PSHCE

Personal, Social, Health, Economic and Citizenship Education (PSHEC) gives pupils the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and to manage their lives in modern Britain, now and in the future.  

 

School Curriculum for Personal, Social, Health, Economic and Citizenship (PSHEC) Education

Our teaching of PSHEC , including key content and objectives, are underpinned by:

  • statutory guidance from the Department for Education;
  • non-statutory guidance produced by the PSHE Association;
  • the work and resources of the Manchester Healthy Schools Team;
  • a focus on positive relationships;
  • respect for ourselves and each other;
  • skills for living in the wider world

Health, Relationships and Sex Education Policy

We have a policy which sets out our aims for the teaching of HEALTH, RELATIONSHIPS and SEX Education.  This includes the key objectives we aim to teach across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, and our approach to teaching children about close relationships and aspects of sex education.

Our broad aims for PSHEC are set in our whole-school plan for PSHEC.  During 2020-2021, this is draft document as we implement a new PSHEC curriculum.

Across all year groups, we teach and revisit the following broad areas of PSHEC, although there are links between the various strands:

  • Physical Health and Well-Being
  • Mental and Emotional Health and Well-Being
  • Family and Relationships (including family, friendships and other relationships)
  • Our Bodies, including Growing and Changing
  • Keeping Safe (in various contexts, including online safety)
  • Living in a Community and the Wider World

Physical Health and Well Being

Our teaching of physical health and well-being focusses on the amazing thing that is the human body, the ways in which we should look after it (for example through keeping clean, good dental care, healthy eating and drinking, regular exercise and sleep) and keep it safe, and the ways in which it can become affected by disease or illness or by the use of drugs, tobacco and alcohol.  Key aspects such as health eating and physical activity/exercise are revisited throughout the school to develop children’s understanding of more complex ideas and knowledge.  With regard to drugs education, teaching ranges from the safe use of medicines (Year 1) when we are poorly to the misuse of drugs and the affect that they can have on our bodies (Year 6).

Mental and Emotional Health and Well-Being

Our teaching of Mental and Emotional Health and Well-Being focusses primarily on the feelings and emotions that we experience as humans and the different causes or events in our lives that influence the way we feel, including our self-esteem, general happiness and well-being, outlook and thoughts about ourselves and others. Children are taught about the different words and vocabulary that we can use to express how we feel at different times and perhaps understand why we feel as we do in certain situations, both in the short and longer term.  Throughout the school (alongside discussions about positive relationships), we look at the way in which we can affect the emotional well-being of others, both in positive and negative ways.  We also look at basic human needs and the ways in which we can aim to live and manage, at different times of our lives, a balanced, positive, fulfilling and ‘happy’ lifestyle (for example, through working towards and achieving goals, positive relationships and support from others, having satisfying jobs, pursuing hobbies and interests, appreciating ourselves and others, religious and non-religious spirituality, etc.).  We aim to give children tools and strategies to manage feelings and emotions in a positive way and become resilient in the face of challenges and other issues in their lives.

Our Bodies / Growing and Changing

This aspect of PSHEC focusses on the way in which our bodies grow and change from being young to old.  This includes knowing about our bodies and the correct names for our body parts and that everyone’s bodies must be respected in terms of personal space and privacy, including knowing that some types of touch, even from known adults or other children, is inappropriate.  In Key Stage 2 (Year 4), we start to teach about the ways in which our bodies change during puberty.  The school does not teach about sexual intercourse as this is taught in Year 7 in most secondary schools.

Family and Relationships

Our teaching of Family and Relationships focusses on the different relationships that children have in their lives, including with family, friends and others who may not be family or friends (e.g. teachers and people in the community).  A key element of this strand is RESPECT for others.  We teach that people have different types of relationships in their lives and some people choose to have relationships (including marriage) with people of the same sex.  We teach about and reflect different family structures and that all families and relationships have common and shared values such as love, care and respect for each other.  Throughout school, we focus on the ways in which the children should and can develop and maintain positive and safe relationships with other people, including with adults and other children, and what to do if they are worried about relationships they have with others that may make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.  In Key Stage 2, we refer to the term ‘abuse’ and use the  NSPCC programme ‘Speak Out, Stay Safe’ (Year 5) to support lessons which help children understand about abuse and how to get help, if needed.   Across the school, we teach and revisit the importance and elements of positive friendships and the ways in which different friendships can develop and be supportive.  We also teach and encourage the children to discuss the ways in which friendships and other relationships can go wrong or become negative and/or uncomfortable (for example, a falling out with a friend, managing peer pressure or an emotionally negative relationship with an known or other adult) and the ways to resolve this, including managing conflict and not keeping secrets about things that make them feel unsafe or uncomfortable (e.g. inappropriate touch of an adult).  An important aspect of the teaching of relationships is discussion about bullying in its various forms, including online bullying, and the strategies and actions that children can take to report and stop bullying of themselves and others.  

Keeping Safe

This strand of the PSHEC curriculum aims to teach children about the many ways in which they can keep themselves and others safe from danger, injury and other harm.  Children will be taught about risks and how to assess and manage risks for themselves and others.  We teach various aspects of safety throughout the school including:

  • the importance of rules in school and in the wider community
  • road safety
  • sun safety
  • online and internet safety (Content, Conduct and Contact)
  • safety in the home, including household substances
  • safety in the outside environment, e.g. at the park
  • railway safety
  • water safety (including through swimming lessons)
  • food safety, including basic food hygiene
  • basic first aid
  • contacting the emergency services
  • basic laws that aim to keep us and our properties safe
  • media safety, including age restrictions for films, games, internet sites, etc.
  • cycling safety (e.g. Bikeright Cycling proficiency in Year 5)

Living in a Community and the Wider World (including Citizenship)

This aspect of the PSHEC curriculum focusses on the skills and knowledge needed by the children to grow in and make a positive contribution to their community and the wider world, including through an understanding of people and communities who are different and similar to themselves.  Throughout the school we teach about:

  • values, including Fundamental British Values
  • different groups of people in the community and the wider world;
  • inclusion, diversity and discrimination;
  • the people who help us and work for us in the local and wider community;
  • using, managing and saving money;
  • enterprise and business and people who are known for their enterprise;
  • the media, including TV and newspapers, and the way in which they inform and influence our view on the world and thinking (e.g. through bias) about events or people in the news;
  • jobs and careers, and the different skills we need to perform different jobs;
  • rights and responsibilities, including the UN Rights of Child;
  • the law and respect for the law;
  • looking after our local, wider and global environment, including through recycling and reducing carbon footprint;
  • environmental issues in the local, wider and global community, e.g. deforestation, climate change;
  • local and national government, including democracy and the ways in which laws are made;
  • charities and volunteering.

Some of the above are taught through other national curriculum subjects and our main ‘topics’, for example, in Geography or History.  Other aspects may be taught through assemblies, Philosophy for Children session or circle time, for example.

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