Intent- PSHE at Parkfield Primary School

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ―Eleanor Roosevelt

Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.

Parkfield’s Programme of Study for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education has three strands — health, relationships and living in the wider world. Our guiding principles are that this compulsory subject content (from September 2021) must be age appropriate. It must be taught sensitively and inclusively, with respect for the backgrounds and beliefs of pupils and parents whilst always with the aim of providing pupils with the knowledge they need of the law.

Our programme represents a huge opportunity to help our children flourish. The knowledge and attributes gained will support their own wellbeing and attainment and to become successful and happy adults who make a meaningful contribution to society.

We aim to put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, both on and offline.  This will sit alongside the essential understanding of how to be healthy. Teaching mental wellbeing is central to these subjects; especially as for parents- their children’s happiness is a priority. We know that children and young people are increasingly experiencing challenges, and our programme will give them the knowledge and capability to take care of themselves and get support if problems arise.  All of this content will support the wider work of helping to foster pupils’ wellbeing and develop resilience and virtues that we know are fundamental to pupils being happy, successful and productive members of society. Central to this is our pupils’ ability to believe that they can achieve goals, both academic and personal; to stick to tasks that will help them achieve those goals, even when the reward may be distant or uncertain; and to bounce back from knocks and challenging periods in their lives.  Underpinning this philosophy and embedded into our curriculum are our school values of: Resilience, Friendship, Respect, Forgiveness, Honesty and Courage. In addition, we recognise the importance of instilling our fundamental British Values.

Statutory Guidance to inform practice: Department for Education - Relationships education (Primary) Updated 13 September 2021

Implementation

EYFS

Our PSHE programme of study begins in EYFS. The EYFS framework is organised across seven areas of learning, within the three prime areas of learning is Personal, Social and Emotional Development.  Children work towards the Early Learning Goal (ELG), which is the prerequisite skills to teach PSHE. Please refer to the table above for more information regarding the ELG and the Parkfield’s Curriculum Overview below.

There is a strong focus on the characteristics of effective learning which includes Playing and Exploring, Active Learning and Creating and Thinking Critically. Children are encouraged to show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly; be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge and work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.

The coverage of ‘Managing feelings’; ‘Self-regulation’ and ‘Building Relationships’ in the EYFS, enables children to acquire an understanding of Personal, Social and Emotional Development. To ensure our EYFS curriculum is progressive, we have the following key concepts that feed into our Key Stage 1 and 2 curriculum, which are: What does it mean to belong to a community? How can I be a global citizen? Why are families and friendships important? How do we respect ourselves and others? What do safe relationships mean? How can I stay safe online? Why does money and work matter? How can I stay mentally and physically well? and What happens when I grow and change?

Key Stage 1 and 2

Our Key Stage 1 and 2 curriculum is fundamentally based on The PSHE Association Programme of Study for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, which has three strands — health, relationships and living in the wider world. It is mandatory for all primary schools to deliver health education and relationships education. Please refer to our curriculum map.

Each year group focusses on Health, Relationships and Living in the Wider World and we have embedded statutory learning objectives from the National Curriculum, for example: sex and relationship education (SRE) in upper Key Stage 2 and the importance of physical activity and diet for a healthy lifestyle.

PSHE, Online Safety, themed assemblies, enrichment weeks/significant dates and RE are recorded in our Understanding Ourselves and the Wider World big class books.

Throughout the year, teachers will deliver a common key concept and this will be built upon as the children move throughout the school. Some key concepts are integrated into enrichment weeks, for example: Safety Week includes: What do safe relationships mean? How can I stay safe online? as well as other safety related learning. In Health Week they cover: How can I stay mentally and physically well? And What happens when I grow and change? We aim to deliver a mix of relationships, health and living in the wider world content per term so that there is a varied diet for the children. PSHE lessons are collaborative and mainly discussion based. We always start with eliciting pupils understanding. We then move onto teaching the concepts and  giving children time to collaborate and discuss. Finally we revisit our initial knowledge and reflect.

