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Whixall C.E. Primary School and Nursery

Personal Social and Health Education

Personal Social and Health Education

PSHE at Whixall C.E. Primary School

Intent
Our intention is that when children leave Whixall C.E. Primary School, they will do so with the knowledge, understanding and emotions to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s diverse society.

Our PSHE lessons develop the acquisition of knowledge and skills that will enable children to access the wider curriculum and prepare them to be global citizens now and in the future. It promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of our children. Our Relationships and Sex Education planning is progressive and seeks to help our children to learn how to be safe and to understand and develop healthy relationships, both now and in their future lives.

We want our children to have high aspirations; a belief in themselves; and realise that anything is possible if they put their minds to it. In an ever-changing world, it is important that they are aware, to an appropriate level, of different factors which will affect their world. We wish for all children to develop strategies to learn how to deal with these factors to support their mental and physical health and well-being.

Implementation
PSHE is highly valued and an integral part of our school. In keeping with the opportunities set out in the ‘PSHE Association’s Programme of Study’, and statutory ‘Health Education and Relationships Education guidance’, we ensure coverage of Health and Well-Being; Relationships; and Living in the Wider World learning throughout our weekly PSHE lessons.

Within the Foundation Stage, PSHE and citizenship are embedded throughout the curriculum. The objectives taught are the Personal, Social and Emotional Development statements from ‘Development Matters’ and the PSED Early Learning Goals. Reception also uses the Jigsaw Scheme of Work materials to deliver specific PSHE lessons.

All children are taught PSHE using ‘Jigsaw’, which is a spiral, progressive scheme of work that aims to prepare children for life, helping them to know and value who they are and understand how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world. Within each unit, there is a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health. The Jigsaw curriculum includes mindfulness to allow children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus. Jigsaw provides links to British Values, and SMSC and is taught in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and ethos of our school.

At Whixall CE Primary School, in addition to Relationships Education, we also teach aspects of Sex Education through the ‘Jigsaw’ scheme. As part of this, we teach children about different kinds of relationships, including same-sex relationships, and gender identity because it is important that our children should have an understanding of the full diversity of the world they live in and be prepared for life in modern Britain.

PSHE is taught through Jigsaw’s six half-termly themes with each year group studying the same unit at the same time (at their own level):

Autumn 1: Being Me in My World
Autumn 2: Differences (including anti-bullying)
Spring 1: Dreams and Goals

Spring 2: Healthy Me
Summer 1: Relationships
Summer 2: Changing Me (including Sex Education)

 

PSHE within the Wider Curriculum  

  • We aim to help our children build resilience, independence and confidence, embrace challenge, and foster a love of learning. We do this through the language we use in class, praising children for their efforts, and using strategies to encourage children to change their way of thinking. This supports both our school and PSHE values.
  • PSHE, including social, moral, spiritual and cultural, and British Values, is an integral part of the whole school curriculum and is therefore often taught within another subject area.
  • Visitors such as emergency services and the school nurse complement our PSHE curriculum by offering additional learning.          
  • We encourage our children to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. We challenge all of our children to look for opportunities to show school values.
  • School assemblies and Worships are linked to PSHE, British Values and SMSC, as well as additional sessions that would benefit the whole school.                                                        

Impact
By the time our children leave school, they are able to approach a range of real-life situations and apply their skills and attributes to help navigate themselves through modern life.  The children appreciate difference and diversity and have had the opportunity to explore, understand and learn strategies to manage their emotions. Through our PSHE work, our children are on their way to becoming healthy, open-minded, respectful, active members of society. They are aware of, and can express, how school life allows them to demonstrate knowledge of British Values.

 

What is PSHE Education?
PSHE Education (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to successfully manage their lives – now and in the future. As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE Education develops the qualities and attributes children need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.

