The rhythm of a day. Cooking — food shopping, basic meal preparation, batch cooking, food safety, cooking on a budget. Time management — calendars, reminders, planning a week, planning around energy patterns. Transport — public transport, navigation apps, journey planning, driving (where applicable). Emergencies — when and how to call 999 / 111; first aid basics; what to keep in a first-aid kit; where the gas / water / electricity shutoffs are. Coordinating with others — housemates, family, services, deliveries. Cleaning and home upkeep.
The shape of this strand is visibly different for different learners — disabled learners, learners in residential care, learners with caring responsibilities will have different specific tasks but the same underlying skill: organising your own life with intention.
Tested by
- ASDAN Towards Independence — strongest direct overlay
- ASDAN Lifeskills Challenge
- ASDAN Personal and Social Development
- FS Maths L2 — Common measures (cooking, budgeting, journey-time)
Cross-curriculum
- RSHE — Health Education (healthy eating, basic first aid, healthy lifestyle)
- KS4 Science — Nutrition, digestion, and energy (nutritional knowledge underpins cooking)
- Functional Maths — Measures (recipes, cooking, journey times)
- Cornerstone — Nutrition (the explicit framework anchor for cooking content)
- Cornerstone — Rest (planning around one’s own energy is a Rest practice)
Suggested evidence types
- Weekly meal plan with shopping list, costed (cross-evidence for Functional Maths)
- Cooked meal with photo / video evidence + cost-per-portion calculation
- Journey-planning task using public transport apps
- First-aid scenario response (what would the learner do for: a small burn / a panic attack / a friend who is bleeding heavily / a family member who has fallen)
- Personal calendar / planning system design
A note on neurodivergence
This strand maps onto exactly the skills that executive-function differences make harder. Teaching here is about scaffolding — providing systems, not asserting that adults “just know” how to plan. Many of NEO’s learners will benefit from being told explicitly: adults use lists, calendars, alarms, and apps; the people who look organised are using systems, not magic.