PSHE (personal, social and health education) and rse (relationships and sex education)
Mrs P Sharma
INTENT
At Marlborough, our intent for PSHE is to teach a unique and rich curriculum which develops children’s skills and aptitudes, such as teamwork, communication, and resilience. They also gain knowledge, skills and progression in vocabulary through our PSHE curriculum. The outcome of learning these topics and units in PSHE will be to prepare pupils to navigate and stay safe in the world and become aware of what they can encounter. We expect the outcome for PSHE education to help children achieve their full potential by supporting their wellbeing and tackling issues that can affect their ability to learn, such as anxiety and unhealthy relationships. In addition to this, we expect our pupils to know how and when to ask for help, as well as know where to access support.
PSHE enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of society that consciously aim to become productive members of their community. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially and tackles 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.
With this is mind, when teaching PSHE at Marlborough, we have created a broad curriculum which provides us full coverage of knowledge and skills and caters to the needs of all pupils. PSHE is taught within our Dimensions curriculum as well as through the 3D PSHE curriculum, allowing us to cover the skills and knowledge of our core units; ‘mental health and wellbeing’, ‘relationships’ and ‘living in the wider world’. We also teach and cover Sex Education in our curriculum which is optional and parents are allowed to opt out if they would like to.
IMPLEMENTATION
TEACHING AND LEARNING
At Marlborough, we teach a broad and rich curriculum, our teaching of PSHE promotes opportunities to link to British Values and also our school values (Determination, honesty, teamwork, respect and equality). Our PSHE programme is an essential part of our whole school PSHE education provision and is designed to meet the unique needs of pupils. PSHE is embedded in our cross curricular thematic units which are taught through our Dimensions curriculum from nursery to year 6, it is an opportunity to overlap our units with other subjects, for example Computing (E-safety), PE (leading healthy active lives) and Science (changes to the human body as it grows from birth to old age including, puberty) We also teach additional lessons to ensure there is a full coverage of PSHE with the 3D PSHE curriculum created by Dimensions. Here at Marlborough we also cover ‘tough topics’ which may arise in our school environment e.g. peer-on-peer abuse, radicalisation, substance related abuse and bereavement (see Rainbows programme). These lessons ensure that children would have not only gained the necessary knowledge, skills & attitudes to deal with such issues but also feel better prepared for life in modern Britain. The teaching of PSHE is evidenced through the floor books in all year groups as well as the topic books from year 1 to year 6. We also conduct ‘pupil voice’ on events and lessons taking place to see what the children’s views are, how effective our curriculum is and how we can improve through the opinion of the pupils.
RELATIONSHIPS AND SEX EDUCATION
We have a wide curriculum which includes Relationships Education, RSE, and Health Education. We also teach additional lessons of sex education with our Jigsaw programme to ensure that there is a full coverage in our PSHE lessons and believe it is essential for children to know information which would support them and prepare them to navigate, participate and stay safe in this world.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT
It is important to have the support of parents at Marlborough so they are kept involved in our PSHE learning to ensure that they are aware of the content that is taught in school. We offer parent workshops so they can decide whether they want their children to take part in the additional sex education lessons or opt out of the topic. Teachers also share the content of our topics with parents through the overview and knowledge organisers, this is so that they are aware of what our unit is and what is being taught,
WHOLE SCHOOL EVENTS
We celebrate equality and diversity at Marlborough through whole school events throughout the year e.g. Internet Safety Week, Remembrance Day, Anti-Bullying Week, Children in Need, Red Nose Day, Children’s Mental Health Week and World Mental Health Day. These events bring the whole school together to concentrate on our theme. We also have assemblies related to the school events to ensure that all classes are involved in the topic taking place.
VOCABULARY IN PSHE
The vocabulary we use in PSHE is constantly evolving, therefore is it important that children understand the definitions of the words being taught and are encouraged to use them. Along with gaining knowledge and skills, the progression of using the correct vocabulary in PSHE and everyday life is essential. Children learn a wide range of vocabulary in each topic, these words are always reflected in their knowledge organisers.
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Marlborough have designed an approach to improve the Mental Health and Wellbeing of our pupils. We have a dedicated team led by Mr. R Briody and comprised of members of staff from across each phase. The main is aim to promote positive mental health and well-being for our whole school community; pupils, staff, parents and carers. We have a dedicated time every week where children have a ‘Marlborough Magical Moment ‘. Based on feedback received from children, in a bi-annual pupil wellbeing survey, Teachers create specific lessons with a view of addressing their classes’ needs. It is an opportunity for children to take part in a range of activities for 15- 30 minutes to gain the specific knowledge, skills and attributes to help them in later life. The activities include meditation, reflection, brain breaks, mind dumps and art/craft activities as well as mindfulness colouring. For further information on the initiatives we are making in this area please click the link below.
https://www.marlboroughprimary.school/Mental-Health-And-Wellbeing/
We also have intervention groups catered to support children in our school across all year groups. We offer the Rainbows programme for children who may have suffered a grievance or a loss in their family. This serves as an opportunity to discuss problems and to be supported through any issues by our trained staff members. We also have nurturing groups for children who may be finding the school environment difficult and are taken out for interventions to find ways of coping to suit their needs. Weekly counselling is also offered for children who may need support from staff during difficult times by discussing any issues that might arise throughout the week.
KNOWLEDGE ORGANISERS
At the start of each topic, knowledge organisers are created to give children and parents a summary of what they will be learning. It will provide the knowledge and skills that children will gain from the unit of work as well as key facts and vocabulary that will be mentioned in the topic.
HOME LEARNING
Homework is set to give an opportunity for children to give their unique perspective of PSHE through diary and letter writing. There is also a chance for children to take part in other PSHE activities associated to their physical and mental health such as eating and physical exercise. Where possible, links are made with other subjects across the curriculum.
IMPACT
As a result our unique PSHE curriculum at Marlborough, you will see:
- Quality first teaching which uses a range of discussions, activities and participating in events.
- A variety of topics learnt will result in children gaining knowledge and skills in PSHE.
- Lessons that are taught have children engaged in their learning and understand they might face challenging situations in real life.
- Learning that is tracked and monitored to ensure all children make good progress through their topic books and floor books.
- Children who can confidently talk about their learning and relate it to their real life experiences.
- Children who can explain the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts.
- Children who have a good understanding of their strengths, dreams, goals and targets are and how they can achieve them.
- Children are confident to speak about themselves and their opinions.
- That the children in our school are happy learners and can discuss any worries they may have.
- That pupils understand who the right adults are to speak to when they need help.
Teachers and additional staff model the right behaviour and attitudes to pupils.