PSHE Curriculum

At Whitburn Village Primary School we offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, staff know the children and their families well and are therefore able to carefully consider planning which meets the needs of all the children in their care. Our curriculum is tailored to meet the particular needs of our school community, and is designed with regard to South Tyneside Local Authority data. 

We ensure our curriculum:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of our children and of society.
• Prepares our children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences they already face and for adult life in modern Britain.
• Provides information about keeping healthy and safe, both emotionally and physically.
• Encourages our children to understand how all actions have consequences. 
• How they can make informed choices to help themselves and others.

Our curriculum promotes the children’s personal, social and emotional well- being. It helps to give the children knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active, responsible citizens with an understanding of respect and British Values. Teaching in RSE is about the understanding of the importance of marriage for family life, stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care. It is also about the teaching of sex, sexuality and sexual health. It is not about the promotion of sexual orientation or sexual activity – this would be inappropriate teaching. In Primary Schools the DfE recommends that all primary schools should have a sex and relationship education programme tailored to the age and physical and emotional maturity of the children. It should ensure that both boys and girls know about puberty and how a baby is born- as set out in Key Stages 1and 2 of the National Curriculum. Through our RSE curriculum, we believe we can enhance children’s education and help them to become confident individuals who have positive body awareness, an in-depth knowledge of how to keep themselves safe and healthy and who will, through respect, tolerance and understanding, forge and maintain positive relationships with a diverse range of family and friendship groups.

At Whitburn Village Primary School children’s well- being, happiness and safety are our first priority, and PHSE is the key vehicle through which we share this with the children. We regard PSHE as an important, integral component of the whole curriculum with strong cross curricular links to science, PE, RE and computing. Each week the children will take part in a lesson from the KAPow SOW. Age appropriate lessons are delivered in a supportive classroom environment. Our Programme of Study aims to develop skills and attributes such as resilience, self- esteem, risk management, critical thinking and team building in the context of:

• Family and Relationships.
• Safety and the changing body.
• Health and well- being.
• Citizenship.
• Economic Well Being.

Family and Relationships.

The children will learn about different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships, dealing with strangers; how to recognise, understand and build healthy relationships, including self-respect and respect for others, commitment, tolerance, boundaries and consent, and how to manage conflict. Also how to recognise unhealthy relationships; how relationships may affect health and wellbeing, including mental health; and about healthy relationships and safety online.

Safety and the changing body.

The children will learn how to ask for help, stay safe, strategies to manage their emotions, about basic first aid, online safety, and the older children about healthy relationships and managing change, including puberty, transition and loss.

Health and Wellbeing

The children will learn simple concepts such as good routines for hand washing and bedtime, how to respond in an emergency; through to emotional resilience (embracing failure) and human rights.

Citizenship.

In Citizenship the children learn about simple rules which in turn becomes work around the Rule of Law. We learn about Democracy and environmental protection and our roles within that. The older children discuss prejudice, discrimination, and how we can value diversity.

Economic Wellbeing.

The younger children have a simple introduction to money, through to learning how to track money and exploring attitudes to money. With the older children discussing gambling and how to keep money safe.

In addition, we provide enrichment activities to support the curriculum including Anti- Bullying Week, Wellness Week, and Safer Internet Day. Our Year 6 residential trip also provides a great contribution towards the children’s PSHE and RSE development. Flexibility in the timetable is also important to allow us to respond to local/national/global events that may occur and allow us to responds to any such event in an age appropriate way.

We have introduced the use of ‘Floor Books’ into PSHE. This book will capture the essence of our curriculum and will create a reference for our children to use throughout the year. The ‘Our Lives Floorbook’ will demonstrate our learning and first hand experiences.

In Early Years:

In EYFS we teach PSHE and Relationship Education as an integral part of the curriculum. The children are taught about friendship, families and who they have to support them. Thus supporting the children’s emotional well- being. The children learn about turn taking, and treating others with kindness, consideration and respect. The importance of honesty and the concept of personal privacy. Outcomes for the children are expected to be respect for others, social competence and a positive outlook.

As a result of our intent and implementation, we have a healthy, happy school community where children are informed about positive relationships, have emotional intelligence and resilience, can identify and manage emotions positively, have consideration for different groups and individuals within the community and beyond and are able to put these skills into practise in their lives. We hope that our children can evaluate their own success and challenges and strive to achieve the goals they set. 

The PSHE/RSE subject leader is responsible for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning for the subjects. They will conduct subject assessments on a termly basis, which will include a mixture of the following: 

• Learning walks 
• Work scrutiny 
• Staff voice 
• Pupil Voice

The subject leader will create annual subject reports for the Head teacher and governing board to report on the quality of the subjects. They will also work regularly and consistently with the Head teacher and RSE link governor, e.g. through yearly review meetings, to evaluate the effectiveness of the subjects and implement any changes.