Staying Safe Together

Overview

Duration: 49 minutes
Class Size: 9 students
Age Group: Year 7 (working at EYFS–Year 3 level)
Curriculum Area:

• PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education)
• Aligned with the statutory guidance of the RSHE curriculum in England for KS3, adapted to match cognitive developmental profiles and engagement needs of students working at a lower academic level.
• Linked to EYFS PSED (Personal, Social and Emotional Development) – "Managing Self" and "Building Relationships" aspects, as well as KS1 PSHE – learning about safety and people who help us.

Learning Objective (LO):
👣 To understand how to keep myself safe

Teaching Style:
This session is designed for an engaging, interactive drop-down day, with practical, creative learning. Sensory-friendly, movement-based opportunities, visual support, and role-play are built in to accommodate diverse needs and spark excitement.

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Warm Welcome & Settling In (5 mins)

Activity:
🌟 Feelings Check-In Circle

Each student sits in a circle and picks a visual emotions card (happy, sad, scared, calm, angry, excited). They place their card on a “Feelings Wall” and say (or gesture/point) how they feel.

Purpose:

• Build emotional vocabulary for recognising unsafe feelings
• Foster community and trust

Resources:

• Visual emotion flashcards
• Emotions Wall (large felt board or magnetic board)

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Starter Activity – "What's Safe?" Sorting Game (8 mins)

Activity Title:
🧠 Safe or Unsafe? Interactive Sorting Game

Overview:
Pupils receive picture cards and work in pairs or small adult-supported groups to sort into two hoops:

• ✅ SAFE
• ⚠️ UNSAFE

Examples of Image Cards:

• Crossing at zebra crossing ✅
• Talking to a stranger alone ⚠️
• Wearing helmet on scooter ✅
• Playing near fire ⚠️
• Speaking to a trusted adult ✅
• Getting lost ⚠️

Adjustments:
Symbols, PECs (Picture Exchange Communication Symbols), or simplified images provided as required.

Resources:

• Laminated picture cards
• Red and green hoops for sorting
• Visual support boards

Learning Link:
Builds foundational concepts of personal safety; supports KS1 PSHE and EYFS Understanding the World.

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Main Activity – Safe Choices Carousel (28 mins total)

🔄 Station-based Practical Activities

Four 7-minute rotating stations where pupils learn different safety scenarios and practise how to stay safe. Adult support available at each station.

📍Station 1: Stranger Danger Drama

Activity:
Role-play scenarios with students practising what to do if a stranger approaches them. Adult acts out a scene (e.g. stranger offers sweets, asks for help finding a dog). Students practise saying or signing “No”, walking away, or going to a safe adult.

Resources:

• Simple costume props (hats, fake glasses)
• "Trusted Adults" visual cards
• Script cue cards using Widgit or other symbols as required

📍Station 2: Safe Places Snap

Activity:
Card game matching pairs of safe places (school, home, police station, shop) vs unsafe places (abandoned building, dark alley, railway tracks). Discussion encouraged at each match.

Resources:

• Laminated snap cards with safe/unsafe locations
• Discussion prompt cards

📍Station 3: Who Can Help? Puppet Talk

Activity:
Pupils use puppets (e.g. nurse, teacher, parent, police officer) to identify and name trusted adults. Game includes choosing someone to help in a role-play scenario (e.g. lost at supermarket).

Resources:

• Puppets or large character dolls
• Scenario cards
• "Help Map" – visual display linking people to problems

📍Station 4: My Safety Circle Art

Activity:
Pupils create a “Safety Circle” poster – drawing or sticking pictures of people who help them feel safe. Can add photos from home (prepared day before), or choose from magazines/symbol cards.

Resources:

• Large paper circles
• Scissors, glue sticks, crayons, safety pictograms
• Magazines or printed images
• Pre-cut photos if available

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Plenary – Safety Show-Off (5 mins)

Activity:
🎤 "Show and Tell": My Safe Person

Each student stands (or sits) and shares their Safety Circle or says (or signs) one thing they learned today about staying safe. Adults can support with sentence stems:

• "I feel safe when I’m with _____."
• "I say no when ____."

Purpose:
Reinforce learning, develop communication of boundaries, and celebrate confidence in keeping safe.

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Assessment for Learning

• Observation checklists at each station (provided for LSAs), looking at:

  • Can the pupil identify a safe adult?
  • Can they name (or select) a safe choice in a scenario?
  • Do they show an understanding of how to keep themselves safe (verbally, through symbol use, gestures or drawings)?

• Pupils' work (Safety Circles and Snap results) can be added to personal learning journals.

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Vocabulary Focus

Word / Phrase	Symbol Support	Makaton Sign
Safe	✅	Yes
Unsafe	⚠️	No
Stranger	Visual person card (with ?)	Stranger
Trusted adult	Picture symbols of helpers	Adult
Help / Danger	! icon	Help / Danger

Visual dictionaries can be sent home after the session as a home–school link.

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Resources List

• Emotion flashcards
• Sorting activity cards
• Green/red hoops
• Role-play props
• Puppet set
• Card snap game
• Safety Circle materials
• Observation checklist templates
• Visual cue cards (Makaton-supported where possible)
• Symbol picture bank

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Extension / Home Link

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Home Safety Hunt – send home a visual checklist for pupils to complete with families:
“Where are safe places near my home?”
“Who keeps me safe at home?”

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Teacher WOW Factor ✨

🎉 This is more than a lesson – it’s a sensory, inclusive, practical journey into understanding personal safety. By combining drama, art, role-play, and games, students explore real-life risk and protection in fully accessible ways. Every pupil is seen, included, and challenged at their level — making safety not just a concept, but a lived, felt experience.

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🧠 Pedagogical Note:
This session ties exploration and expressive arts with PSHE via the Statutory Relationships Education and EYFS Development Matters 2021, while placing heavy emphasis on communication and interaction, in line with SEND Code of Practice and EHCP targets.

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Reflective Teacher Question

📌 How might I include more life skills role-play into everyday PSHE lessons, to help embed safety and wellbeing authentically?

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Happy teaching, and remember: you're helping these students shape the confidence to say "I'm safe!" every day. 💪