Intent

At Adlington Primary School, we believe that teaching personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and relationships and sex education (RSE) is integral to providing a broad and balanced curriculum. PSHE is at the core of what we do and enables our children to become independent, responsible, healthy and confident members of the society, as well as developing the “whole child” intellectually, morally, socially and spiritually. With an ever-changing society and an increasing range of influences, we are able to provide our children with a strong understanding of the diverse world around them and support them in playing a positive role in contributing to our school and wider community. As a school we focus on values throughout the year such as forgiveness and friendship, and these are interwoven into our PSHE lessons too.

As a school we held a consultation meeting with parents and carers to discuss our PSHE curriculum and share the 'Jigsaw' scheme. We took feedback and adapted our curriculum in light of this.

PSHE is taught across the whole school from EYFS to Year 6 on a weekly basis, and as a school we follow guidance from the PSHE Association and also the 'Jigsaw' curriculum.

We also use other resources and organisations to support our teaching of PSHE, these are evidenced in the whole school progression map. Where there are links to topics, we supplement our scheme with cross curricular activities. Jigsaw helps children to understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the world. It has a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, which we believe is important for our children. PSHE lessons at Adlington Primary School significantly contribute towards the British Values agenda.

The Health and Relationships Education aspects of PSHE education are compulsory in all schools, by following guidance from the PSHE Association and the 'Jigsaw' scheme, we meet all the statutory requirements. Our PSHE curriculum has clear links with other subjects such as Science, Physical Education and Computing, and teachers make these links when they can. Through our PSHE curriculum we are able to fulfil the statutory responsibility to support children's spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development, and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.  

Implementation

PSHE at Adlington Primary School is structured into 6 half-termly units of work. These comprise of; ‘Being Me in My World’, ‘Celebrating Differences’, ‘Dreams and Goals’, ‘Healthy Me’, ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’. Each unit is introduced by the subject leader through a special assembly, this launches the puzzle piece to all children allowing for a whole school approach. With the whole school working on the same theme it enables the learning message to be reinforced through whole school activities, such as assemblies. PSHE lessons at our school are delivered weekly and are structured around a mindful, respectful and open approach to encourage discussion and focus on what it takes to develop physically, mentally and spiritually as a human being.

We have a two year rolling programme for most of our classes: EYFS/Year 1, Year 1/Year 2, Year 4/5 and Year 5/6. Year 3 are taught separately and therefore have a one year programme of work. EYFS are taught alongside the Year 1 children.  Part of the ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’ units are taught in single age groups due to the age specific content. RSE is threaded through the core themes but it is at the heart of two core themes – ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’.  PSHE is integrated into curriculum plans for Science, Physical Education and Computing; and it is taught as a spiral curriculum in which children are able to revisit themes and approaches each year, allowing them to process the information and develop the skills according to their needs at their own stage of development. There may be occasions when teachers feel it is necessary to teach PSHE as a result of an issue arisen in their own class and we encourage this where possible.

Each PSHE lesson has two learning intentions, one is based on the specific PSHE learning and the other is designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills. Teachers use various teaching and learning activities to engage children throughout PSHE lessons. Much of our PSHE curriculum is practical and discussion based, this is recorded in a class floor book. Any written work is collected in a child’s PSHE Journal, this follows their journey from Year 1 to Year 6. All EYFS learning is recorded in a floor book and provision activities support their learning in each unit too. Each lesson is split up into 6 parts, all of which are included in each session to ensure that learning follows the optimum progression.  

As a school we believe it is important to focus on children’s wellbeing, as such mindfulness activities are key components of our PSHE lessons. Children reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling issues that are part of growing up. Teachers plan lessons to support children to develop their self-belief, realise their value and encourage them to become increasingly responsible for their own learning. Our PSHE curriculum is shaped around our school vision of ‘Aspire, Persevere, Succeed’, we aim to enable all of our children, regardless of their background, ability or additional needs, to flourish to become the best version of themselves. Our PSHE curriculum allows children to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding year upon year. 

We want children to aspire, persevere and succeed at becoming the best versions of themselves and our PSHE lessons support children with this. 

Teachers at Adlington Primary School plan their PSHE lessons so that they meet the needs of their children. Children’s individual needs are supported where necessary. Greater depth children are challenged to ensure that they are being given opportunities to enrich their learning further.

We recognise that some areas of PSHE involve specialist knowledge and not all teachers are specialists in this area. We follow and adapt guidance from the PSHE Association and the 'Jigsaw' scheme and this enables clear coverage of the PSHE curriculum, whilst also providing support and CPD for less confident teachers to deliver lessons. 

Impact

At Adlington Primary School we seek to ensure that the PSHE that we teach improves the physical, social and mental well-being of all of our pupils. Providing consistent and regular delivery of PSHE allows us to fulfil this. High expectations of the quality of pupils’ work is expected, as with all other areas of the curriculum here at Adlington Primary School, this allows children to build on the knowledge that they have previously acquired.  

The impact of our PSHE curriculum can be measured and monitored in a variety of different ways including; learning walks, PSHE Journals, data analysis and tracking and pupil interviews. Assessment is both formative and summative. Teachers carry out summative assessments at the end of each unit and provide a ‘best fit’ approach as to whether children have achieved the ‘expected’ standard. Throughout all PSHE lessons teachers assess formatively through observations, discussions and questions, this supports them with the planning and pitching of subsequent lessons. It is the responsibility of the subject leader to monitor the quality of teaching and learning of PSHE across the whole school, and to triangulate this evidence to ensure consistency. The subject leader also provides regular staff updates and support to staff in order to guide their planning and teaching of PSHE.

We endeavour to raise the profile of PSHE in school by ensuring that we hold the weekly celebrations, holding special assemblies to launch each new unit and by providing opportunities throughout the year for all our children to support them physically, socially and mentally. We hold a special Friendship Week each year, this is vital in ensuring that our whole school community is involved in promoting the importance of physical, social and mental health education.

It is our aim that our children leave Adlington Primary School with a confident image of themselves as valued people who are better equipped to manage situations that arise in their lives both socially and personally. Through our PSHE lessons and safe environments created within school children are able to move forward into the world as happy, confident young people who know how best to manage situations, or who to turn to in order to seek help.

We consulted parents regarding changes to RSE from September 2020 and again in May 2022.

Below you will find the power-point that was shared with all the guidance if you missed the session.