PSHE & RSHE Curriculum 

PSHE & RSHE Vision 

Our aim throughout the Personal, Social, Health and Economics (PSHE) and Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum is to provide our children with the ability to make appropriate, thoughtful and respectful choices in their everyday life, both inside and outside of the classroom. This includes keeping themselves safe and building healthy, positive relationships with others. At County Bridge, we teach skills progressively through the curriculum including British Values and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education (SMSC) ensuring that children’s voices are at the core of their value-driven learning. We are committed to ensuring that each child is valued and nurtured as an individual. The main purpose of our PSHE & RSHE curriculum is to teach our children to be happy, healthy and safe; equipping them for adult life as well as focusing on their opportunities to make a positive contribution to society. 

Intent 

At our school, PSHE & RSHE develops our pupils into healthy, independent and responsible individuals who are well prepared for their future. County Bridge Primary School recognises the importance of all the PSHE & RSHE elements (including consent, e-safety and core values) and the role they play in day-to-day life. Our core values are: Democracy, Individual Liberty, Rule of Law, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Be Kind, Be Honest, Be Just, Be Resilient and Be Responsible. We believe PSHE & RSHE supports the development of emotional maturity, resilience and mental and physical well-being. This in turn supports emotional awareness, concentration and focus. Therefore, our curriculum revolves around three key themes: Relationships, Health and Well-Being and Living in the Wider World as provided by the PSHE association. 

We believe PSHE & RSHE is a lifelong process of acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs and attitudes about relationships. We believe it is important to provide pupils with the skills and knowledge to prepare them for decisions that they make throughout their lives. It is about the understanding of the importance of different families and how they are structured; stable and loving relationships; respect, love and care. It is essential that we teach PSHE & RSHE to provide the link between pupils’ health and wellbeing, and their academic progress. We understand the value of promoting positive behaviour, mental health, well-being, resilience and achievement. We recognise the impact these attributes can have on pupils’ whole education. We are dedicated to ensuring that County Bridge Primary School is a happy, stimulating and caring place, with nurture forming the foundation of all relationships. We expect high standards of behaviour and good manners throughout the school. 

Implementation 

Our PSHE & RSHE journey starts with our youngest children in Early Years (2-5 year olds). It then builds upon these first stages of development through KS1 and KS2 (5-7 year olds and 7-11 year olds). It is taught at County Bridge through a dedicated, timetabled lesson at least once a week to ensure that quality time is devoted to it. Key messages are taught throughout the rest of the curriculum, whole school assemblies and special focus events. The lessons are taught through progressive and sequenced topics, supported by the Jigsaw framework. The units of work are centred around six themes and are planned so that new skills and knowledge build on what has been taught before and towards clearly defined end points. This provides a structure and a basis on which the lessons are formed. Resources of the Jigsaw framework include a soft toy jigsaw puzzle with a different character per year group and a class chime for ‘calm me’ time. Teachers adapt the lessons to suit the individual needs of their cohort. Teachers are able to use specific resources, such as talking tins, to help support the needs of each individual child. 

The aim of this is to gradually and appropriately prepare children for adult life, and ensure the development of the personal skills needed by pupils to establish and maintain relationships both now and in their future. With our high expectations, all children, regardless of their background, gender, ethnicity or needs, are expected to achieve at least age-related level expectations. There are occasions where teachers may feel that it is necessary to teach PSHE & RSHE as result of an issue that has arisen in their own class. This is always dealt with sensitively and appropriately according to the event. 

The curriculum is designed to ensure that young people can make responsible and informed decisions about their own health and well-being. It supports children to understand their own place in the world including their own ideas and beliefs, building their own knowledge and ability to stay safe and healthy. We are inclusive of all people when teaching about relationships. This includes people whose characteristics are protected under the Equality Act 2010. PSHE & RSHE does not promote or require children to have specific views, but is about providing children with accurate information in an age and developmentally appropriate way, to make their own informed choices. 

In addition to dedicated PSHE & RSHE lessons, many other curriculum subjects make links to PSHE, RSHE, SMSC, health, e-safety and our whole school values. This allows for our curriculum to overlap and progress to ensure fundamental values are being taught across the school throughout pupils’ journey at County Bridge from Early Years to Year 6.  

We are proud to provide aspects of the curriculum outside dedicated lessons. This includes (but is not limited to) the following: 

• Weekly achievement assemblies that focus on children’s successes 

• A specific focus on one whole school value each month 

• Play leaders to support children’s well-being at break and lunch time 

• Reader leaders that support older pupils to teach younger pupils reading skills 

• School Council which enables children to show leadership in their community 

• A*Stars (Gold) programme for each year group – Reception = Local walk, Year 1 = Cycling in the curriculum, Year 2 = Safety in car seats, scooterbility, scootathon, Year 3 = Pedestrian training, Year 4 = Bikeability fix, Year 5 = The DIMS (seat belt safety), Year 6 = Bikeability fix, bikeability, leisure ride, egg heads, transition to secondary school  

• Year 5/6 Prevent programme for 6 weeks - focus on terrorism, radicalisation and patriotism 

• Our healthy schools initiative 

• Donation and contributions to help others in need such as our Harvest contributions to the Black Country Foodbank and the Ukraine appeal 

• School Games (silver 2016/17) 

• International School Award (intermediate) 

• Achievement for all (Quality Mark 2018/19) 

• National and special events that celebrate PSHE & RSHE such as Safer Internet Week, Walk to School Week, Healthy Eating Week, Children in Need, Red Nose Day, Road Safety Week 

In September 2020, the Department for Education introduced compulsory RSE and Health Education. During the RSHE consultation at County Bridge, we had discussions about our content and coverage with staff members, parents and pupils to inform a new and up to date policy for RSHE and ensure that this reflected the needs of our community.  

It was decided that, across the year, each class would regularly discuss the importance of the PANTS rule. This derives from the NSPCC campaign to enable conversations about keeping children safe from sexual abuse. In addition, Year 5 and 6 learn about how puberty can bring about different changes for boys and girls. These sessions are delivered by the Walsall School Health team alongside class teachers and taught separately to boys and girls so they feel confident to engage in any discussion without feeling embarrassed by the presence of the opposite sex. 

Language has a high priority in PSHE & RSHE lessons; pupils contribute to class discussions and reflect upon their own ideas and opinions. As part of the PSHE & RSHE curriculum, pupils are given the opportunity to voice concerns that they may have over the modern world and the implications this may have on relationships such as keeping safe online. Beyond our documented curriculum, the whole school’s values provide a culture that contributes towards the holistic development of our children. Therefore, our teaching approach places great emphasis upon collaboration and cooperation: group work is a key element of all lessons, enabling our pupils to achieve success together.  

Impact 

We want our children to be able to demonstrate and apply our whole school values throughout their time at County Bridge and take these values with them throughout the rest of their lives. Our curriculum will celebrate each child’s uniqueness and will enable them to become confident, independent members of the community with an awareness of their rights and responsibilities as individuals and as part of a diverse society. 

It is so important that our children leave County Bridge with the appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding to support their journey in life and work in modern Britain. We expect ALL pupils make good progress, including disadvantaged and pupil premium. Pupils will utilise their learning within their daily lives, from dealing with relationships to resilience to making happy and healthy life choices.