At SMSP our aim for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) is to enable every child to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident and independent lives, and become informed and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society and embrace change; be able to manage risks together and think of their own and others well-being. In doing so, we encourage the children to play a positive role in contributing to the life of a Christian school and the wider community. As a Church of England school, our Christian values and beliefs are essential to our discussion and teaching throughout this subject.
Through our PSHE curriculum and collective worship, we support children’s spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development and prepare them for the opportunities and experiences that life has to offer. We prepare our children for life in a modern, democratic society, and we actively celebrate diversity and ensure equality of opportunity. Children learn about the importance of moral values such as honesty, respect, kindness, tolerance and personal responsibility. They also learn basic rules for keeping themselves healthy and safe and for behaving well. In our PSHE lessons, we provide opportunities to practise and enhance the five skills associated with emotional literacy (self-awareness, social skills, empathy, motivation and managing feelings). These skills are vital for children’s development, their understanding of themselves and others and in increasing their capacity to learn.
We use Jigsaw to support the teaching of PSHE. Our PSHE programme covers all key stages from Reception to Year 6 and progresses in sequence from the start of each academic year.
Autumn 1: Being Me in My World
Autumn 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)
Spring 3: Dreams and Goals
Spring 4: Healthy Me
Summer 5: Relationships
Summer 6: Changing Me (including Sex Education)
Our PSHE provision focuses on helping children develop the skills to build and maintain friendships, to recognise and manage their emotions, to know how to keep themselves safe, to understand and manage change in their lives, including as their bodies change and for Year 6 children, the change as they transfer to secondary school.
Our PSHE curriculum includes Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). The aims of which include how to develop positive and safe relationships of all kinds – including how to treat each other with kindness, and recognising the difference between online and offline friendships. In Year 6 children learn about human conception. We teach the children that children are best raised within a loving, secure, stable and committed relationship.
During the course of the school year, we enrich learning with visits to local areas of interest as well as in-school workshops and visits from public speakers. For example, Year 6 take part in the Junior Citizens project, Year 5 have river safety training, Year 2 have scooter training and Reception are visited by the local vet. We also hold theme days to raise awareness or celebrate a particular area of study. For example, Hello Yellow for World Mental Health Day, World Peace Day and Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying / Friendship Week.
We promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Actively promoting the values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Children learn about British Values through PSHE as well as during RE lessons and Collective Worship.
We believe that children should have a voice and, as such, we have an active School Council, which is a group of children who are elected by their peers to represent the views of all children and to improve the school.