PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education is a crucial part of a child’s education. It gives children access to critical information about themselves and the diverse world around them. At Bisley Blue Coat we provide a specifically tailored curriculum that is both broad and balanced, and builds on the school values. We give pupils access to big ideas and conversations, alongside practical experiences. At the heart of this, we encourage respect and understanding, promote British Values, and support children to explore these through strong pastoral care.

At Bisley Blue Coat, we aim to promote children’s knowledge, self-esteem, emotional wellbeing and resilience, within a nurturing environment, helping them to form and maintain worthwhile and positive relationships. Children will be taught to have respect for themselves, and for others, within our local, national and global communities.

We aim to develop key character skills, including decision making, informed risk taking, good communication, and self-regulation strategies. We encourage the exploration of, and respect for, values held by different cultures and groups within our local community, and promote the development of positive attitudes. We encourage honesty and respect in all relationships, and nurture sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others.

We aim to enable all children, from EYFS onwards, to develop a deepening knowledge of their health and wellbeing, including their mental and physical health. We aim to equip children with information, skills and values to understand and to be able to cope with the physical and emotional changes that happen as they get older.

At Bisley Blue Coat we aim to prepare pupils adequately for adult life: its decisions, responsibilities, experiences and opportunities, and to allow pupils to develop fully as emotional mature human beings.

Some PSHE topics are taught within other subjects, especially Computing, Maths and Science, for example the teaching of e-safety within Computing lessons. The curriculum is based on the frameworks of the National Curriculum and GHLL (Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning) with more detailed long and medium-term planning developed by the teaching staff. Our curriculum has also been developed to meet the specific needs of our learners and support the many aspects of their personal development.

The PSHE curriculum is split into the three key themes of Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. These three themes have equal weighting and importance within teaching, and topics are taught on a rolling programme. Topics are revisited across year groups, and understanding is deepened. This allows for progression and retention of key skills and knowledge, and also the introduction of some concepts at an age-appropriate point.

PSHE education will be provided to all children within our school. Children with SEND will be supported to access health, relationships and sex education through high-quality, teacher-led quality first teaching, following the guidance of the SEND code of practice. Teaching will be differentiated and personalised to suit their individual context.

PSHE education will be taught on a discrete basis and some content will be taught through other subject areas, and within other contexts, such as assemblies, circle times etc. A taught session may look very different in one class to the next - class teachers have discretion to plan and deliver teaching that suits the individual needs of their class, whilst ensuring that all curriculum content is covered effectively. There is no expectation that children complete formal written recording of teaching, although some form of recording is encouraged.

Although PSHE outcomes can be considered very subjective, they can be compared within year-groups, and also across different year groups/classes. Long-term monitoring is also being carried out: sample groups of pupils in each year group will be chosen and their thoughts and ideas recorded. This gives the subject leadership team an insight into pupils’ journeys through school, observing progression and development of skills and understanding. Leaders will also hold regular conversations with staff, providing an open forum for sharing ideas, questions or concerns. These conversations are used to inform the subject leaders if statutory curriculum content has been covered, how pupils feel about their own learning, and what areas need to be developed or prioritised in future.

Bisley Blue Coat School work closely with parents and carers, and we believe strongly in the central role of good, positive home-school communication. PSHE education should not be left to chance and is a responsibility shared with parents / carers and families. Parents will be informed/supported through email/website communication from teaching staff, outlining the content of the curriculum. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from sex education, but not from health or relationships education. In the situation where children are withdrawn from sex education, the school will find alternative internal provision for that child. Parents wishing to withdraw their child from all or part of sex education should contact the headteacher at the first instance.

The impact of a good PSHE education cannot be understated. Quite simply, it forms the preparation for adult life, enabling a child to understand and face the challenges, complexities and questions that arise in a diverse world.

Impact can be measured in a variety of ways. At Bisley Blue Coat, we recognise and celebrate the importance of the child’s voice, and their individual experience of PSHE education. Pupil voice, and lessons captured via floor books, will form the heart of how we measure the impact of our teaching.

