Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) curriculum statement

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a vital part of the curriculum. It is part of the underpinning Catholic values of our Federation through which children acquire the skills and knowledge they need to live healthy and happy lives now and in the future. As such, it has strong links with the RE curriculum, Rights Respecting Schools (St. Edmunds) and Mini-Vinnies (St. Josephs) and with our Learning Characteristics.

We ensure that pupils are offered a balanced program reflecting the expectations of the statutory curriculum where they progressively develop knowledge, skills and vocabulary through structured and memorable ongoing and repeated learning experiences. Much of the content is linked to learning across the curriculum.

The aims of PSHE education in our Federation are to:

• Provide children with the knowledge and skills they need to live healthy, safe, responsible and balanced lives.
• Provide children with opportunities to explore their own needs, beliefs and values and appreciate differences in others.
• Ensure all children become positive and active members of society.
• Inspire all children to not just understand our core values but to become examples and advocates of them.
• Give children confidence to creatively address many of the moral, social and cultural issues around them.
• For our pupils’ to be resilient, have positive relationships and lead a mentally and physically fit and healthy lifestyle, recognising the lifelong benefits to themselves.

Pupils develop their self-worth by developing their own God-given attributes and playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

How our PSHE is organised and taught

As a Federation we have put together a Long Term Plan. For each half term, this sets out whole school activities, festivals and Saints days, cross curricular links, British values, linked articles from the UN Charter of the Rights of the Child, the key questions for each topic, the statutory PSHE objectives being met and the main areas being taught.  The topics written in red on the Federation LTP are those containing specific PSHE elements not necessarily covered by cross-curricular links.

Each week both Key Stages have their own assembly which introduces a PSHE theme for the week. This is then followed-up by a class lesson on the same theme with specific learning tasks aimed at extending the learning from the Key Stage assembly. Assembly themes are chosen to support the PSHE work for each half term, taking themes common to the year groups in each key stage such as safety, money management, sustainability, identity, diversity and challenging stereotypes. Additionally, PSHE lessons are be timetabled, to support specific content for example First Aid.

Our bespoke PSHE curriculum incorporates statutory relationship and health education, sex education (Journey In Love- please see R.E.) as well as additional elements to ensure that all pupils:

• Know and understand what constitutes a safe and healthy lifestyle, the physical and mental changes that will occur as they grow up and the importance of health and hygiene.
• Understand that they have a right to be accepted for who they are and discuss any queries or misconceptions that they have about age appropriate sex education.
• Understand that they have a responsibility to acknowledge and appreciate difference and diversity and be positive members of a democratic society.
• Develop the skills to recognise, form and maintain positive relationships, to keep themselves safe both on and offline, to prepare themselves for later life, to make informed choices and to understand and manage their emotions.
• Develop the attributes of self-respect, confidence and empathy

The teaching of relationships education is supported through our work with OM Health and Well-Being consultancy who work in school each term.

Throughout the school day, our children are immersed in our PSHE curriculum with staff encouraging children to apply their learning from PSHE lessons to everyday situations. Our Thrive and ELSA programmes support learning in PSHE also. Children are encouraged to take part in a range of positive roles such as School councillors, Eco councillors, Language Ambassadors, Junior Road Safety Officers, etc to develop their self-worth and enable them to flourish throughout their time at school and beyond.