Welcome to the Health & Social Care department page:

The Courses we follow...

At Key Stage 4...

GCSE Health and Social Care (Double Award) – 2 Year Course (Years 10 and 11)

Course Details: Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR).
GCSE Health and Social Care (Double Award) has been designed to form a qualification which provides technical knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the subject so as to equip students with some of the skills they will need in the workplace or in further education or training. It allows students to experience vocationally related learning so as to enable them to decide if it is suitable for them.

The Students study 3 units over 2 years.
- Unit 1: Health, Social Care and Early Years Provision (course work).
- Unit 2: Promoting Health and Well-Being (course work).
- Unit 3: Understanding Personal Development and Relationships (Exam).
- Assessment is through regular tests, assessment tasks and mini projects. Students are also given the opportunity to self and peer assess work.
- The coursework (which is worth 66% of the final grade) is mainly done in Year 10.
- This course is ideal for pupils considering a career in a health or social care related profession as it leads on to further training/qualifications in health and social care.

At Key Stage 5...

Students can choose between two courses:

A Level Health and Social Care (Double Award) - 2 Year Course (Years 12 and 13)

Subject Title: OCR ADVANCED GCE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE (DOUBLE AWARD) This two year course consists of twelve units.
- Unit 1 – Promoting Quality Care
- Unit 2 – Communication in Care Settings
- Unit 3 – Promoting Good Health
- Unit 6 – Working in early years care and education
- Unit 7 – Health as a lifestyle choice
- Unit 9 – Caring for older people
- Unit 10 – Care practice and provision
- Unit 11 – Understanding human behaviour
- Unit 12 – Anatomy and physiology
- Unit 13 – Child Development
- Unit 15 – Social Trends
- Unit 16 – Research Methods in Health and Social Care


In the Advanced GCE (Double Award) at most eight units will be assessed internally, through a teacher-assessed portfolio and at least four units will be assessed externally with the assessment set and marked by OCR. These twelve units will be equally sized and equally weighted.

Pupils choosing this subject have to do work experience within a health, social care or early years setting as part of the course.

After completion of this course pupils could study this subject at a higher level, alternatively they could do further training e.g. nursing, therapy work, teaching etc.

OCR Level 2 National Certificate in Health and Social Care – 1 year course (Year 12)

This one year course consists of six units. Four units are mandatory and two are chosen from the list of optional units.

Mandatory units - Unit 1 Preparing to give quality care
- Unit 2 Communicating with service users in care settings
- Unit 3 Practical caring
- Unit 4 Hygiene and safety in care settings


Optional units
- Unit 5 Health care for children
- Unit 6 Health care for older service users
- Unit 7 Development and care of young children
- Unit 8 Preparing to work with young children
- Unit 9 Preparing to work with older service users
- Unit 10 Preparing to work with people with disabilities
- Unit 11 Practical first aid in care settings
- Unit 12 Nutrition and cooking for health
- Unit 13 Creative activities with individuals in care settings
- Unit 14 Career planning for the health and social care sector
- Unit 15 Work experience in health and social care settings


There are no exams. Tutors will assess work for all units and this will be checked by OCR.
To achieve the full qualification, pupils must achieve a total of six units. Four of these are mandatory and two are chosen from the list of optional units.
Pupils will have to do work experience within a health, social care or early years setting as part of this course.
After they complete this course they could study this subject at a higher level, alternatively they could do further training e.g. nursery nursing or a cadetship in nursing.