RSE & PSHE Intent

Our RSE & PSHE scheme aims to give children the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they need to effectively navigate the complexities of life in the 21st Century. The 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.

Our RSE/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 also 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.

Quality PSHE and RSE 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’ 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, 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.

Our RSE & PSHE scheme is aligned to the PSHE Association.

RSE & PSHE Implementation

Our RSE & PSHE 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 the Upper Key Stage 2 units 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 RSE/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. We offer an adaptive curriculum 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 for us to work collaboratively to support children’s learning.

The scheme also includes documentation related to the implementation of the curriculum:

• Long-term plans outlining the learning within each year group. There are standard, condensed and mixed-age versions.
• Statutory guidance mapping illustrating how the units of lessons deliver the learning required within the Statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education.
• RSE & PSHE Progression of skills and knowledge.
• Protected characteristics mapping.

Other documentation related to the implementation of the curriculum:

• Protected characteristics mapping.
• SMSC, Personal development and British values mapping.
• Education for a connected world mapping
• Keeping children safe in education: Child on Child Sexual harassment knowledge outcomes and mapping.
• Knowledge organisers summarise the learning for each unit.

RSE & PSHE Impact

Each lesson within our RSE & PSHE scheme features assessment guidance, helping teachers to identify whether pupils have met, exceeded, or failed to meet the desired learning intentions for that lesson.

Each unit of lessons comes with an Assessment quiz and Knowledge catcher. The quiz contains 10 questions, nine of which are multiple-choice and can be used either at the end of the unit or at both the start and the end to help measure progress and identify any gaps in learning. The Knowledge catchers list some of the lesson titles in mind-map or table format and can be used at the start of a unit to see what the children already know and to inform planning, and then pupils can revisit the same version of the Knowledge catcher at the end of the unit to add what else they now know, further demonstrating their progression in learning.

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.

What will Relationships Education at Billingborough Primary School look like?

The term ‘relationships’ covers all relationships we, as humans, have with others – family members, friends, the relationships children have in school with their peers and members of staff.  In a broad sense, Relationship Education encompasses all interactions with others.

Relationship Education will form part of your children’s learning about the world around them and how they interact with others.  Like all areas of the curriculum, Relationship Education will be taught objectively, without bias.   Children will not be taught to question their own gender identity but will become aware that we are all different and that our differences should never be a cause for fear, conflict or disrespect.

In Nursery and Reception, children will begin to:

• develop a positive sense of themselves and others;
• form positive relationships with others;
• develop respect for others and 
• develop an awareness of similarities and differences between people.

In KS1 (Years 1 and 2), children will learn more about topics such as:

• working collaboratively with others;
• being kind and treating others with respect;
• bullying and unkind behaviour;
• understanding their own and other’s emotions;
• the importance of families and friends in our lives and
• different family structures.

In KS2 (Year 3, 4, 5 and 6) children will build on this and will cover learning on:

• teamwork and shared responsibilities;
• resolving conflicts with others
• conveying their emotions to others appropriately;
• the different types of relationships people have with others;
• effective communication with others;
• healthy and unhealthy relationships, including forms of bullying and
• peer pressure and dares. 

Celebrating diversity through Relationships Education

Teaching children about the wonderful differences among humans has always been considered an important in education.  Just as we want to encourage children to celebrate many different talents, strengths, goals and dreams, we also aim to promote the celebration of diversity among cultures, religions and traditions.  Celebrating diversity among family structures and relationships is exactly the same principle and is something we look at from a whole school approach.

An inclusive Relationship Education

To ensure children with lesbian, gay bisexual or transgender (LGBT+) family members, as well as those who may be beginning to, they themselves, question their own feelings and sense of self, feel represented in the school environment and curriculum, school will endeavour to use resources which feature a range of families and relationships.  This encourages understanding, acceptance and respect of different relation ships from a young age.