion space there, and to hearing more young people’s thoughts.
