Be Kind
Do Your Best
Achieve Together
Curriculum Statement
PSHE/RSE at Stamshaw Junior School
In an ever-changing world, it is essential that our children are equipped with the skills to be confident and successful members of society. As such, our aims for PSHE and RSE are tailored to the needs of our community and are based on the prior experiences of our children.
PSHE curriculum planning will:
With this at the centre of PSHE teaching in our school, these aims are our focus:
Our children need to develop a growth mindset to enable them to be resilient to changes they may face and understand the world in which they live.
We understand the importance of helping our children respect the underpinning of British Values: democracy, rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect. As such we want our children to develop into respectful and caring members of our school and wider community through a curriculum that encourages independence, reflection and a tolerance of diversity. Our children should understand the importance of accepting responsibility for their own actions.
We understand that in a world where change is constant, our children need to have the skills to recognise how being mentally and physically well feels and where to get help and ways to self-help when this is not the case.
We understand that growing into an adult can be a time of great anxiety. Therefore, we want our children to understand how their bodies will change, at an age- appropriate level, and for them to have a positive body image where they respect themselves and others, while, at the same time, maintaining healthy and respectful relationships.
By the end of KS2 the children will:
PSHE/RSE Progression of Sequencing
Objectives
For full details of all objectives to be taught refer to:
PSHE ASSOCIATION - Programme of Study for PSHE Education
gov.uk - Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education
Policies & Outcomes
RSE Consultation Feedback
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you that took part in the RSE parent consultation questionnaire. It was lovely to read such positive feedback about our teaching of PSHE and RSE. Your responses were very helpful to us and have enabled us to finalise our RSE policy, which is now on our website under PSHE. Below, you will find feedback to your responses for each question.
Miss Bushell
Your responses all suggest that you are happy with our current delivery of this curriculum but that having separate groups of boys and girls or selected peer groups may be more comfortable for the children. Although there is no specific guidance that state this should be the case, this is something we can address as a school to create the post positive experience for the children. When teaching RSE lessons, there is always a questions box in the classroom, so children can pose questions if they are not comfortable asking questions out loud and can then get a personal response from the class teacher.
A majority of you felt this was the case. There was the suggestion that more emphasis is placed on supporting children with special educational needs. This is on our policy and is something that is under constant review in our everyday teaching. If you have any concerns, please contact your child’s teacher as your first port of call. With the overview and policy on- line now, it will be easier for you to see what your child is learning in RSE and termly newsletters will also tell you. If it is a particularly sensitive topic, letters will be sent home too, informing you of what is being taught and when.
Your responses were varied here, but these are the main points: we communicate with you well; we have a good coverage of topics; we emphasise the importance of happiness and family; we make the children feel safe and treat them maturely and that we cover relevant topics for the age of the children. It is not always possible to send home examples of work done in this subject as often the lessons are discussion based and these are not necessarily recorded in any way by the children. Your child’s teacher can always provide you with the questions being discussed if you would like them when you know specific subjects are being delivered.
Most responses suggest that you think our RSE is OK but have suggested some broader subject areas we could teach. However, as a primary school, we have guidance about what we should teach and some topics suggested such as HIV and AIDS are KS3 topics, so while we touch on keeping safe in relationships both physically and mentally, this is not an area that is deemed appropriate for general KS2 teaching.
The areas you suggested we could cover that are not being covered such as gender and same-sex relationships, negative peer relationships, drugs and a greater link to Christianity are all being addressed across the four-year curriculum and our RE curriculum, but as our world changes so too will our curriculum in response to this, which is why currently we have a greater emphasis on mental health and wellbeing. Individual learning and adaptations to the delivery of lessons take place when a child needs that level of intervention and support.
One area that was suggested that we should cover more is the use of sexually explicit language and what the ramifications of this can be on individuals. As a staff we have all just undertaken training on this in a training course about peer-on-peer abuse. It is something that will be incorporated into our lessons. A further area of concern was that we teach children about being safe on-line. This is done frequently through both our PSHE and computing curriculum as well as involving the children in nationwide events such Internet Safety Day and government initiatives like being ‘Internet Legends’.
Most responses suggest you are happy with the way we are teaching RSE to the children but with the concern we are teaching too much. It is a full curriculum and one that has been suggested by Portsmouth City Council as it meets the needs of our city. We do try and group themes together so that the children are not overwhelmed, and also we do a lot of discussion based lessons which enables all children to participate as much or as little as they feel able to.
As a school, we try and give you the most up-to-date information about what your child will be learning, but please use the PSHE overview that is on our website and also look at newsletters as this will tell you what your child will be covering in each topic. Again, if you have any questions, please consult your child’s teacher.
You have indicated that we send you emails or Marvellous Me alerts to inform you about what is being taught. In addition to this, please use the school website.
If you would like to see the full results of the survey, please click the link below.