What do schools have to teach in PSHE Education?
According to the National Curriculum, every school needs to have a broad and balanced curriculum that:
  • promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of children at school;
  • prepares children at school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
  • promotes British values.
From September 2020, primary schools in England also need to teach Relationships and Health Education as compulsory subjects and the Department for Education strongly recommends this should also include age-appropriate Sex Education.
Schools also have statutory responsibilities to safeguard their pupils (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE, 2023) and to uphold the Equality Act (2010).
At our school, we follow a whole school PSHE scheme called Jigsaw. Jigsaw supports all of the above statements.
What is Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, and how does it work?
Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative learning and teaching activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings as well as building their capacity to learn.

Jigsaw is a comprehensive and completely original PSHE Education programme for the whole primary school from ages 3-11.
Jigsaw has two main aims for all children:
  • To build their capacity for learning
  • To equip them for life
Jigsaw brings together PSHE Education, compulsory Relationships and Health Education, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills and spiritual development. It is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time, at their own level. There are six Puzzles (half-term units of work) and each year group is taught one lesson per week. All lessons are delivered in an age- and stage-appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs.
To find out more about Jigsaw please click on the link below to access a Parent/Carer information guide and our PSHE Policy.
 
British Values
See how Jigsaw fully incorporates the teaching of Fundamental British Values
See how Jigsaw lessons create opportunities for developing in Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development.
 
Relationships, Sex and Health Education
From September 2020, Relationships and Health Education are compulsory in all primary schools in England. For primary-aged children this includes curriculum content under two headings:
Relationships Education:
Relationships Education is designed to help children to have positive and safe relationships with family, friends and online.  All primary schools are required by the government to teach Relationships Education and parents cannot withdraw children from this section of the curriculum.  The areas this section of the curriculum covers are:
  • Families and people who care for me
  • Caring Friendships
  • Respectful Relationships
  • Online Relationships
  • Being Safe
Health Education:
Health Education will help children to make good decisions about their health and wellbeing and enable them to know how to seek support if any health issues arise for themselves or others.  The areas it will cover are:
  • Mental wellbeing
  • Internet safety and harms
  • Physical health and fitness
  • Healthy eating
  • Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
  • Health and prevention
  • Basic first aid
  • The changing adolescent body
This DfE guidance clearly states the statutory requirements, i.e. what children MUST be taught by the end of primary school. Health Education includes learning about ‘the changing adolescent body’ to equip children to understand and cope with puberty. The National Curriculum for Science (also a compulsory subject), includes learning the correct names for the main external body parts, learning about the human body as it grows from birth to old age and reproduction in some plants and animals (which could include human beings). So, Relationships Education, Health Education and Science are compulsory subjects and parents/carers do NOT have the right to withdraw their children from these subjects. 
Sex Education
Sex Education is designed to help children to:
  • Understand and respect their bodies
  • Develop positive and healthy relationships appropriate to their age and development
  • Support children to have positive self-esteem and body image
  • Empower them to be safe and safeguarded
Parents do have the right to request their child be withdrawn from these specific lessons. If you wish to withdraw your child, please contact the Headteacher who will be happy to discuss this. 
The DfE recommends, ‘that all primary schools should have a Sex Education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.’  At our school, this is taught through our Jigsaw PSHE programme, which is delivered through the ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’ puzzle pieces which are covered in the summer term. 
There are four main aims of teaching RSE:
Each year group will be taught appropriately to their age and developmental stage. At no point will a child be taught something that is inappropriate; and if a question from a child arises and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer, (for example, because of its mature or explicit nature), this information will be shared with families by the child’s class teacher. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s programme.
Below is a summary of RSE coverage within the Jigsaw scheme for each year group:
Foundation Stage – Growing up: how we have changed since we were babies
Year 1 – Boys’ and girls’ bodies; naming body parts
Year 2 – Boys’ and girls’ bodies; body parts and respecting privacy (which parts of the body are private and why this is)
Year 3 – How babies grow and how boys’ and girls’ bodies change as they grow older
Year 4 – Internal and external reproductive body parts, body changes in girls and menstruation
Year 5 – Puberty for boys and girls, and conception
Year 6 – Puberty for boys and girls and understanding conception to birth of a baby
If you would like more information about statutory Relationships and Health Education, please click below to read a parent and carer guide.  Further information about how the school approaches the teaching of Relationships and Sex Education through the Jigsaw programme can also be found within the documents listed below: