PSHCE

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think" - Christopher Robin

Intent

St Mary’s is committed to providing a high-quality educational experience for all pupils. Our curriculum is determined and underpinned by the school’s Catholic values, mission statement and physical and mental wellbeing and building learning power.

At St Mary’s we aim to help children to be:

• Ready to learn: Children have a positive, confident attitude to learning.  They are both physically and emotionally ready to learn.
• Resourceful: Children show initiative, asks well thought out questions and are prepared to use a variety of strategies to learn.
• Reflective: Children are curious, able and willing to learn from their mistakes and can describe their progress
• Resilient: Children are prepared to persevere and stay involved in their learning, even when the process is challenging.
• Reciprocal: Children are prepared to help each other and work as a team.

Our personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE) curriculum brings together citizenship with personal well-being, relationships, economic well-being and life education whilst promoting our school values and the Catholic Social Teachings.  

Our PSHCE curriculum promotes and coincides with the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of our pupils which helps when preparing them for the wider world. Children at St Mary’s are encouraged to explore, clarify and if necessary, challenge their own and others’ values, attitudes, beliefs, rights and responsibilities. 

It is essential that children learn to:

• Develop interpersonal and communication skills
• Learn scientific names for body parts and be prepared for puberty and the emotional and physical effects of body change
• Value, care and respect for their bodies
• Develop loving, caring relationships based on mutual respect and recognise unhealthy relationships such as bullying.
• Develop an understanding of personal safety including online safety, drugs, alcohol and tobacco usage and consent.
• Value other cultures, communities and people.
• Develop an understanding of living in the wider world including financial literacy, caring for our Earth and career goals.

Our intention is to develop the whole child to provide them with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to protect and enhance their wellbeing. Through lessons, children will learn how to stay safe and healthy, build and maintain successful relationships and become active citizens, responsibly participating in society around them. Work is carried out with our ‘building learning power’ aims in mind, so that all children feel inspired to achieve and believe in themselves, creating active, confident members of the community. Lessons will provide our children with the knowledge they need to stay safe and to know when and how they can ask for help.

Implementation

Across the whole school, all our children participate in the Ten Ten- Life to the Full programme. In addition, PSHCE is integrated into our curriculum through our whole school activities such as Circle Time, School Council Meetings SMSC & Wellbeing days, discussion groups or through specifically themed weeks/events, such as Children in Need, Anti-Bullying Week, Internet Safety Week and Red Nose Day. PSHCE is also integrated into our wider curriculum through our different topics. Some of examples of this are:

• Internet Safety lessons(ICT) in EYFS, KS1 and KS2
• Our Power of Reading texts such as learning about rules in Blue Penguin(EYFS), deforestation and the impact of not looking after our Earth in The Great Kapok Tree(KS1), rights and responsibilities and stereotypes in Jemmy Button(KS2)
• Healthy eating and our bodies(Science) in EYFS, KS1 and KS2
• Our natural world and our impact on it(Geography) in EYFS, KS1 and KS2

Our teachers follow the class needs and plan additional lessons to aid children in building better relationships or address SMSC-related issues that arise throughout the year. Our teaches also follow the children’s interest in the wider world, such as learning about world conflict, climate change or local and national events taking place such as the Queen’s funeral or elections. 

Find out more about Ten Ten-Life to the Full programme ...

Impact

• Children know how to keep themselves and others safe.
• Children demonstrate and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual respect, Rule of law and Liberty.
• Children have an understanding about relationships, friendships and how to communicate with people.
• Children are able to talk about Wellbeing and recognise what they can do to improve their own wellbeing.
• Children demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school and can recognise what makes an effective learner.
• Children have emotional resiliency and become responsible members of society.
• Children are prepared for their ‘life’ journey and work in modern Britain.

As a result of this, children achieve age-related expectations across the wider curriculum. However, we are aware that the delivered curriculum must reflect the needs of our pupils. We expect teachers to use the PSHE programme (adapting it where necessary to ensure it suits all pupils’ needs) to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions now and in later life. Through PSHE, the children will develop the vocabulary and confidence needed to articulate their thoughts and feelings in a safe, trusting, respectful environment taking what they have learnt to their everyday interactions from the classroom to the wider community.