Intent

At Chorlton C of E Primary School we put the well-being and personal development of our pupils at the forefront of everything that we do. Accordingly, PSHE is at the core of our daily routines and interactions and is embedded across the full curriculum. 

Through our PSHE curriculum we aim to:

• Provide engaging and enjoyable learning experiences which are meaningful and appropriate for the children in our school.

• Meet the statutory requirements for relationships and health education and provide a broad and balanced curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral cultural, mental and physical development of all pupils.

• Develop the knowledge and skills pupils need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and to feel confident and prepared for living a fulfilling life. 

• Develop personal skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, teamwork, risk-management and critical thinking.

• Encourage our children to become responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.

• Give our children the knowledge and confidence to show courageous advocacy and empower them to speak up when their own or other people's rights are not being respected. 

Implementation

We believe that our PSHE curriculum should reflect the needs of our pupils and the community within which they live, whilst preparing them with the knowledge and skills that they need to be able to be global citizens. Through consultation with pupils, parents, and the governing body, the staff team have combined the statutory requirements and guidance from the DfE, with recommendations from the PSHE Association programme of study and Manchester Healthy Schools' iMatter curriculum to create our own programmes of study. Where appropriate, links have been made to support our Rights Respecting School ethos and to both our British and Christian Values. 

Our PSHE curriculum comprises of 5 Core Themes of learning. These are followed from Year 1 to Year 6 in a spiral curriculum, using the Manchester  Healthy School’s iMatter plans and resources which are adapted accordingly in order to secure clear progression of knowledge, skills and understanding whilst ensuring they are relevant for the needs of each particular cohort:

Using the Manchester Healthy School iMatter resources as a guide, each theme has been broken down into a progression of approximately 3 lessons for each year group from Years 1-6. These lessons are taught as a unit of learning, with a pre- and post assessment task to support assessment and links are made to previous learning in the theme. Teachers have then identified additional content to support learning in this theme, or which links to national campaigns such as Anti-Bullying week that will be delivered through bespoke PSHE sessions. All content in the Chorlton C of E PSHE curriculum has been cross-referenced with the PSHE Association Programme of Study objectives and is fully compliant with the statutory health and relationships requirements. 

Our PSHE Curriculum aims to develop the whole child and knowledge and understanding is only one part of this process. For us to create well-rounded, thriving individuals and members of society it is important we develop their skills and strategies too. The following list shows essential life-skills we highlight throughout our curriculum.

1.       Self-regulation (managing and coping with emotions and impulses)

2.       Managing influence

3.       Clarifying and re-evaluating values and beliefs

4.       Self-worth and positive thinking

5.       Assertiveness

6.       Self-awareness

7.       Empathy

8.       Communication

9.       Team-work

10.   Problem-solving

11.   Negotiation and conflict resolution

12.   Goal-setting

13.   Positive risk-taking

14.   Risk-assessment

15.   Decision-making

EYFS:
In the Early Years Foundation Stage, PSE is a prime area of learning and as such is interwoven through all learning opportunities and daily interactions. At Chorlton C of E, we supplement this with focused PSHE circle times using the stage 1 and stage 2 Think Equal resources as a starting point. These resources link to the EYFS framework and support development of many of the core skills identified above. 

At Chorlton C of E, PSHE is taught through planned discrete lessons together with additional circle times, where pupils are given the opportunity to respond to and discuss current issues that are affecting their class, school or the wider community. Careful links are made across the curriculum whenever appropriate and through daily routines and systems in order to ensure that our young people have many opportunities to share their experiences, learn about the world around them and have a voice. Learning is further consolidated and given context through participation in carefully selected drop down days and weeks that are linked to national campaigns such as ‘anti-bullying week’ and ‘children’s mental health week’. 

Regular review and assessment is essential to ensuring that knowledge is retained and built upon through the five core themes. Teachers assess understanding in a number of ways, including using whole class feedback sheets, pre- and post-teaching tasks and evidence of group and individual responses which are shared in the whole class PSHE floorbook and through the school’s internal evidence platform through Seesaw. Teacher assessments of PSHE are uploaded to and tracked by the PSHE Lead using FFT in order to identify whole school patterns and to inform individual support for pupils such as social interaction groups or specific support from the school therapist. Termly pupil progress meetings with the class teacher and senior team identify pupils who would benefit from further intervention or bespoke individual or group PSHE sessions in order to access the wider curriculum and school experience.

Our PSHE curriculum is also drawn from: 

• The Anti-Bullying Alliance

• UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools

• Eco Schools

• Fundamental British Values

Impact

The Zones of Regulation, alongside our PSHE curriculum, provides our pupils with the language to describe and the ability to recognise their feelings, which in turn supports them to choose the tools that they need to self-regulate. This enables all pupils to make the most of all learning opportunities across the curriculum and to achieve their full potential. Pupil and parent voice tells us that our children feel safe and happy in school. They are interested in and care about the world around them, participate in school and community initiatives and from an early age are already demonstrating the courageous advocacy to stand up and challenge injustice.  

PSHE and RSE Community Engagement Process

At Chorlton C of E, we believe that our PSHE curriculum must represent and reflect our community. Accordingly, we have consulted with parents, governors, staff and pupils to inform our RSE policy and wider PSHE curriculum. This has ensured that we are meeting the statutory requirements for Relationships and Health Education whilst ensuring that our PSHE curriculum supports children to learn about the issues that the Chorlton C of E community prioritise. 

Stage 1: October - November 2020

Parent and Pupil questionnaires shared to identified priorities for PSHE curriculum as a whole. Staff questionnaire also  was used to inform the development of the draft PSHE curriculum documents for each year group. 

Stage 2: February- March 2021

Staff questionnaire to provide feedback about draft PSHE curriculum documents and viewpoint regarding statutory changes. 

RSE draft Policy shared with parents and Governors on the school website with video explanation by PSHE lead. Questionnaires sent to both to give the opportunity to share viewpoints. 

Pupil views collated by class teachers

Stage 3: April 2021

Views of Parents, Governors, Staff and Pupils collated and analysed and used to amend and create final RSE Policy, agreed by Governors in May 2021. 

Supporting Whole School Recovery During the COVID Pandemic through PSHE

Through quality PSHE teaching, we prioritised recovery in terms of pupil and staff mental health and well-being, with both discrete and cross curricular sessions exploring a reconnection in our relationships, social interaction, reflections about lock down, hopes and dreams as we tentatively moved back to life with fewer restrictions. Carefully selected, quality texts which raised issues around loss, belonging and recognising and managing a range of emotions gave both staff and pupils the opportunity to work through their own and others’ experiences through oral and creative responses. PSHE permeates all areas of the curriculum and daily routines, which encouraged collaboration, promoting a sense of community and shared responsibility for keeping ourselves and each other safe within our Bubbles and the wider school as a whole. In the years since the wider reopening of school, the school has identified the need to support older pupils to develop the skills to resolve every day conflicts with peers as they missed these early experiences during lockdown. Through the introduction of the Zones of Regulation, pupils have been explicitly taught strategies to support them to identify and regulate a wide range of emotions.