The following documents have been used to support our curriculum planning are:

• Planning and policy documents
• PSHE Association Programme of Study KS1-2
• PSHE Association quality assured resources
• Relationship and Sex Education Policy
• Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Statutory Document
• The Chris Winter Project 4th edition: ‘Teaching SRE with Confidence in Primary Schools’ Reception to Year 6 Lesson Plans and Resources 
• The Chris Winter Project: ‘Drug and Alcohol Education’ Year 1 to Year 6 Lesson Plans and Resources 
• Twinkl ppts and resources- Quality assured by PSHE Association

Other links:

• Education for a Connected World-Online Safety – Project Evolve
• Enrichment Curriculum overview

Sex Education (Primary)

The Relationships Education, RSE, and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019 have made Relationships Education compulsory in all primary schools. Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools and the content set out in this guidance therefore focuses on Relationships Education. The content set out in the Statutory guidance Relationships education (Primary) Updated 13 September 2021 covers everything that primary schools should teach about relationships and health, including puberty. The national curriculum for science also includes subject content in related areas, such as the main external body parts, the human body as it grows from birth to old age (including puberty) and reproduction in some plants and animals. It will be for primary schools to determine whether they need to cover any additional content on sex education to meet the needs of their pupils. Many primary schools already choose to teach some aspects of sex education and will continue to do so, although it is not a requirement. At Parkfield we teach the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and then in Year 5 we explore puberty in more detail and in Year 6 we use additional resources to teach Sex Education provided by 4th edition of Teaching SRE with Confi­dence in Primary Schools CWP.

Withdrawing from the subject (taken from Relationships and Health Education Policy)

Relationships and health education are statutory at primary and parents do not have the right to withdraw their child from the subjects. As sex education is not statutory at primary level (other than what must be taught as part of the science curriculum), parents have the right to request to withdraw their child from all or part of the sex education curriculum. The headteacher will automatically grant withdrawal request; however, the headteacher or deputy headteacher will discuss the request with the parent and, if appropriate, their child, to ensure that their wishes are understood and to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum. The headteacher or deputy headteacher will discuss with the parent, the benefits or receiving this important education and any adverse effects that withdrawal may have on the pupil – this could include, for example, social and emotional effects of being excluded. The headteacher or deputy headteacher will keep a record of the discussion between themselves, the pupil and the parent. The headteacher will grant a parent’s request to withdraw their child from sex education, other than the content that must be taught as part of the science curriculum. The parent will be informed in writing of the headteacher’s decision. Where a pupil is withdrawn from sex education, the headteacher will ensure that the pupil receives appropriate alternative education.

Cultural Capital

We understand that all children have different starting points and early experiences that shape them into who they are. We understand the need for both equity and equality in terms of modelling positive, respectful interactions and also giving them opportunities that may not have experienced at home. This is why we put great emphasis on Communication and Language and Personal, Social and Emotional Development in EYFS and our enrichment opportunities throughout their school journey.  

We have an annual Health Week, where we embed statutory learning objectives from across the curriculum, in addition to our PSHE overview. Children have the opportunity to learn Basic First Aid and meet health professionals who engage and inspire the children.

We also run an annual Safety Week, providing a plethora of experiences for our children. Every year group covers three main themes, which include: What do safe relationships mean? How can I be safe online? & How can I keep myself safe? Year 2 and Year 5 have Fire Safety workshops delivered by the Community Fire Safety Officer from Taunton Fire Station, where they cover matches, candles, how to call 999, stop drop & roll and safe evacuation in Year 2. Year 5 cover all of the above, in addition to discussing the consequences with malicious false alarms, testing smoke alarms and keeping safe in the home. We are lucky enough to have Sun and Water Safety sessions delivered by the RNLI. Year 6 have the opportunity to take part in Bikeability sessions if they wish. In addition to our annual Health Week, we also take part in the annual Anti-Bullying Week and Road Safety Week.

In addition to whole school enrichment activities, some year groups work towards specific projects/events throughout the year. These include:

Year 5 The Civic Award

Year 6 Bikeability

How do we assess?

Assessment can take both formative and summative forms. We carry out an elicitation at the beginning of a unit of work and revisit this at the end of a unit. We also assess at the beginning of every lesson and demonstrate progress of knowledge by revisiting baseline assessments at the end. This can take the form of mind mapping, post its, re-doing a diamond 9, hot seating, story boards, discussion, quiz etc. We also do cumulative quizzes, so at the start of each lesson we ask three questions based on the previous lesson. At the end of a unit, children can complete a self-assessment based on key knowledge taught and rate their confidence.

Awards

We are currently working towards our Healthy School Award.

Impact

By the end of their time at Parkfield, as respectful individuals, the children will be:

• Successful learners who manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.
• Confident individuals who understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy both on and offline.
• Responsible citizens who support their own wellbeing and attainment and become successful and happy adults who make a meaningful contribution to society.