From September 2025, there will be some important changes to Life to the Full programme for secondary schools. This article highlights some of the changes so you can consider them in your planning for 2025-26. Here, you will find information on:

Updated Programme Structure

From September 2025, sessions will be called Themes.

Each Theme is broken into Units and there are usually 4 or 5 units per theme. Units should be taught sequentially, with each unit building on the one before.

To provide flexibility, the video and slides for each unit can be accessed through its own presentation window

Session Plans will be called Theme Plans. As before, these provide a full overview of the content and activities with timings and offer teacher guidance for the Theme.

The website now includes an overview of each Theme showing all the timings. This is available via the sidebar under Lesson Planning.

New Year 10 programme

You can now access Themes 1-5 of the new Year 10 programme. Themes 6 and 7 will follow later in the Summer Term.

We are delighted with the form, content and presentation of this completely revised video and lesson material. We hope that you and your students will be too.

Year 10 Themes cover the same content as the legacy programme. The Theme title is the same, but the Unit titles are largely different. Each Year 10 Theme requires a total time allocation that exceeds 50 minutes. For some schools, this may mean planning differently so that the content can be taught over more than one lesson (for example four units split across two lessons) or the first unit could be used within a tutor period to lead into the remaining units.

However, please be assured that the new programme structure format means that you will have more flexibility to make it work in your context. For further discussion around timings, please refer to the section, Why We Have Made These Changes.

Finally, please note that whilst we strongly recommend that you adopt the new Year 10 programme for the academic year 2025-26, the legacy programme will remain available for a further period of 12 months.

Timings

The timings for the other year group content remain the same as previous years – for now. However, the new programme structure format will allow us to add more units or bonus content in future.

End of Year 9 Legacy Programme

At the start of the academic year 2024-25, we introduced the new programme content for Year 9, which has been warmly received.

From 1 August 2025, the legacy Year 9 programme will be removed from the website and the only available programme will be the new Year 9 content.

Why We Have Made These Changes

There are 3 core reasons why we have made these changes to the structure and content of the programme:

Future-Proofing | We are keen to future-proof the Life to the Full programme and provide opportunities for the curriculum to be developed. We want to be able to respond to the needs of schools and to add additional units to themes. This new programme structure format gives us the flexibility to do that.

Statutory Changes | The new draft RSHE guidance was released in May 2024. The consultation period ended in July 2024, but we have not yet received the final draft of this guidance. We can presume from the draft guidance that there will be some significant additions. These changes to the way we structure the programme will allow us to respond.

Dedicating Time | A common theme in the feedback we receive is that a 45 or 50-minute session is not sufficient time to cover the lesson content. This puts schools in danger of leaving out important statutory content or missing out on core teaching that is often contained in the closing unit of each theme. Rather than try to squeeze our new content into 50 minutes, we have opted for giving more time to these vital issues, giving schools plenty of notice about this change so they can consider how to adapt to these changes in their curriculum planning.

Above all, we are committed to providing our schools with an outstanding RSHE programme that is fit for purpose and one that will serve the needs of schools and their students for many years to come.

When the Changes Will Take Place?

  • Themes 1-5 of the new Year 10 programme content is available now. Themes 6 and 7 will follow later in the Summer Term.
  • The legacy Year 10 programme will remain on the site throughout 2025-26, but we strongly recommend moving to the new programme content from September 2025.
  • The new layout for all year groups is available to preview now.
  • Full links for Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 will be available by 1 August 2025.