Intent

Our school vision statement reflects our desire to provide the best education, opportunities and environment for all who are part of our school community.

Our children are growing up in an increasingly complex world which presents many positive and exciting opportunities but also many challenges and risks. Therefore, it is our aim to deliver a PSHE curriculum which not only tackles a range of themes and issues, but also equips them with essential knowledge, skills and strategies needed for lifelong learning.

Our School values are embedded within our school culture and underpin everything we do, ultimately our aim is to prepare our children for a healthy, safe and responsible future.

We believe it is imperative for children to be given the tools to be successful. Through carefully planned and resourced lessons which support social, moral, spiritual and cultural development we can provide children the essentials of safeguarding issues and emotional well-being.

We teach our children that they may face difficult situations in their lives. We teach them to develop resilience, to manage risks, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support

We encourage children to be self-reflective, using a wide range of active learning activities. It is our duty to develop children’s voice, identity and self-esteem while giving them the confidence to contribute to society in order to become active and good citizens.

Implementation

Our bespoke PSHE curriculum has been designed in consultation with staff, children and parents through surveys and pupil voice sessions. It is not only in line with the National Curriculum but meets the needs of our children. Therefore, the PSHE Committee has worked together to devise comprehensive lessons which show the ongoing learning journey  from Y1 – Y6.

In addition to covering the PSHE National Curriculum, we also cover the statutory Relationship and Health Education, we explicitly teach the fundamental British Values and make links to our Good to be Green Behaviour policy as well as other curriculum areas eg. Religious Education, Science and Physical Education.

As educators it is our duty to provide a classroom environment where children feel safe, confident and valued. All our sequenced lessons provide children with a framework of support so there is an opportunity to ask questions and allows their voices to be heard.

There are many children in our school who have English as an additional language and therefore, a strong focus is placed on oracy strategies exposing children to a range of rich vocabulary to develop language and understanding of worldwide issues.

Lessons may include direct instructions, practical learning, circle time, collaborative learning and independent inquiry. Our learning environments display key vocabulary for the lesson. Posters are also displayed around the school to remind the children of the key focus for the term.

The key areas of learning we aim to cover include:

• Being physically and mentally healthy, including a healthy, balanced lifestyle
• Rights, Responsibilities and consent
• Bullying
• Diversity, equality and culture
• Identity
• Ambitions and aspirations
• Contributing to society
• Change and resilience
• Power
• Careers
• Setting goals
• Identification of risk and staying safe
• Sex and Relationships

PSHE will be taught weekly although pastoral values will be interweaved throughout every subject we teach, through our code of conduct, and in our assemblies. There are always occasions where staff may feel it necessary to teach PSHE as a result of an issue which has arisen in their own classes

Impact

By the time the children leave Bounds Green, we believe our PSHE curriculum will have allowed them to develop the vocabulary and confidence needed to clearly articulate their thoughts and feelings in a climate of openness, trust and respect.

Children shall understand what is meant by ‘resilience’ and attain the ability to bounce back from life’s everyday challenges.

We hope that children will be able to approach real life situations and apply their skills and attributes to help navigate themselves through modern life.

From an exposure to a range of global issues and problems, children can build up tolerance and a sense of responsibility of a global citizen.

From engagement with a variety of core text, videos and other resources, children can understand the different lifestyles that people may live and be respectful towards those who are leading different lives to themselves.

Assessment strategies

Memorable learning is captured in some of the outcomes eg class displays, whole school display projects, and in our newly PSHE/RE books. Our 2021 children’s survey indicated that many children wanted more PSHE lessons or lessons to last longer. To give PSHE the status children wanted, SLT timetabled PSHE on every year group timetable and introduced exercise books for recorded work. These books were put into practice in January 2022, in KS2 only. We have also introduced ‘Class Floor Books’ in KS2, and will introduce these in KS1 during the spring term. Generally, new PSHE topics start by determining the children’s prior knowledge. Teachers recap the content covered previously and address gaps before introducing new content. Therefore, a quick baseline assessment is carried out at the beginning of every PSHE lesson. This is then repeated at the end of the lesson to enable teachers to make an informed judgement about progress.

Quick quizzes and oral representations are also used to enable teachers to make more effective judgements about children’s progress and gains in knowledge. They provide the opportunity for children to demonstrate their understanding of key vocabulary and the ability to use this in context.

However, assessment is an area that we still need to focus as we need a more robust assessment system to be put in place in EYFS, KS1 and KS2.

PSHE Programme of Study