The skills to be developed at Bisley Blue Coat school will include, but are not limited to:

• An understanding of their universal rights, and how these rights can and should be protected
• An understanding of our diverse and complex world, and an empathy and respect for the rights of all individuals
• Positive and constructive communication, with highly developed oracy skills
• Resilience and self-regulation, and a keen understanding of their own health and wellbeing, especially supporting their mental and emotional development
• These skills are transferable to all other areas of the curriculum, and will help children to understand these areas in new ways.

Additionally, these ‘soft skills’ form the basis of a child’s wider development and experience. The ability to recognise and develop good relationships, the reinforcement of positive mental and physical health, understanding how their body will change and grow, the development of respect and tolerance for all, an understanding of society and the role of the individual in a community – these are the skills that will equip our children for life.

SRE

Bisley Blue Coat considers Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) to be an integral part of the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship curriculum. It also has many links with the Science curriculum. We believe that children must be provided with an education which prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life and see RSHE as a key part of this. We understand our responsibility to deliver a high-quality, age appropriate RSHE curriculum for all our pupils.

 As Church of England Schools, we understand the importance of good quality Relationships, Sex and Health Education that is rooted in Christian values. 

Our teaching emphasises the ideals that love and respect should be central in creating a lasting relationship. We follow the principles in the Church of England Charter for faith sensitive and inclusive relationships education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (RSHE).

 ““The Bible teaches us that marriage is a gift of God in creation and a means of his grace, a holy mystery in which man and woman become one flesh.” “….Marriage is given as a foundation of family life in which children are born and nurtured and in which each member of the family, in good times and in bad, may find strength, companionship and comfort and grow to maturity in love.” Church of England Marriage Service (Common Worship) 

As Church of England schools, we ensure that our RSHE curriculum protects, informs and nurtures all pupils. Our curriculum differentiates between factual teaching (biology, medicine, the law, marriage, different types of families and the composition of society) and moral teaching about relationships and values. 

Teaching of SRE

Whilst we carry out the majority of our RSE teaching in our personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum, some will also be taught through other subject areas (for example, Science and PE), as this may have a significant contribution to a child’s knowledge and understanding of his or her own body and how it is changing and developing.

 In PSHE we teach children about healthy relationships and consent and we encourage children to discuss these issues. We teach about the parts of the body and how these works, and we explain to them what will happen to their bodies during puberty. For example, we tell the boys that their voices will change during puberty and we explain to the girls about menstruation. We encourage the children to ask for help if they need it. 

For both Key Stages, we follow the material in the scheme of work for Science. In Key Stage 1 we teach children about animals, including humans, move, feed and grow; we also teach them about the main parts of the body and introduce life cycles. Children learn to appreciate the differences between people and how to show respect for each other.

 In Key Stage 2 we teach about life processes and the main stages of the human life cycle in greater depth. In Key Stage 2 we place a particular emphasis on health education, as many children experience the onset of puberty at this age. 

We liaise with GHLL and the PSHE Association regarding suitable teaching materials to use with our children in these lessons. Teachers do their best to answer all questions with sensitivity and care. By the end of Key Stage 2, we ensure that both boys and girls know how babies are born, how their bodies change during puberty, what menstruation is and how it affects women.

 Parents and carers of children in KS2 are invited to view the material we use to deliver the curriculum and it is all available on our school website. They are also given the opportunity to discuss this particular programme of lessons and any issues or concerns they may have regarding how they are taught.

Consultation on SRE

We wish to encourage a policy that promotes health education, therefore we:

 • consult with parents on matters of health education policy

 • provide a parental ‘opt-out’ from sex education (Year 6 only) 

• look positively at any initiatives that support us in providing the best RSE teaching programme that we can devise.

Please find our SRE policy on our Heartwood Federation Website 

https://www.heartwoodfederation.co.uk/Key-Information/Policies/

	PSHE RSE Rolling Programme Overview and Progression	[pdf 354KB]
	PHSE and SRE rolling objectives updated	[pdf 342KB]
	Bisley British Values in PSHE	[pdf 151KB]
	DFE parent guide to SRE	[pdf 438KB]