Wellbeing for Life curriculum

Learning objectives

DfE statutory guidance 2025/26*

Year 7

Lesson 1: Managing emotions

To learn how to manage emotions when transitioning to a new key stage.

Lesson 2: Managing distraction

To learn how distractions can affect someone’s wellbeing, and how they can be managed.

Lesson 3: Developing positive thinking habits

To learn how developing positive thinking habits can support wellbeing

Lesson 4: Managing rumination and worry

To learn how to manage rumination and worry.

Lesson 5: Managing tension and stress

To learn how to manage feelings of tension and stress.

Mental wellbeing

1. How to talk about their emotions accurately and sensitively, using appropriate vocabulary.
   
   
2. The benefits and importance of physical activity, sleep, time outdoors, community participation and volunteering or acts of kindness for mental wellbeing and happiness.
   
   
3. That happiness is linked to being connected to others. Pupils should be supported to understand what makes them feel happy and what makes them feel unhappy, while recognising that loneliness can be for most people an inevitable part of life at times and is not something of which to be ashamed.
   
   
4. That worrying and feeling down are normal, can affect everyone at different times and are not in themselves a sign of a mental health condition, and that managing those feelings can be helped by seeing them as normal.
   
   
5. Characteristics of common types of mental ill health (e.g. anxiety and depression), including carefully-presented factual information about the prevalence and characteristics of more serious mental health conditions. This should not be discussed in a way that encourages normal feelings to be labelled as mental health conditions.
   
   
6. How to critically evaluate which activities will contribute to their overall wellbeing.
   
   
7. Understanding how to overcome anxiety or other barriers to participating in fun, enjoyable or rewarding activities – that it’s possible to overcome those barriers using coping strategies, and that finding the courage to participate in activities which initially feel challenging may decrease anxiety over time rather than increasing it.

Wellbeing online

1. About the benefits of limiting time spent online, the risks of excessive time spent on electronic devices and the impact of positive and negative content online on their own and others’ mental and physical wellbeing.
   
   
2. The similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world, including: the impact of unhealthy or obsessive comparison with others online (including through setting unrealistic expectations for body image); how people may curate a specific image of their life online; the impact that an over-reliance on online relationships, including relationships formed through social media, can have.
   
   
3. The serious risks of viewing online content that promotes self-harm, suicide or violence, including how to safely report this material and how to access support after viewing it.

Being safe

3. How to determine whether other children, adults or sources of information are trustworthy, how to judge when a relationship is unsafe (and recognise this in the relationships of others); how to seek help or advice, including reporting concerns about others, if needed.

Years 8-9

Lesson 1: Managing strong emotions

To learn how to manage strong emotions.

Lesson 2: Managing distractions

To learn how to manage distractions, including online.

Lesson 3: Managing disappointments and setbacks

To learn how to reframe disappointments and setbacks.

Lesson 4: Unhealthy coping strategies

To learn about unhealthy coping strategies.

Lesson 5: Healthy coping strategies

To learn about healthy coping strategies.

Years 10-11

Lesson 1: Mental health and wellbeing throughout life

To learn how to manage emotions when encountering opportunities and challenges throughout life.

Lesson 2: Managing distractions

To learn how to manage unhelpful distractions.

Lesson 3: Changing thinking habits

To learn how to change thinking patterns to support wellbeing.

Lesson 4: Seeking help and support

To learn about mental health difficulties that commonly affect young people and how to seek support.

Lesson 5: Managing stress and tension

To learn strategies to manage stress and support mental health and wellbeing