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St Joseph's Academy

St. Joseph's
Catholic Academy

PSHE

 

Personal Social and Health Education/Relationships & Sex Education

Intent:

At St. Joseph’s, we believe that PSHE and RSE promote pupils’ personal, social and emotional development, as well as their health and mental well-being.  It helps to give children the knowledge and skills they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives.  It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally, socially and physically, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.  It gives children an understanding of the rights and responsibilities that are part of being a good citizen and introduces them to some of the principles of financial planning and understanding.  We aim to promote personal development in a structured and developmental way, so the content is always age appropriate as well as engaging and relevant.  Our aim is for all children to understand the importance of physical health, mental health, wellbeing, risk and healthy relationships in order for them to stay safe in our ever changing society.

At our school we aim to help the children to:

  1. Develop confidence and responsibility, making the most of their abilities.
  2. Prepare to play an active role as citizens.
  3. Develop a healthy, safe lifestyle with the ability to make appropriate risk assessments, including e-safety.
  4. Develop good, healthy relationships and respect the differences between people.
  5. Understand some basic principles of finances
  6. Make a positive contribution to the life of the school.
  7. Develop their sense of self-worth by encouraging them to play a positive role in contributing to school life as well as the wider community

 

Implementation:

PSHE is taught by class teachers on a weekly basis, and high quality resources are used to support children’s learning.  There is a spiral curriculum planned so that children can revisit topics as they progress throughout the school.  A timetable of whole school PSHE activities supports and enhances our curriculum.  These include suspended timetable days and termly themed weeks.  Whole school, Key Stage and class assemblies also make links to PSHE, British Values and SMSC.   

The PSHE curriculum has three core learning themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. It incorporates the RSE policy, British Values and SMSC.  Cross curricular links are made with other subjects, reinforcing the curriculum and enabling children to make links in their learning.  PSHE displays across school reinforce the PSHE curriculum, British Values and SMSC.  

There is a clear and comprehensive RSE scheme of work (Ten Ten) within PSHE in line with the new recommendations of teaching RSE in the National Curriculum. High quality teaching and resources enable children to become more aware of RSE and know the purpose of it. Parents are informed of the content of the RSE programme of work during planned information sessions, and further support / clarification will be given if required.

 

Impact:

By the time the children leave St Josephs, they will:

  • Know how to keep themselves safe and healthy
  • Have a positive body image
  • Have had many opportunities to listen and respond to others’ views, even when different to their own
  • Develop and maintain healthy relationships
  • Resolve disagreements in a mature manner
  • Discuss their rights and responsibilities in the wider community and as global citizens
  • Develop principles of finance and business
  • Demonstrate kindness and respect towards themselves and others
  • Have the courage to try new things, being aware of the risks
  • Take responsibility for their actions
  • Demonstrate and apply the British Values
  • Understand how their body will change over the course of their school lives

 

PSHE is an opportunity for children to develop their personal, social, health and emotional skills and understanding.  It gives children the knowledge and skills they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives with a full awareness of how to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy in an ever-changing world.   

 

As a school, we follow the PSHE Association Curriculum to ensure a spiral curriculum enabling children to revisit topics in greater depth at an age appropriate level. 

pshea-logo

The importance of mental health:

  • Emotional Literacy – understanding what your emotions are and identifying them – knowing that it is okay to go through several emotions in a day/hour/week etc. 

  • Anxiety is a medical disorder that is ever-increasing in young people as well as adults.  

  • If we give children strategies to deal with their worries when they are young, they will be able to use these strategies as they get older and be more equipped to deal with them before it turns into anxiety.

 

Please follow this link, to find a variety of short films covering a range of topics that you can discuss at home with your children:

KS1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zmpfb9q

KS2:https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks2-pshe/zbrg7nb

 

Recommended Reads:

Adoption and fostering themes:

Resilience/Growth Mindset and Anxiety themes

RSE themed books:

If you want to support the teaching of Relationships the Sex Education with your children at home, Babette Cole's books are a wonderful place to start.  The cover a range of different parts of RSE in a fun and humorous way, so even if you feel uncomfortable discussing this with your child, they make you feel comfortable to discuss the content.  These books can be purchased from many placed, but her website with all her books can be found on the following link:

https://babette-cole.com/books-for-sale/