A guide to
Cambridge Primary Wellbeing
Introduction
Cambridge Primary Wellbeing is designed to support learners through a period of development where they learn new things, explore the world around them, and develop important social and emotional skills.
Our Cambridge Primary Wellbeing curriculum encourages learners to be active participants in the development of their own and others’ wellbeing. Learners reflect on and understand themselves, foster positive relationships with others, learn how to be safe and be active participants in an ever changing world.
Cambridge Primary Wellbeing exemplifies a holistic approach to wellbeing underpinned by the research in our Education brief: Learner wellbeing.
Cambridge Primary Wellbeing learners:
- develop their understanding of factors that contribute to their emotional and physical wellbeing
- practise a wide range of strategies for managing their emotional and physical wellbeing
- explore a wide range of interpersonal relationships, including friendships, family, the importance of community and social responsibility
- demonstrate positive expressive and receptive communication skills when interacting with others
- are empowered to manage their own safety and respond to change in a wide range of situations
- explore how they can contribute to the wellbeing of others.
Teaching Cambridge Primary Wellbeing
We provide a wide range of practical resources, detailed guidance, innovative training and professional development so that you can give your learners the best possible experience of Cambridge Primary Wellbeing.
We believe that for teaching and learning to be effective, there should be alignment between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. We have designed Cambridge Primary Wellbeing around this principle:
Curriculum – taken from Primary Wellbeing Curriculum Framework
123Rh.01 Identify different types of people who are a part of their lives.
Pedagogy – 123Rh.01 activity taken from the Stages 1 to 3 Scheme of Work
Brainstorm different types of people in learners’ lives, e.g. family, friends, teachers, carers. Highlight how they see some people more regularly than others. Highlight how each person has different key people in their life. For example, some children have grandparents and some children do not.
Provide learners with a template of a garden or outdoor space and some silhouettes of adults and children. Invite learners to cut, stick and label people in their outdoor space who are part of their lives. Challenge learners to place key people in their life (those who they see more regularly) closer to the centre and those they see less regularly further from the centre. Invite learners to share their drawing with other members of your class.
Assessment
You can assess this activity when you are listening to learners as they share their drawing with the class.
Curriculum Framework
The Cambridge Primary Wellbeing Curriculum Framework is available to download on the Wellbeing (0034) page of the Cambridge Primary support site. It provides a comprehensive set of learning objectives that give a structure for teaching and learning and can be used to assess learners' attainment and skills development.
We have divided the learning objectives into three main areas called ‘strands’, which run through every stage.
Each strand is further subdivided into ‘sub-strands’:
To support flexible implementation, the learning objectives are grouped into Stages 1 to 3 and Stages 4 to 6. You decide when it is most appropriate to cover each learning objective with your learners. You also decide whether to cover a learning objective only in one stage, spread the content over multiple stages, or revisit and reinforce learning across multiple stages.
We have designed the learning objectives to ensure progression in learning from Stage 1 to Stage 6 and onwards into Cambridge Lower Secondary. You can download a Progression Grid, that outlines the progression for all learning objectives across all stages, from the Wellbeing (0034) page of the Cambridge Primary support site.
Below is an example taken from the Progression Grid showing how knowledge, understanding and skills progress across the stages:
| Learning objective examples | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strand | Stages 1 to 3 | Stages 4 to 6 | ||||
| Understanding myself | 123Ui.01 Identify a wide range of emotions in themselves and others. | 456Ui.01 Identify a wide range of emotions in themselves and others using a wide range of vocabulary. | ||||
| My relationships | 123Rh.04 Know how to resolve an argument. | 456Rh.04 Know how mutual compromise can be used to resolve conflict. | ||||
| Navigating my world | 123Nb.02 Understand what sustainability means in different contexts. | 456Nb.02 Identify ways in which they can behave more sustainably. | ||||
Pedagogy
The Curriculum Framework gives you a list of learning objectives for each stage. Our support materials then give you guidance on:
- how to split the objectives into smaller steps, and how to differentiate to make the work easier or harder
- suitable activities through which to teach
- ideas for active learning
- guidance on where Wellbeing learning objectives can be integrated into the teaching and learning of other Cambridge Primary subjects
- key points to consider for your planning and teaching and learning
- references to any relevant theories that underpin the activities for each learning objective.
Find and access the following support materials, on the Wellbeing (0034) page of the Cambridge Primary support site:
- Progression Grids
- Schemes of Work
- Teacher Guide
- Digital Teacher's Resources
- Endorsed resources
- Training
The Cambridge Wellbeing curriculum is designed to support flexible implementation. You may choose to teach it as a standalone subject, integrated within other subjects, through activities outside of the formal curriculum or in any combination of these. In recognition that opportunities to practise, revisit or build upon elements of the curriculum will arise outside of formal lesson time, the Cambridge Primary Wellbeing schemes of work include examples of spontaneous teachable moments for each learning objective.
You can find more general information about these support materials on the About Cambridge Primary page of the Cambridge Primary support site.
Find information from the Scheme of Work
Find information from the Scheme of Work
Look in the Stages 1 to 3 Scheme of Work. Find an activity that shows an approach to teaching the following learning objective:
123Rh.16 Demonstrate respectful behaviours with others who have different attitudes, experiences or traditions to their own.
Look in the Stages 4 to 6 Scheme of Work. Find an activity that shows an approach to teaching the following learning objective:
456Um.06 Understand that comparing themselves with others can contribute to an unhealthy mindset.
Choose an activity
Choose an activity
Consider how you could integrate these learning objectives into the teaching and learning of other subjects in your school curricula.
For more information on the approaches to teaching and learning in Cambridge Primary Wellbeing, refer to Section 3.4 of the Teacher Guide.
Assessment
The Cambridge Wellbeing Check is a quick and intuitive, learner-led digital assessment designed to measure the wellbeing of learners aged 7 to 18. It can be used at any point throughout the academic year, and as many times as needed. The Check measures wellbeing across four areas: competence wellbeing, interpersonal wellbeing, life satisfaction and negative emotions.
The Check can be used as a pedagogical tool in combination with the Check lesson plans to teach learners about what wellbeing is and to support learners in looking after their own wellbeing. The Check lesson plans are designed specifically for learners at different stages of education. These can be used in addition to the lesson plans provided for the Primary Wellbeing Digital Teacher’s Resources and activities in our Schemes of Work.
The Check can also be used to make whole-group or whole-school evaluations and to gain insights into individual learners’ wellbeing. The Check is not a tool to measure or diagnose a learner's mental health.
Instant feedback and reports help you see a complete picture of wellbeing at individual, class/group and whole-school levels, and to track your learners’ wellbeing over time.
Further information about the Cambridge Wellbeing Check is available from https://www.cem.org/wellbeing
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