In Pre5 education children will learn:
- that they are special unique people
- the importance of their own and other people's feelings
- about hazards at home, including household chemicals, and medicines
- that medicines are only taken from someone they trust, such as a parent, carer or medical professional
- to identify hazards outside, including discarded needles and syringes
- the importance of being independent and making choices to promote their own health
- the value of family , friends and other people who can be relied upon the help them
By the end of Primary 3, pupils will learn:
- about their internal and external body parts
- to make choices to keep healthy and avoid dangers, such as drugs
- safe use of medicine
- to recognise their own feelings about themselves and towards others
- to identify the ways in which people care for them and recognise the value of family and friends to help form good decisions about health
- to show simple ways of getting help and avoiding accidents
- to identify simple ways of dealing with potential hazards, such as drug litter
By the end of Primary 5, pupils will also learn:
- the impact of tobacco, alcohol, solvents and illegal drugs on the body
- that well-being is a necessary component of good health, and that drugs threaten this
- to make decisions in relation to keeping healthy
- to show safe ways of dealing with risky situations, including those related to drugs
- the relationship between physical activity and health
- the school policy regarding drug misuse by pupils
- of risks to health and safety in their community, and know how to avoid such hazards, for example misuse of substances
By the end of Primary 7, pupils will also learn:
- more about drugs, tobacco and alcohol, including effects of drugs, and attitudes to drugs, dealers and users
- that they are responsible for the decisions and choices they make relating to health
- the importance of healthy decision making and the range of leisure choices available to them
- about strategies to ensure that they do not use harmful substances
- of their emotional needs and strengths
- that peer and media influences can influence choices which they make
- to identify ways in which the wider, global community acts to protect health
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At the secondary stages drug education will normally be part of a combined personal and social, and health education programme. It will build on the provision at the primary stages to complete drug education in school.
By the end of S2, pupils will learn:
- about the range of drugs, their effects and consequences, medical and legal, of drug misuse, including drugs in sport
- that drugs are much more likely to cause health problems when more than one are used at the same time
- that the effects of drugs are often unpredictable, or develop gradually without the user realising it
- the school policy regarding drug misuse by pupils
- of the impact which healthy and unhealthy choices can have on their lives
- decision-making skills to allow them to make positive choices about their health
- that life involves taking risks and some are to be avoided as they can harm health
- about the law relating to drugs, tobacco and alchohol
- to show awareness of how to access local health support services
By the end of S4, pupils will also learn:
- symptoms of drug misuse
- the social cost of drug misuse
- that drugs have an effect on behaviour and ability to make decisions
- that infection can be spread by drug apparatus, including used needles
- skills of self-control, self-confidence and assertiveness to allow them to be in control of their own lives
- the value of fitness for health in adult life, and that drugs would threaten this
- that drugs, alcohol and tobacco can affect the development of the human embryo
Core drug education should be completed by the end of S4, since this is the time when pupils start reaching school-leaving age. By this time pupils should be equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to avoid misusing drugs.
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