PSHE

At St. John’s, personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is an embedded part of our broad and balanced curriculum. It is given high priority among both pupils and staff.

Through the teaching of key building blocks and characteristics of relationships in all contexts, alongside an essential understanding of a healthy lifestyle, PSHE provides our pupils with the tools to enable them to flourish academically, emotionally and spiritually. This is underpinned by the belief ‘there is one body, but it has many parts.’  Our curriculum aims for pupils to understand how they are developing in all areas and provides them with the understanding of how to seek help or advice, if needed.

Our curriculum develops healthy and independent individuals who are responsible members of society. Pupils are all encouraged to play an active role in contributing to school life, for example, through fundraising, supporting our school charities, involvement in the organisation of events and promoting our school values.

Pupils will be prepared with the knowledge and skills for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of their future life, both online and offline. They are taught to appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Pupils are alive to current issues and are encouraged to express their opinions, remain open-minded and demonstrate willingness to consider new ideas.

The wellbeing of every pupil is paramount at St. John’s. Pupils are taught the information they need to make good decisions about their own physical and mental health and wellbeing. Our pupils are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth, self-control and ability to self-regulate and are taught strategies to do so.

PSHE allows all pupils to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way and provides pupils with knowledge and capability to take care of themselves.

At St John’s, we use a leading children’s health and wellbeing charity, Coram Life Education to support us in meeting the requirements of Department for Education, Relationships Education, Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (2019) which is statutory from September 2020.

Requirements of the statutory guidance are covered through discreet weekly PSHE lessons using Coram Life Education’s online ‘SCARF’ teaching resources. The spiral curriculum allows lessons to be carefully sequenced and built upon each year, whilst having the flexibility to adapt learning to meet the needs of individuals, classes and our school community. 

St. John’s follows SCARF’s whole-school termly themes as below:

Term 1 – Me & My Relationships

Term 2 – Valuing Difference

Term 3 – Keeping Myself Safe

Term 4 – Rules, Rights & Responsibilities

Term 5 – Being My Best

Term 6 – Growing and Changing

For more information regarding SCARF, please see:

https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk                                                                                                                                          

The curriculum is separated into the three following sections:

Relationships Education – Statutory from September 2020

Relationships Education provides the building blocks needed for positive and safe relationships, including with family, friends and online. Children are taught what a relationship is, what friendship is, what family means and who can support them. In an age-appropriate way, we cover how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect. By the end of primary school, pupils will have been taught content on:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring friendships
• Respectful relationships
• Online relationships
• Being safe

Health Education - Statutory from September 2020

Health Education aims to give children the information they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing, to recognise issues in themselves and others, and to seek support as early as possible when issues arise. By the end of primary school, pupils will have been taught content on:

• Mental wellbeing
• Internet safety and harms
• Physical health and fitness
• Healthy eating
• Facts and risks associated with drugs, alcohol and tobacco
• Health and prevention
• Basic first aid
• Changing adolescent body

Relationships and Sex Education – For more information see our RSE page 

• Puberty (statutory within Health Education and Science National Curriculum)
• Conception including sexual intercourse and IVF (non-statutory – parents have the right to withdraw from this element of the curriculum)
• Reproduction - egg and sperm meeting (statutory within Science National Curriculum)
• Birth (statutory within Science National Curriculum)

Please see below for more information:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/908013/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf

Objectives are also embedded through cross-curricular links and enriched through our school values and ethos. For example, RE and Collective Worship allow children to engage with spiritual and moral questions, Science covers aspects of Health Education and RSE curriculum and Computing supports teaching of the online safety requirements outlined in Relationships Education.

Pupils are taught through our inclusive curriculum which is taught sensitively to encourage a culture of openness amongst staff and pupils. At St John’s, our ‘Personal Development and Wellbeing Overview’, summarises how PSHE is set within the context of our wider school - this can be found at the top of this page.

• School values
• Christian values
• Collective worship
• Behaviour
• SCARF PSHE Units/Planning
• Growth Mindset Planning
• British Values
• Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Key events and visitors

We provide the children with a language-rich environment where they have access to key knowledge, language and meanings, in order to understand PSHE and use it across the wider curriculum.

We have PSHE class books in each classroom to demonstrate current curriculum coverage and the language used throughout the teaching of PSHE, British Values and Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development (SMSC). In order for pupils to reflect on their learning and for the next teacher to see the class’ starting points and specific needs, these books will travel with the children as they move to the next year group.

Mental health is a high priority at St John’s and we aim to nurture the wellbeing of pupils, staff, parents and our wider community. Children are provided with regular opportunities to talk and have reflection time. This can be through mindfulness activities, yoga, brain breaks and self-referral to ‘Talk Time’ with our school counsellor. Growth Mindset is also used to promote perseverance and resilience across the school. Mental Health is further promoted using the 'Zones of Regulation' as part of our behaviour policy.

We recognise that parents play a vital part in their child’s Relationships, Health and Sex Education and we encourage parents to discuss curriculum coverage with their child at home as well. Should you require any support, please do not hesitate to contact the subject leader.

For more information, please see our PSHE Policy.