Blackfell Primary School

Personal, Social and Health Education (P.S.H.E)

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (S.M.S.C)

Relationships, Sex & Health Education (R.S.H.E)

Intent

At Blackfell Primary School, we aim to give children the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they need to effectively navigate the complexities of life in the 21st Century. Our curriculum covers key areas which will support children to make informed choices now and in the future around their health, safety, wellbeing, relationships, and financial matters and will support them in becoming confident individuals and active members of society.

Kapow Primary’s RSHE/PSHE scheme of work covers the Relationships and Health Education statutory guidance (as set out by the Department for Education), including the non-statutory sex education. The scheme covers wider PSHE learning, in line with the requirement of the National curriculum (2014) that schools ‘should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE).’ Children’s learning through this scheme would significantly contribute to their personal development as set out in the Ofsted Inspection Framework and promotes the four fundamental British values which reflect life in modern Britain: democracy; rule of law; respect and tolerance and individual liberty.

The Kapow Primary scheme does not specifically cover gender identity, although identity is a theme that runs through all year groups and units more generally. Gender identity does not form part of the National curriculum, and we would advise teachers and school leaders to refer to their own school’s policies and procedures when considering how to address sensitivities within this area.

Quality PSHE and RSHE teaching is an important element in helping schools to carry out their duty of care with regards to safeguarding. The DfE’s statutory ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education (Sep 2020)’ guidance states that ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that children are taught about safeguarding, including online safety. Schools should consider this as part of providing a broad and balanced curriculum’. In response to the child-on-child abuse updates to Section 5 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE, 2022), our curriculum introduces and revisits ideas of personal boundaries, consent and communicating our boundaries with others. This prepares pupils for the challenges and responsibilities they will face in the future.

Implementation

The Kapow Primary scheme is a whole school approach that consists of three areas of learning in EYFS: Reception (to match the EYFS Personal, social and emotional development prime area) and five areas of learning across Key stages 1 and 2.

EYFS:

Self-regulation
Building relationships
Managing self

Key stage 1 and 2:

Families and relationships
Health and wellbeing
Safety and the changing body
Citizenship
Economic wellbeing

Each area is revisited to allow children to build on prior learning. The lessons also provide a progressive programme.

The lessons are based upon the statutory requirements for Relationships and Health education, but where our lessons go beyond these requirements (primarily in the Citizenship and Economic wellbeing areas) they refer to the PSHE Association Programme of Study which is recommended by the DfE. Sex education has been included in line with the DfE recommendations and is covered in Year 6 of our scheme. The scheme supports the requirements of the Equality Act through direct teaching, for example learning about different families, the negative effect of stereotypes and celebrating differences, in addition to the inclusion of diverse teaching resources throughout the lessons.

A range of teaching and learning activities are used and are based on good practice in teaching RSHE/PSHE education to ensure that all children can access learning and make progress.

In key stage 1 and 2, there is an introductory lesson at the start of each year group which provides the opportunity for children and teachers to negotiate ground rules for the lessons. These introductory lessons can then be referred to throughout the year to help create a safe environment. All lessons include ideas for differentiation to stretch the most able learners and give additional support to those who need it. Many lessons, stories, scenarios, and video clips provide the opportunity for children to engage in real life and current topics in a safe and structured way. Role-play activities are also included to help children play out scenarios that they may find themselves in. There are meaningful opportunities for cross-curricular learning, in particular with Computing for online safety and Science for growing, nutrition, teeth, diet and lifestyle. The scheme provides consistent messages throughout the age ranges including how and where to access help. The role of parents and carers is recognised, and guidance is provided to assist schools on how to work with them and include them in their children’s learning. In addition to the lessons, there is a suite of eight Q&A videos for teachers, featuring experts from various fields, covering the key areas: Families, Friendships, Healthy and safe relationships, Digital safety and the changing adolescent body. The scheme also includes documentation related to the implementation of the curriculum.

The deliverance of PSHE is supported by Blackfell’s 5 ’s resources. The 5 Rs resources include:

R - Risk-taking (Monkey)
R – Relationships (Elephant)
R- Resilience (Penguin)
R - Resourcefulness (Beaver)
R – Reflection (Fox)

The 5 R resources are displayed around school, in each class and used in assemblies to support the deliverance of PSHE within school. At Blackfell, we recognise that the personal development of children, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally, plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve, explore the range of attitudes and values in society, and to consider the kind of society they want to live in. Through exploration and discussion of topical political, spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues they develop skills and attitudes that promote:

Empathy and a willingness to perceive and understand the interests, beliefs and viewpoints of others.
A willingness and ability to apply reasoning skills to problems and to value a respect for truth and evidence in forming or holding opinions.
A willingness and ability to participate in decision-making, to value freedom, to choose between alternatives and to value fairness as a basis for making and judging decisions.
These attributes also contribute to our understanding of British Values.

