RSE & PSHE Statement of Intent
Relationships and Sex Education & Personal, Social and Health Education is fully underpinned by our Christian values and the belief that all of God’s children are wonderfully and uniquely made, they are valued, known and loved by God in all of their intricacies. Our curriculum aims to give children the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they need to effectively navigate the complexities of life in the 21st Century. The curriculum covers key areas which will support children to make informed choices now and in the future around their health, safety, wellbeing, relationships, and financial matters and will support them in becoming confident individuals and active members of society.
Our curriculum covers the Relationships and Health Education statutory guidance (as set out by the Department for Education) and covers wider PSHE learning, in line with the requirement of the National curriculum (2014) that schools ‘should make provision for personal, social, health and
economic education (PSHE).’ Children’s learning through this subject significantly contributes to their personal development as set out in the Ofsted Inspection Framework. Our curriculum also promotes an understanding of British values of democracy: the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and acceptance of those of other faiths and beliefs so that they can feel prepared for life in modern day Britain.
Quality PSHE and RSE teaching is an important element in helping us to carry out our duty of care with regards to safeguarding. The DfE’s statutory ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education (Sep 2020)’ guidance states that ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that children are taught about safeguarding, including online safety. Schools should consider this as part of providing a broad and balanced curriculum’. In response to the child-on-child abuse updates to Section 5 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE, 2022), our curriculum introduces and revisits ideas of personal boundaries, consent and communicating our boundaries with others. This prepares pupils for the challenges and responsibilities they will face in the future.
We want to teach all of our children good coping and regulation strategies so they can help themselves when they experience anxiety and stress. In the classroom, sometimes children panic when faced with a tricky learning problem or challenge. By teaching them how to cope with these feelings, it might make them better at tackling learning challenges and build better resilience so they don’t give up so easily when faced with difficulty.
We also want our children to know that
Implementation
Knightlow’s RSE & PSHE curriculum is taught discretely, but there are meaningful opportunities for cross-curricular learning, in particular with Computing for online safety and Science for growing, nutrition, teeth, diet and lifestyle.
Our curriculum has been developed as a spiral curriculum so that key themes and learning is rooted, revisited and built upon to embed and develop understanding as pupils grow and mature through their time at Knightlow. A combination of resources from Kapow, the Taking Care Project and the Zones of Regulation are at the core of our curriculum. Staff also weave learning from current affairs into the curriculum using the Primary Picture News resource in weekly assemblies, with direct references to British Values and the UN Rights of the Child.
The Kapow Primary scheme is a whole school approach that consists of three areas of learning in EYFS: Reception (to match the EYFS Personal, social and emotional
development prime area) and five areas of learning across Key stages 1 and 2.
EYFS:
● Self-regulation
● Building relationships
● Managing self
Key stage 1 and 2:
● Families and relationships
● Health and wellbeing
● Safety and the changing body
● Citizenship
● Economic wellbeing
As a spiral curriculum, each area is revisited to allow children to build on prior learning. The lessons also provide a progressive programme.
The lessons are based upon the statutory requirements for Relationships and Health
education, but where our lessons go beyond these requirements (primarily in the
Citizenship and Economic wellbeing areas) they refer to the PSHE Association
Programme of Study which is recommended by the DfE.
Sex education has been included in line with the DfE recommendations and is
covered in Year 6 of our scheme.
The scheme supports the requirements of the Equality Act through direct teaching,
for example learning about different families, the negative effect of stereotypes and
celebrating differences, in addition to the inclusion of diverse teaching resources
throughout the lessons.
A range of teaching and learning activities are used and are based on good practice in
teaching RSE/PSHE education to ensure that all children can access learning and
make progress. In Key Stage 1 and 2, there is an introductory lesson at the start of each year group which provides the opportunity for children and teachers to negotiate
ground rules for the lessons. These introductory lessons can then be referred to
throughout the year to help create a safe environment. All lessons include ideas for
adaptation to stretch the most able learners and give additional support to those
who need it. Many lessons, stories, scenarios, and video clips provide the opportunity
for children to engage in real life and current topics in a safe and structured way.
Role-play activities are also included to help children play out scenarios that they may
find themselves in.
The role of parents and carers is recognised, and guidance is available on our website to support parents on being included in their children's learning.
The Taking Care project aims to improve the safety and well being of children in Warwickshire by teaching them to keep themselves safer in a variety of situations.
Protective Behaviours is based on two key messages:
Protective Behaviours is an approach to personal safety that aims to empower and increase the self belief of children and adults in order to keep them safe. This is done through the recognition of their own personal intuitive feelings (Early Warning Signs) and the strategies that can be used to help them.
Protective Behaviours also recognises that life is also about challenging ourselves and taking safe risks in order that we try new things, and that this is both part of our development and an important life skill.
Further information and a national practice sharing forum can also be found at PB People www.pbpeople.org.uk
The Zones of Regulation is an internationally renowned intervention which helps children to manage difficult emotions, known as ‘self-regulation’. The Zones of Regulation teaches children strategies to help them cope with these feelings so they can get back to feeling calm and ready to learn.
What are the different Zones?
Blue Zone: low level of arousal; not ready to learn; feels sad, sick, tired, bored, moving slowly.
Green Zone: calm state of alertness; optimal level to learn; feels happy, calm, feeling okay, focused.
Yellow Zone: heightened state of alertness; elevated emotions; has some control; feels frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited, loss of some control.
Red Zone: heightened state of alertness and intense emotions; not an optimal level for learning; out of control; feels mad/angry, terrified, yelling/hitting, elated, out of control.
Impact
A robust PSHE curriculum prepares pupils for their adult lives and teaches them to understand how to engage with society, including valuing difference and diversity, being responsible and respectful citizens and further deepening pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values. Children will learn how to develop positive relationships with their peers both now and in the future, having respect for themselves and others, and will be equipped with the skills to know how to seek help when required.
Once taught the Kapow scheme, children will have met the objectives set out within the
Relationships and Health Education statutory guidance and will be able to utilise their learning
within their daily lives, from dealing with friendship issues to resilience to making healthy choices and knowing where and how to get help when needed.
Each lesson within Kapow Primary’s scheme features assessment guidance, helping
teachers to identify whether pupils have met, exceeded, or failed to meet the desired
learning intentions for that lesson.
Each unit of lessons comes with an Assessment quiz and Knowledge catcher. The quiz contains 10 questions, nine of which are multiple-choice and can be used either at the end of the unit or at both the start and the end to help measure progress and identify any gaps in learning. The Knowledge catchers list some of the lesson titles in mind-map or table format and can be used at the start of a unit to see what the children already know and to inform planning, and then pupils can revisit the same version of the Knowledge catcher at the end of the unit to add what else they now know, further demonstrating their progression in learning.
Through following the Taking Care Project programme, children will be have the knowledge to keep themselves safer in a variety of situations.
Through our regular Zones of Regulation sessions, children will be able to:
Please contact the office for access to our RSE & PSHE Long Term Plan. (As a published scheme, we are not permitted to put it on our website, though we are able to share it with our school family on request).
Children's Mental Health Week 2023
Children’s Mental Health Week 2023 will take place from 6-12 February 2023. This year’s theme is Let’s Connect.
Let’s Connect is about making meaningful connections for all, during Children’s Mental Health Week – and beyond.
For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, we’re encouraging people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding, and meaningful ways. Watch the video below to learn more about the theme.
Run by the charity Place2Be, the website contains a range of free resources. This includes a section for parents and carers containing stories and tips for both adults and children.