PSHE Statement of Intent

With God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26)

Intent

At St Michael with St John CE Primary School, we firmly believe that our PSHE curriculum, which includes Relationships and Health Education, enables our pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. These skills and attributes help children to stay healthy, safe and prepare them for life and work in modern Britain.  Through PSHE and our wider curriculum, including Collective Worship, we promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of all our children. 

We teach our children that they will most likely face difficult situations in their lives.  We teach them how to develop resilience, to manage risks, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support.  Through age-appropriate teaching, we aim to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.  

We aim to provide an excellent PSHE education which helps our children to achieve their academic potential, and leave school equipped with skills they will need throughout later life.  As stated in our vision, ‘We will nurture our children so they are equipped to overcome life’s challenges and make a positive contribution to society’. 

Our bespoke PSHE scheme of work has been designed to meet the needs of all pupils from our diverse heritage groups, preparing them as fully as possible for their next phase of education.  The majority of our pupils have English as an additional language and therefore, a strong focus is placed on oracy and language development.  We aim to provide exciting first-hand learning experiences and we engage with a range of external providers, ranging from health professionals to the emergency services and sports agencies.  Our scheme of work is further enhanced by special events such as our annual British Values Day, Safety Week, Anti-Bullying Week, Mental Health Awareness Week and Active & Healthy Me Week. 

We nurture and inspire our children to achieve their very best, in the knowledge that ‘with God, all things are possible’.  We therefore consider our PSHE curriculum as a curriculum for life.

Implementation

Our bespoke scheme of work is based on three core themes: relationships (taught in the autumn term), living in the wider world (taught in the spring term) and health and wellbeing (taught in the summer term).  In addition to covering the statutory content for Relationships and Health Education, we explicitly teach the fundamental British Values and make links to other curriculum areas e.g. Religious Education, Science and Physical Education.  All children engage in a weekly PSHE lesson. 

Our PSHE curriculum is taught through a range of teaching methods such as direct instruction, practical learning, circle time, collaborative learning and independent inquiry.  Our learning environments display key vocabulary for the lesson.

Our assessment strategies for PSHE enable us to evaluate the impact of our curriculum.  New topics start by determining the children’s prior knowledge. Teachers recap the content covered previously and address gaps before introducing new content.  A baseline assessment is carried out at the beginning of every PSHE lesson.  This is then repeated at the end of the lesson to enable teachers to make an informed judgement about progress. 

Quick quizzes and oral presentations are also used to enable teachers to make more effective judgements about children’s progress and gains in knowledge.  They provide the opportunity for children to demonstrate their understanding of key vocabulary and the ability to use this in context.