PSHE Education

Through our Mission statement we emphasise our Christian concern to treat each child as an individual, helping them to achieve their maximum potential, enabling them to make a full contribution to society and grow towards responsible adulthood. At Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, we recognise our responsibility to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, which will promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of the children in our care. The PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) Education  we provide is closely linked with the RE Archdiocesan Programme, Come and See. 

What is PSHE?

PSHE Education encompasses all areas designed to promote children’s personal, social, health and economic development.  It gives children the knowledge, skills and understanding that they need to stay healthy and safe, develop worthwhile relationships, respect differences, develop independence and responsibility, make the most of their own abilities and those of others.

The intent of PSHE at Holy Cross Catholic Primary School

We want our children to know how to be safe and healthy, to be aware of the risks around them and to know how to manage their academic, personal and social lives responsibly. In PSHE, we plan adaptable lessons which can be adjusted to meet the needs of all of our pupils across our school. We teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) using Journey in Love sensitively and inclusively, with respect to the backgrounds and beliefs of pupils and parents while always with the aim of providing pupils with the knowledge they need.  Although we teach explicit PSHE and Relationships and Health Education lessons, we also support our children’s personal development through ensuring that they have a wide range of experiences and visitors to support their journey. We make use of charities and their resources (such as the NSPCC) to further support our delivery of PSHE and Relationships to our children as well as taking part in initiatives such as anti-bullying, mental health awareness days and well-being weeks. As well as the teaching of PSHE in the classroom environment, the support for our children’s personal development is on-going and displayed in daily school life, for example in assemblies, outside agency visits, awareness days, through holding charity events and through our school ambassadors programme of events.

There are three core themes which we include in implementing our programme of study-

CORE THEME 1: HEALTH AND WELLBEING

 This core theme focuses on: 

1. what is meant by a healthy lifestyle
2. how to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing
3. how to manage risks to physical and emotional health and wellbeing
4. ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe 
5. about managing change, including puberty, transition and loss
6. how to make informed choices about health and wellbeing and to recognise sources of help with this
7. how to respond in an emergency 
8. to identify different influences on health and wellbeing

CORE THEME 2: RELATIONSHIPS

This core theme focuses on: 

1. how to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships, within a range of social/cultural contexts 
2. how to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships
3. how to recognise risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying and abuse
4. how to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help
5. how to respect equality and diversity in relationships

CORE THEME 3: LIVING IN THE WIDER WORLD 

This core theme focuses on: 

1. about respect for self and others and the importance of responsible behaviours and actions
2. about rights and responsibilities as members of families, other groups and ultimately as citizens
3. about different groups and communities
4. to respect diversity and equality and how to be a productive member of a diverse community
5. about the importance of respecting and protecting the environment
6. about where money comes from, keeping it safe and the importance of managing it effectively 
7. the part that money plays in people’s lives
8. a basic understanding of enterprise 

There are nine overarching concepts which are developed through our PSHE Curriculum-

1. Identity (their personal qualities, attitudes, skills, attributes and achievements and what influences these; understanding and maintaining boundaries around their personal privacy, including online)
2. Relationships (including different types and in different settings, including online)
3. A healthy (including physically, emotionally and socially), balanced lifestyle (including within relationships, work-life, exercise and rest, spending and saving and lifestyle choices) 
4. Risk (identification, assessment and how to manage risk, rather than simply the avoidance of risk for self and others) and safety (including behaviour and strategies to employ in different settings, including online in an increasingly connected world
5. Diversity and equality (in all its forms, with due regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010)
6. Rights (including the notion of universal human rights), responsibilities (including fairness and justice) and consent (in different contexts) 
7. Change (as something to be managed) and resilience (the skills, strategies and ‘inner resources’ we can draw on when faced with challenging change or circumstance)
8. Power (how it is used and encountered in a variety of contexts including online; how it manifests through behaviours including bullying, persuasion, coercion and how it can be challenged or managed through negotiation and ‘win-win’ outcomes)
9. Career (including enterprise, employability and economic understanding)

Curriculum Content

Our programme for PSHE and Citizenship encompasses a variety of materials for each year group with planning adapted to meet the needs of the children in those year groups.

We implement our PSHE curriculum using the Ten Ten Life to the Full scheme and adapt it to ensure full coverage, especially with regards to current or local issues. All PSHE lessons are taught with a focus on one of the 3 core themes outlined above. Key elements of PSHE will also be seen in all subjects which display SMSC values, as well as supporting the children’s SEMH (social, emotional and mental health). We teach all content in an age and developmentally appropriate way and regularly teach through the use of story books, classroom circle discussions, scenarios and drama. These diverse approaches of teaching and learning support our pupils in understanding events and situations which they may not have any personal experience of and will equip them with vital skills.   

