PSHE

Intent

At Swanland, we are unified in our belief that the teaching of PSHCE & RSHE gives children the knowledge, skills and experiences children need to have a successful future. We believe that all children are entitled to high quality learning and teaching, which equips them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need today and prepare them well for the next step in their educational journey through our school.

Our PSHCE/RSHE curriculum, whilst being modelled on statutory requirements for PSHE/RSHE, is supported by the voices of the children in our school and their PSHCE/RSHE needs.

Our curriculum is a question-based, spiral curriculum that has been designed to give children the opportunity to build upon prior learning and embed and apply skills new and old as they move throughout our school.

The intent of our PSHCE/RSHE curriculum is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximize the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. As a result of this they will become healthy, independent and responsible members of a society who understand how they are developing personally and socially It will also give them confidence to tackle many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.

We provide our children with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

Throughout our PSHCE/RSHE teaching we aim to:

• Provide pupils with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and within the community.
• Encourage pupils to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of their school and communities.
• Allow pupils to learn to recognise their own worth, work well with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning.
• Give children the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.
• Allow children to understand and respect our common humanity; diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.
• Provide a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place.
• Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene.
• Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy
• Create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships
• Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies

Our PSHCE/RSHE curriculum incorporates an age-appropriate understanding of RSE, as set out in the statutory guidance, enabling all children to be safe and to understand and develop healthy relationships both now and in their future lives.

Implementation

At Swanland, we strive to provide our children with learning opportunities across and beyond the curriculum, in specific lessons, circle time, special school projects and other activities that enrich the children’s experiences. There are always occasions where teachers may feel it necessary to teach PSHCE because of an issue arisen in their own class. Our learning environment reinforces the PSHCE/RSHE curriculum through questioning, vocabulary and discussion topics on displays throughout school. We use values based learning, British Values and SMSC objectives to provide these opportunities for children. Through life skills sessions, links with the local communities, fundraising opportunities, visitors and national and international events we provide enrichment opportunities to contextualise learning. PSHCE is an important part of school assemblies where children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity is stimulated, challenged and nurtured.  We also foster a cross-curricular approach to PSHCE/RSHE to ensure coverage and opportunities for children to revisit and embed learning. Some of the PSHCE/RSHE units can be seen to be covered in RE or Science for example.

We have developed the curriculum in consultation with children and staff, taking into account the age, needs and feelings of children. If children ask questions outside the scope of the policy, teachers will respond in an appropriate manner so they are fully informed or given advise where to seek answers appropriately.

The PSHCE/RSHE curriculum is taught through lessons where we cover a number of different topics.

Health and well-being

• Healthy lifestyles:

Balanced diet, habits, food choices, balanced lifestyle, drugs common to everyday life, hygiene, what positively and negatively affects well-being, benefits of a balanced diet, making informed choices, images in the media and reality, risks and effects of drugs

• Growing and Changing:

Recognising what they are good at and setting goals, describing and managing feelings, changes at puberty, feelings associated with change, managing complex feelings, coping with transition, changes at puberty, human reproduction, roles and responsibilities of parents

• Keeping Safe:

School rules on health and safety, basic emergency aid, people who help them stay safe and healthy, keeping safe online, mobile phone safety, resisting peer pressure, rights to protect their body

Relationships

• Feelings and Emotions:

Recognising and responding to feelings in others, knowing when to keep something confidential

• Healthy Relationships:

Positive, healthy relationships and friendships, working collaboratively, acceptable and unacceptable physical contact, solving disputes and conflicts, negotiation and compromise, actions have consequences, different types of relationships, committed and loving relationships, marriage

• Valuing Difference:

Recognising and responding to bullying, listen to others, share points of view, recognise and challenge stereotypes

Living in the Wider World

• Rights and responsibilities:

Discuss and debate health and well-being issues, appreciating difference and diversity, rules and laws, human rights, being part of a community

• Environment:

Rights, responsibilities and duties, sustainability of the environment,

• Money/Financial Capability:

Enterprise, role of money, budgeting, interest, loan, debt, tax

In addition, PSHCE is reinforced through:

• Assemblies
• Adults being role models and having high expectations of the children
• Structured interventions
• A wide range of first-hand experiences and enrichment opportunities

As we have decided to teach Primary sex education, the content of these lessons will focus on:

• Preparing boys and girls for the changes that adolescence brings
• How a baby is conceived and born (year 6)

Relationships Education focuses on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships including:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring friendships
• Respectful relationships
• Online relationships
• Being safe

These areas of learning are taught within the context of family life taking care to ensure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances (families can include single parent families, LGBT parents, families headed by grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents/carers amongst other structures) along with reflecting sensitively that some children may have a different structure of support around them (for example: looked after children or young carers).

Parents do not have the right to withdraw their children from relationships education. However, parents do have the right to withdraw their children from the non-statutory components of sex education within RSHE.

SEND

Our curriculum has been designed to acknowledge that all children learn at different rates and each child’s development is unique. Through regular monitoring and assessment any child who requires additional support is identified quickly and provided with intervention and additional learning opportunities. We are aware that some topics in PSHCE/RSHE can be sensitive and therefore regardless of special educational need and/or disability, teachers know how to adapt lessons to support these additional needs.

CPD

As a staff team, we are continually reflecting on our practice. We identify our own strengths and areas for development and use these to share good practice and improve outcomes for our children.

Throughout the development of our curriculum the PSHCE/RSHE leaders provide opportunities for staff, children and parents to:

• Have the opportunity to feedback their views on current teaching of RSHE and amendments to the curriculum and the policy were made.
• Have the opportunity to look at the policy and make recommendations.
• Parents and any interested parties are invited to look at the policy and ask any questions/ discuss any concerns regarding the policy with senior school staff.
• We investigated what children wanted from their RSHE through pupil voice activities.

Impact

All children understand the importance of PSHCE, RE, SMSC and British Values and the effects it can have on life in and out of school, this is evident through termly pupil voice and PSHCE monitoring by the curriculum leaders. We firmly believe that a meaningful PSHCE/RSHE curriculum is the key to children becoming confident, tolerant and well-rounded adults. We hope that through our consistent, engaging and pupil focused approach that children can approach a range of real-life situations and apply their skills and attributes to help navigate themselves successfully through modern life after they leave Swanland School.

Progressive Curriculum PSHCE RSHE (1)