Personal, Social and Health Education

Curriculum Plan PSHE and RSE September 2023

Rationale

The PSHE and RSE curriculum embraces each child offering them a safe opportunity to explore themselves, relationships and the wider world around them. The sharing of information with pupils is paramount in order to empower them to make positive decisions about their own health and wellbeing, allowing them to recognise when issues arise and knowing how to seek support as early as possible from appropriate sources. In essence the curriculum aims to promote positive physical, mental and emotional wellbeing which is fundamentally important to the lives of young people now and as they grow and mature. In today’s world young people are living their lives consistently on and off line. Whilst technology provides numerous opportunities for our pupils, there are also dangers, challenges and risks. It is therefore paramount that the pupils at St. Aidan’s are given the knowledge of how to be safe and healthy and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a constructive way. 

Intent

 PSHE provides a curriculum for life helping pupils to deal with the modern issues they face within society. The PSHE Association describes it as ‘learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, now and in the future.’ The goal essentially is for the curriculum to equip pupils with the skills they need to grow up as healthy individuals who can make informed decisions about their lives. The curriculum aims to deliver the knowledge and skills to keep pupils happy, healthy, and safe and prepare them for life and the workplace. PSHE aims to help young people to grow and develop as individuals and as members of families and of social and economic communities. At St. Aidan’s we aim to mould confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives and make a positive contribution to society. 

RSE enables young people to explore the qualities of healthy relationships and to understand acceptable behaviours within them. It also advocates individuals to respect themselves and others. The aim of RSE is to give young people the information they need to help them develop healthy, nurturing relationships of all kinds, not just intimate relationships. It should enable them to know what a healthy relationship looks like and what makes a good friend, a good colleague and a successful marriage, civil partnership or other type of committed relationship. It should also cover contraception, developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex (and not applying pressure). RSE teaches what acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in relationships are. This will help pupils understand the positive effects that good relationships have on their mental wellbeing, identify when relationships are not right and understand how such situations can be managed. 

Implementation

In the first half of the autumn term pupils across both key stages will be completing the Darlington Healthy Lifestyles Survey. The data collected from this survey allows the curriculum to be personalised to the needs of the pupils within St. Aidan’s. 

PSHE and RSE use the thematic approach covering three core themes (Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World). All year groups work on the same core theme at the same time. The themes build in development progression as each theme each revisited each year, building on and extending prior learning. 

PSHE and RSE are not assessed in the same formal way as other curriculum subjects. Assessment is ongoing with the focus on personal progression rather than attainment. Prior to new content pupils will record current knowledge and understanding and will revisit to demonstrate new learning. Scaling questions are used for KS3 pupils as an aid for assessment and KS4 pupils will use a variety of styles of assessment based against set criteria to assess progress. 

Impact

The life chances of pupils can be boosted via the PSHE curriculum as the areas covered help them to stay safe; improves their physical and mental health plus develop the character, resilience and skills needed to succeed academically and in the workplace. The topics studied play a key role in the safeguarding of pupils and managing risks such as sexual exploitation, drug / alcohol use, violent or abusive relationships, consent and online safety. Barriers to learning can be addressed, aspirations raised and the life chances of the most vulnerable or disadvantaged pupils can be improved. PSHE improves the wellbeing of pupils including physical and psychological. Pupils with better health and wellbeing can achieve better academically leading to greater success. 

Effective RSE lessons will expectantly lead to young people engaging in loving and caring relationships; to be well educated in matters surrounding sexual health with the goal that pupils will make informed decisions with regards to sexual matters. Through the RSE curriculum, pupils can 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.