PSHE

Intent:

At Holywell, we are ARTICULATE and INFORMED CITIZENS. We want our children to develop as great communicators, who are confident to share their views and opinions.

We ensure PSHE is at the core of everything we do. By doing so it allows our children to blossom into confident, independent, reflective and responsible members of the ever changing society around them. We strive to ensure children are challenged intellectually, socially, spiritually and morally.

We want our children to grow and develop in a safe and nurturing environment where they are able to express themselves articulately, gain a further understanding of themselves as unique people and build resilience. We encourage children to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

In order to ensure that we met the expectations of the PSHE curriculum and the new RSE curriculum we have brought into a scheme that encompasses all. Our approach to teaching PSHE is intended to support and encourage all learners to be the very best they can be. PSHE is taught weekly as a stand alone session and then the core values are embedded throughout collective worship.

Our curriculum design is based on evidence from cognitive science – that learning is most effective with spaced repetition and that retrieval of previously learned content is frequently and regular to increase both storage and retrieval strength.

We want to equip our children with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the PSHE National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

Implementation:

Our teachers use the National Curriculum, the Ventrus Curriculum Approach and 1Decision as a basis for planning.

  • Our whole school approach to PSHE and RSE is down to the belief that success in these areas will lead to excellence across the whole curriculum.
  • We deliver the PSHE curriculum through the use of the online scheme 1Decision. The curriculum is split into various units covering all areas. The curriculum equips our children with meaningful content that places an emphasis on building resilience, nurturing both mental and physical health and communication and language skills.
  • The scheme is tailored by teachers to meet the specific needs of the children in our school.
  • The use of PSHE curriculum is intended to equip our children with the knowledge and skills to make self-informed decisions. Each session that is taught is recorded in many different ways including the use of drama, circle time and some written activities.
  • If occasions arise within individual classrooms where teachers feel that an extra PSHE session may be appropriate due to a specific issue this would be encouraged.
  • In order to support children in their ability to ‘know more and remember more’ there are regular opportunities to review the learning taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons.

EYFS

Through Personal, Social, Emotional Development children are supported to build constructive and respectful relationships that allow them to play, learn and develop alongside both adults and their peers.

As children make friendships they learn to manage conflicts and rivalries with the support of adults. Children are empowered to envisage themselves as valuable individuals who are aware of what makes them unique.

In the Early Years children are encouraged to express their feelings and adults carefully model the handling of these feelings and emotions to support children in becoming independent in moderating their own feelings.

Children are taught to manage their own physical needs and understand the importance of respecting others privacy.

A large part of the curriculum in the Early Years supports the developing resilience within young children, children are encouraged to persevere to meet their goals and targets. As a part of the learning journey experienced in the Early Years developing the understanding of rules and routines is an integral part that runs parallel to all.

Impact:

Our teaching of PSHE will lead to children meeting the standards of attainments across the school and those that are expected of our children nationally.

Children will each make progress relative to their own individual starting point. We strive to ensure that by the end of their time with us each child will:

  • Recognise and apply the British Values
  • Be able to recognise, understand and manage their own emotions
  • Understand who they can rely on and ask for support.
  • Look after their own mental health and ask for support where necessary.
  • Be on their way to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
  • Recognise differences and have an understanding of diversity.
  • Apply learnt skills in real life situations
  • Demonstrate self-confidence and self-esteem.
  • Have developed and maintained healthy relationships with peers and adults.
  • Understand the physical aspects involved in the teaching of RSE at the level appropriate to them as an individual.
  • Show respect to themselves and others.

We ensure that children who are achieving well, as well as those who need additional support, are identified, and additional provision and strategies are planned in and discussed with class teachers.

Ongoing assessments take place throughout the year. Teachers use this information to inform future lessons; ensuring children are supported and challenged appropriately.

We work to improve staff knowledge and confidence, leading to a stronger profile in PSHE and raised pupil achievement.