Whole-school SCARF Scotland 2: Teaching and Learning

Whole-school SCARF Scotland: Teaching and Learning

"Good health and wellbeing is central to effective learning and preparation for successful independent living. This aspiration for every child and young person can only be met through a concerted approach; schools and their partners working together closely to plan their programmes for health and wellbeing explicitly, taking account of local circumstances and individual needs." Curriculum for Excellence: Health and wellbeing across learning: responsibilities of all: principles and practice.

This page will support your curriculum Implementation. It gives you tools to promote excellent teaching and learning within your health 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

1. Ready for Learning: mindfulness resources and strategies

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.

View the Ready for Learning Mindfulness resources.

2. Creating a safe learning environment

Child protection and safeguarding are a priority in everything that happens in schools. A health and wellbeing curriculum covers sensitive topics that could lead to disclosures or other safeguarding issues.
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.

View comprehensive guidance on creating a safe learning environment.

3. Introducing a SCARF unit: themed assemblies and other resources

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 section of our Policy and Planning page.
You may also find it useful to review this list of recommended books to enhance learning within health and wellbeing.

4. SCARF lesson plans - a guided tour

SCARF lesson plans are designed to be easy to follow with all related teaching resources included and with best practice guidance in health and wellbeing 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.

A guided tour around the SCARF lesson plan framework and content.

5. Teaching and Learning strategies

A series of films to support effective teaching strategies – in health and wellbeing and across the whole curriculum. Many schools report to us that these resources are valuable to them for individual staff CPD, to support NQT staff, or for whole-school Inset.

View the films.

6. Supporting a growth mindset

SCARF supports your wider curriculum in implementing a growth mindset. Research shows that many schools understand the principles of growth mindset but don't implement them effectively. We've developed guidance along with specific SCARF lessons to help you embed the key principles of a growth mindset to increase the impact of this approach.

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.