We therefore, provide an education that allows children opportunities to explore and develop their own values and beliefs, spiritual awareness, high standards of personal behaviour, positive and caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and appreciation of the diversity and richness of different cultures. We ensure that children understand how the culture(s) in which they live influences individual thinking. All curriculum areas contribute to the child’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and opportunities to achieve this are planned in each area of the curriculum. Staff model and promote expected behaviour, treating all people equally as unique and valuable individuals, showing concern and respect for the children and their families. All curriculum areas use illustrations and examples drawn from as wide a range of cultural contexts as possible. The school community is a place where children find acceptance for themselves as unique individuals and where forgiveness and the opportunity to start again is fundamental to the ethos of the school.

Implementation of SMSC takes place across all curriculum areas, within activities encouraging children to recognise the spiritual dimension of their learning, reflecting on the significance of what they are learning, and recognising any challenges that there may be to their own attitude and lifestyle. Teaching across the school focuses on skills and attitudes enabling children to develop socially, morally, spiritually and culturally – e.g. empathy, respect, open mindedness, sensitivity, critical awareness, etc. Through class discussions the children have the opportunity to:

Talk about personal experiences and feelings.
Express and clarify their own ideas and beliefs, share thoughts and feelings with other people.
Speak about difficult events, e.g. bullying, death etc.
Explore relationships with friends/family/others, considering others needs and behaviour.
Show empathy.
Develop self-esteem and a respect for others.
Develop a sense of belonging.

Blackfell’s board and balance curriculum provides further opportunities to:

Listen and talk to each other.
Learn an awareness of treating all as equals, and accepting people who are physically, mentally, culturally and spiritually different.
Agree and disagree.
Take turns and share equipment.
Work co-operatively and collaboratively.

Emotional Wellbeing

Blackfell Primary School are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our whole school community. We provide a supportive and caring ethos and our approach is respectful and kind, where each individual and contribution is valued. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable at times and anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play. Emotional wellbeing is interwoven throughout our curriculum and encompasses every day life in school. We help and support our children by providing opportunities to:

Understand emotions and feelings
Feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
Socially form and maintain relationships
Promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they count
Be confident and ‘dare to be different’
Develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks.

We promote a mentally healthy environment through:

Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging
Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
Providing opportunities to reflect
Access to appropriate support that meets their need

Impact

Each lesson within Kapow Primary’s scheme features assessment guidance, helping teachers to identify whether pupils have met the desired learning intentions for that lesson.

Once taught the full scheme, children will have met the objectives set out within the Relationships and Health Education statutory guidance and can utilise their learning within their daily lives, from dealing with friendship issues to resilience to making healthy choices and knowing where and how to get help when needed. PSHE and RSHE, SMSC and Emotional Wellbeing is delivered by class teachers who take responsibility for planning, resourcing and delivering the curriculum. Beyond the planned curriculum, we provide children with a variety of experiences that have the potential to promote their personal, social development and economic education. These include:

Whole School Celebration Assemblies
Class Assemblies
Circle time
Sports clubs and participating in cluster school tournaments & competitions
Drama and music activities and productions
Residential & cultural visits, day trips, theatre visits
Clubs – school band, singing, arts & crafts, mindfulness, dance, team games
Fund raising events
Theme days/events, for example, World of Work, Black History, World Book Day, Anti-Bullying
Mini Enterprise projects

Our PSHE and RSHE curriculum is high quality, well thought out and planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills which form part of the units of work. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Assessing children’s understanding and use of knowledge in developing skills and attitudes, for example, through participating in discussions, group task and activities, managing conflict, making decisions and promoting positive relationships
Assessment in PSHE/RSHE/SMSC education is active and participatory, helping children to recognise the progress they make in developing and taking part, as well as in their knowledge and understanding. Children learn to reflect on their experiences, ask questions, make judgements about their strengths and needs
Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning
Images and videos of the children’s practical learning
Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice)
Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work
Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum
Governor monitoring with the PSHE/RSHE/SMSC and Mental Health and Wellbeing link governors.
Dedicated leadership time.
Leadership opportunities, for example Playground monitors, School Council representatives, Mental Health & Wellbeing representatives, Anti-bullying representatives and peer mentors.
Children’s knowledge and understanding, for example, information on health, understanding of rules, understanding of health and safety procedures, and the meaning of ideas including democracy