Intent

At St Pauls’ Way Primary, we support our children to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. Our PSHE curriculum has been designed to prepare children to manage the most critical opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face growing up in such rapidly changing and challenging times. It also helps children to connect and apply the knowledge and understanding they learn in all subjects to practical, real-life situations while helping them to feel safe and secure enough to fulfill their academic potential.

PSHE education contributes to personal development by helping children and young people to build their personal identities, confidence and self-esteem and understand what influences their decisions. Developing self-understanding, empathy and the ability to work with others helps our pupils to enjoy healthy and productive relationships in all aspects of their lives.

At SPWF, our PSHE curriculum is part of a wider ‘Personal Development’ strand that runs throughout our all-through school. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, Personal Development is planned for and taught as part of the ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’ (PSED) area of learning within the EYFS curriculum. In Key Stage One and Two, pupils study the Jigsaw scheme for PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education). This learning is built on in the Trust School through their Personal Development provision.

Our PSHE education is part of a whole school approach which promotes effective relationships between all members of the school community. Pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 study the six over-arching units (‘Puzzles’) in the same order throughout the year, but at a level appropriate for their year-group. This ensures whole-school themes such as ‘Celebrating Difference’ can also be referenced in assemblies, class assemblies, restorative conversations and other curriculum areas as appropriate.

Our RSE (Relationship and Sex Education) provision is delivered within the ‘Changing Me’ unit but has been adapted for our school context in line with Tower Hamlets Healthy Lives Team guidance.

Please find below the National Curriculum for Primary - what pupils need to know by the end of primary school. By the end of Primary, all pupils must know:

• What is meant by a healthy lifestyle
• How to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing
• How to manage risks to physical and emotional health and wellbeing
• Ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe
• How to manage change, including puberty, transition and loss
• How to make informed choices about health and wellbeing, and where to get help with this
• How to respond in an emergency situation
• To identify different influences on health and wellbeing
• How to develop and maintain a variety of relationships, within a range of social and cultural contexts
• How to recognise and manage emotions within relationships
• About respect for themselves and others, and the importance of responsible actions and behaviour
• About rights and responsibilities as members of families, other groups and citizens
• About different groups and communities
• To respect equality and diversity, and how to be a productive member of a diverse community
• About the importance of respecting and protecting the environment
• About where money comes from, keeping it safe, and the importance of managing it effectively
• The part that money plays in people’s lives
• A basic understanding of enterprise
• How to respond to risky or negative relationships, including bullying and abuse
• How to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help
• How to respect equality and diversity in relationships

Key PSHE themes taught at SPWP

Implementation

Our curriculum is implemented in such a way which allows for teachers to present both disciplinary knowledge and the substantive facts for each unit. Children have the opportunity to evidence their learning in a variety of ways including verbal, written, pictorial and diagrammatic responses. Our curriculum promotes oracy and rich dialogue in the classroom, therefore in a lesson you will see teachers emphasising on key vocabulary.

Teachers use the schemes of work and adapt it to the needs of their children. In a lesson, teachers will often revisit prior learning from either previous year groups or from learning earlier in the block. This helps the children develop a good understanding of every unit they have visited throughout the year and misconceptions are effectively addressed.

Our curriculum implementation can be seen in the class floorbooks and in the pupils’ personal development books (for KS2) and through pupil voice where we have the opportunity to talk to children about their learning with their books and children are able to articulate their learning. Teachers feel confident to implement the curriculum due to CPD and are able to seek advice from the PSHE-RHE Lead and Tower Hamlet Healthy Lives Team. Regular drop in’s and the learning environment reflect the schemes of work being taught in each unit.

PSHE Curriculum is provided to all children within our school. Children with SEND are supported to access health, relationships and sex education through high-quality, teacher-led quality first teaching, following the guidance of the SEND code of practice. Teaching is differentiated and personalised to suit their individual context.

PSHE Curriculum is taught on a weekly discrete basis, with some content also being taught through other subject areas, and within other contexts, such as assemblies, ‘circle time’ or ‘class meetings’. A taught session may look very different in one year group to the next - class teachers have discretion to plan and deliver teaching that suits the individual needs of their class, whilst ensuring that all curriculum content is covered effectively. Each class has a floor book, a space to capture their learning and understanding around each ‘big question’. These are a vital tool in capturing the implementation of the curriculum, and the learning journey of the children. They are also a highly effective tool as part of the quality first PSHE teach, as floor books can be used to support retrieval practice over the course of a year. Additionally, classes may be encouraged to make an artistic response, or complete a more traditional written task. Some lessons may be talk based and have no written outcome at all.

Assessment is essential to the effective teaching of PSHE. The learning we wish to assess will relate to the pupils’ attributes and skills, as well as their knowledge and understanding related to the topic. Pupils’ existing knowledge and understanding is often the easiest learning to assess but whilst gauging pupils’ existing skills, strategies, attitudes, beliefs and attributes can never be an exact science, there are activities that provide an insight into their starting point. Assessment may be carried out baseline and endline assessments at the start and end of lessons, and also at the start and end of units. Pupils’ thoughts and feedback are valued, and they are encouraged to use their voices to inform the plan-teach-assess cycle. All children have a right to be heard.