PSHE/RSE | Leamington Community Primary School

Intent:

At Leamington Community Primary School, we aim to provide children with the opportunity to grow intellectually, socially, morally, emotionally and culturally through a creative, inclusive and challenging real-world curriculum. Our PSHE/RSE curriculum plays a pivotal role in this. Throughout each academic year, children address important topics, including morals, behaviour, personal safety, celebrating difference, healthy minds and bodies, relationships and puberty. Children access important life skills in a variety of contexts as they develop their outlook and mind-set for now and the future. At Leamington, we aim to:

Provide a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place;
Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene;
Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy;
Create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships;
Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies;
Nurture and support the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of the pupils;
Promote fundamental British values;
Support pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives, and become responsible citizens.

Implementation:

At Leamington, we follow the JIGSAW programme of work. JIGSAW brings together PSHE, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. Teaching strategies are varied and are mindful of preferred learning styles and the need for differentiation. JIGSAW is designed as a whole-school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme at the same time. We teach PSHE through discrete weekly lessons, as well as addressing PSHE themes in other curriculum areas. Our PSHE curriculum encourages collaborative learning whilst emphasising diversity, equality and tolerance for others. Our PSHE curriculum is designed to meet the criteria for the DfE guidance for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education.

To further enhance our PSHE curriculum, we also hold many events throughout the school year that further enhance our PSHE curriculum, including: Computing and Online Safety Week; Safer Internet Day; Anti-Bullying Week, NSPCC assemblies and workshops, Knife Crime workshops and regular theatre productions. ‘Aspirations Week’ has also been a key event in our PSHE calendar for a number of years, which provides children with opportunities to explore different careers and question a range of visitors to help ascertain their own aspirations for the future. This has been so successful that we are now embedding it throughout the curriculum, across the school year instead of it being a one-week event.

As well as the JIGSAW programme of work and themes explored through other curriculum areas and events, we offer a range of extra-curricular groups that address healthy lifestyles, i.e. cookery club, a variety of sports clubs, yoga, school council, wellbeing warriors, online safety officers and gardening club. These groups not only address the topic of healthy lifestyles but help children to develop friendships, citizenship and a positive mind-set. Leamington Productions, our dance and drama group, have also participated in the NOW Festival for the last two years which helped the children to explore and address different areas of mental health and highlight the importance of this to not only our school but the local community. They have been extremely successful in this event and won a number of awards, including ‘Festival Champions’ for ‘Best Overall Performance’.

At Leamington, we recognise that some children will need further support, outside of the classroom. We have a dedicated Inclusion Team who work with the teachers to ensure identified children receive the support they need. We have a full-time learning mentor, a Th.inc Room Practitioner, an attendance mentor and a Family Support Worker in school, who are able to support the children and their families when needed.

Wellbeing Wednesday

At Leamington Community Primary School, the whole school dedicate every Wednesday afternoon to our PSHE/RSE lessons and other mindful, health and wellbeing lessons such as P.E. and Art. The PSHE/RSE lessons across the whole school follow a focused structure that promotes health and wellbeing. This structure and its aims are:

Movement: Sensory breaks and physical activity to encourage movement

Connect Us: Activities and games to encourage peer interaction and introduce a theme

Stretch and relax: Stretching and yoga activities to create a calm and mindful space

Circle time: Implementation of the formal PSHE/RSE (Jigsaw) lesson. This is also a time to introduce stories, scenarios and discussions to explore a theme further

Feel & believe: Affirmations for self-esteem, confidence and positivity as well as massages to promote deep relaxation.

We have also implemented Wellbeing Journals for every child in the school to provide children with a space to be creative and complete wellbeing tasks which will also support future assessment in this subject.

Staff also assess our pupils’ progression against the Knowledge, Understanding and Skills documents below.

Year 1 KUS overview

Year 2 KUS overview

Year 3 KUS overview

Year 4 KUS overview

Year 5 KUS overview

Year 6 KUS overview

Although we dedicate one afternoon per week to focus on the PSHE/RSE curriculum, promoting our pupils’ wellbeing and mental health is an integral part of our whole school environment and school culture. We consolidate our PSHE/ RSE knowledge, understanding and skills throughout our curriculum and our pupils’ wellbeing needs are addressed daily through the use of our Zones of Regulation framework, our daily sensory breaks and wellbeing activities. Please see our Wellbeing webpages below for more information:

Mental Health and Wellbeing at Leamington Community Primary School

Zones of Regulation

Impact:

At Leamington, our weekly celebration assembly showcases children’s progress according to our Leamington Values of Friendship, Honesty, Respect, Determination and Courage. This is an opportunity to celebrate not only academic achievement, but social, moral, emotional and cultural progress. Throughout our PSHE lessons, teachers collate evidence of achievement and progress using SeeSaw. The PSHE subject leader monitors the subject regularly, including listening to pupil voice, to review and adapt the curriculum.

Anti Bullying Art Week