PSHE

Intent 

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education is a crucial part of a child’s education. It gives children access to critical information about themselves and the many facets of the diverse world around them. At St Stephens  CofE Primary School we provide a specifically tailored curriculum that is both broad and balanced, and meets the unique context of our school. We give pupils access to big ideas and conversations, alongside practical experiences. At the heart of this, we encourage respect and understanding of the universal rights of the children to have a voice.

Implementation

At St. Stephens children are supported to build on their PSED (Personal, Social and Emotional development) within the EYFS using the Every Child Matters documents. The PSHE Association curriculum which follows the national curriculum is used as a framework to plan and teach sequential lessons within KS1 and KS2.

Each class has timetabled opportunities to explicitly teach concepts of PSHE as well as circle time for discussion around pupils, thoughts, feelings, ideas, questions and misconceptions. Teachers have the autonomy and trust to make responsible decisions for their pupils that complement the overall vision of the curriculum and meets the needs of their cohort.

Through our curriculum children are taught to have respect for themselves, and for others, within our local, national and global communities. We aim to develop key character skills, including decision making, informed risk taking, good communication, and self-regulation strategies. We encourage the exploration of, and respect for, values held by different cultures and groups within our local community, and promote the development of positive attitudes. We encourage honesty and respect in all relationships, and nurture sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others.

Each week we have two themed assemblies led by our Inclusion and PSHE leads to cover topics within PSHE and give the pupils the opportunity to think about their roles within society and the wider world. We also use these assemblies to launch special events or key dates such as Anti-Bullying week, Harvest Festival and Internet Safety.

Our PSHE curriculum is also aided by other internal/external support staff. We have a health mentor who conducts a wellbeing questionnaire termly which is used to assess children’s wellbeing in terms of their sleep, diet, emotions and physical activity. Pupils who may be highlighted as needed additional support are then supported either one to one or in small groups to develop the target area. This support is facilitated by our Health Mentor, School councillor and Confidence Coach after discussions with parents.

During the Summer term we explicitly teach SRE after consultation with parents so they are aware of the themes and topics we will be covering across year groups. At St Stephens we use Medway councils SRE planning as advised by the Lambeth Health Co-ordinator to teach topics appropriate to the children’s age and maturity. These topics are sequenced and are progressively built upon year by year.

Impact

At St Stephens we aim to promote children’s knowledge, self esteem, emotional wellbeing and resilience, and to help them to form and maintain worthwhile and positive relationships.

We aim to enable children to develop a deepening knowledge of their health and wellbeing, including their mental and physical health. We aim to equip children and young people with information, skills and values to understand and to be able to cope with the physical and emotional changes that happen during puberty. The information provided will be relevant and appropriate to the age and maturity of pupils. Our aim is to prepare pupils adequately for adult life: its decisions, responsibilities, experiences and opportunities, and to allow pupils to develop fully as emotional mature human beings whilst also supporting them to foster a healthy outlook on school to raise attendance in line with National figures.