We are hugely proud of our new BTEC Health & Social Care courses in Year 10 and Year 12. We all know the care sector is a critical one for society and it offers a wide range of career routes.

We are taking part in National Alzheimer’s Week so this field trip designed to fit into the practical element of the BTEC course also offers a real insight into dementia and Alzheimer’s care.

Year 10 Health & Social Care visited Darwin Course Care Home in Lichfield to learn more about the condition and met residents, staff and families to learn more about the condition, how care is given, and the impact it has one the wider family.

The students then took part in a memory charity walk in aid of Alzheimer’s UK as they joined residents and staff walking around the roof-top garden.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their educational visit and have now said they have a real urge to work in the health and social care sector following their visit.

Kim Fallows, Head of Health & Social Care said: “The support of Jane Lane (Activities Co-Ordinator) and the insights of residents (Edna, Ken, Colin and Robert -whose family also worked with us) was truly inspiring. The students are now using their experiences to deliver assemblies this week as part of National Alzheimer’s Week and this will bring an important topic to the minds of the entire student body.”

Matt Allman, Headteacher, added: “We are passionate about placing lessons in a real-life context – young people learn better when they can see the relevance of what they are doing. Equally, dementia and Alzheimer’s are issues which all of us will come into contact with – either ourselves or through our families – and getting a grasp of this as a teenager is a real-life awareness of the challenges of life.”