Within the three core themes, we cover a wide variety of aspects, which are-

-British Values

-Safety/Personal Safety

-Relationships/Sex Education

-Equality/Diversity

-Drug Education

-Physical Activity

-Eating and Health

-Emotional Health / Responsibility / Self Esteem

-Citizenship

-Radicalisation/Extremism

Also, knowledge, skills and understanding of Global Learning and Citizenship forms part of the curriculum which supports our RE programme of study, Come and See. Aspects of PSHE and Citizenship will also be covered within other subject teaching and in special awareness days and weeks. There will be good work and celebration assemblies which celebrate and reward children from each class in terms of their consideration and citizenship towards others.

Delivery of Curriculum

A range of teaching strategies will be used as appropriate.  These will include:

Circle time, role play, discussion – whole class, small group, 1:1, workshops, visitors e.g. LFC Foundation, Gangs Workshops, Fire Brigade etc, stories e.g. exploring behaviour of characters, creative activities, and pupil initiated activities.

There are weekly timetabled PSHE lessons in KS1 and KS2, and specific events and activities, as well as through other subjects.  There will also be opportunities during collective worship e.g. stories and discussion, Good Work Assembly.  The whole school ethos promotes our work in PSHE, as set out in our Mission statement.  In the Foundation Stage it is taught throughout the whole curriculum and in circle time sessions.

Teachers will choose the method most appropriate for their whole class to meet the objectives of the lesson. The PSHE and RHE curriculum will be linked to our work towards the Gold Health and Well-Being Award.  

The school ambassadors are actively involved in promoting PSHE and Citizenship issues, and they will participate in a variety of projects throughout the year as part of our Ambassadors Programme of Events.

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

From September 2020, all primary schools in England are required to teach relationship and health education (RHE). The RHE curriculum is statutory, which means that all children are entitled to this aspect of the curriculum. This is covered in our Ten Ten Life to the Full Programme.

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, the Journey in Love programme is used for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), which is the approved Catholic Scheme (which fulfils the government guidelines). These are core lessons that are taught age appropriately to our pupils. For sex education lessons, we focus on some of the changes the human body experiences, which has cross-curricular links to the Science curriculum. This will prepare and support children as they develop through their education and be well equipped for further RSE lessons as they progress through their education. Our priority as a school, is to ensure that through the teaching of the RSE curriculum, our pupils know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.

Parents have the right to withdraw their child from some or all of the sex education delivered as part of non-statutory RSE. If parents have any questions or concerns about the content of the RSE curriculum, please contact your class teacher or you can contact the Deputy Head Teacher, Miss Hodges.

Equal Opportunities

Provision for PSHE and Citizenship is in line with all of our policies, including the Equality Policy.  All children have equal access to the PSHE and Citizenship curriculum and developmentally appropriate materials.  Delivery will be differentiated appropriately.  Resources etc. are sensitive to the needs and backgrounds of the children and will not reflect gender or cultural stereotypes, and are monitored annually to ensure that sensitivity.

Parental and Community Involvement

Parents are invited to join in events in school, including class assemblies and liturgies on relevant themes.  Parents are regularly informed of events and developments on the website, by letter and newsletter.

Working with parents is a vital part of the whole school approach to PSHE.  There will also be links with local businesses and councillors, as part of the work in Citizenship.  We also work closely with the local church and parish.  We involve outside agencies e.g. School Health Advisors, School Police Liaison Officer, Dental Health Advisors etc. as much as possible to deliver aspects of the curriculum.  

Education Opportunities

Holy Cross Catholic Primary School believes that partnership with parents and the community enables us to receive specialist support and information to plan the best possible PSHE, RHE and RSE curriculum for our children.

Bonfire Safety

Year two discussed the importance of Bonfire Safety during circle time and came up with some rules to follow. We then created Bonfire displays using black card and pastels. 

Talk PANTS helps children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. The children remembered from previous years the Underwear rule. We spoke about the difference between good touch and bad touch, how our privates are private, and how we should never be asked to keep secrets about touch. We listened to a fun song by Pantosaurus. Then, Year 4 enjoyed designing their own pants!

Nursery have become gardening ambassadors and have given each class a tub of winter flowers and spring bulbs.

Nursery had a visit from Vauxhall Children’s Centre to explain about dental care.

Using the Zones of regulation approach the children have been learning about their own emotions. We have been exploring how we feel a range of different emotions throughout the school day and have begun to focus on how the different zones affect our learning. We practised techniques we can use to bring us back to green zone. We practised using the Rainbow breathing technique. We also enjoying writing our worries in a worry bag - we then scrumpled this up and threw our worries away!