PSHE
Personal, Social, Health and Economic education is currently non-statutory but is an important and necessary part of all pupils' education.
The National Curriculum for England, 2014 stipulates: 'All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice. Schools are also free to include other subjects or topics of their choice in planning and designing their own programme of education.'
Leys Primary, like all schools, is therefore permitted to tailor the PSHE curriculum to reflect the needs of our pupils and for them to be equipped with a sound understanding of risk and the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions.
We are following the recommendations of the Healthy Education Partnership as this is a comprehensive framework which provides relevant, age appropriate contexts and themes for children to learn. (You can see the programme of learning for each year group at the bottom of this page). We are using the Lifewise scheme as our main content.
As with other areas of the curriculum, the learning in PSHE embraces SMSC and is contextualised with other areas of study within the school day. Children are actively encouraged to apply their knowledge beyond the classroom and school, to their home and wider social environments.
Our aim is for all children to develop into independent, confident, successful learners with high aspirations, who are resilient and know how to make a positive contribution to their own community and wider society.
We uphold and teach pupils about British Values: democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
Our PSHE curriculum follows the DfE statutory guidance that came into effect in September 2020. It is underpinned by three core themes:
Health and Wellbeing This core theme focuses on: 1. What is meant by a healthy lifestyle. 2. How to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and well-being. 3. How to manage risks to physical and emotional health and well-being. 4. Ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe. 5. About managing change, including puberty, transition and loss. 6. How to make informed choices about health and well-being and to recognise sources of help with this. 7. How to respond in an emergency. 8. To identify different influences on health and wellbeing.
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Relationships 1. How to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships, within a range of social/cultural contexts. 2. How to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships. 3. How to recognise risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying and abuse. 4. How to respond to risky or negative relationships and ask for help. 5. How to respect equality and diversity in relationships. |
Living in the Wider World This core theme focuses on: 1. Respect for self and others and the importance of responsible behaviours and actions. 2. Rights and responsibilities as members of families, other groups and ultimately as citizens. 3. Different groups and communities. 4. Respect diversity and equality and how to be a productive member of a diverse community. 5. The importance of respecting and protecting the environment. 6. Where money comes from, keeping it safe and the importance of managing it effectively. 7. The part that money plays in people’s lives. 8. A basic understanding of enterprise. |
Our PSHE curriculum is not left to chance, and is taught explicitly through weekly direct teaching under the three core themes. These are mapped out progressively across the whole school from Early Years to Year 6 and enables pupils to learn and build upon its content, allowing them to make progress as they move through the school. Assemblies are also used to re-visit key PSHE themes, school rules and British values.
The PSHE curriculum however goes much wider than its lessons and is well embedded within the culture and ethos at Leys Primary School. We actively promote the ‘School Games Values’ – passion, self-belief, respect, honesty, determination and teamwork, and our school rules ‘safe’, ‘ready’ and ‘respectful’ through all aspects of school life.
Alongside PSHE we also embrace ‘The Thrive Approach’. This is used to support pupil’s social and emotional development both at a targeted individual intervention level; as well as a whole class bespoke PSHE teaching and learning tool that is focused on meeting the needs of the pupils in each class. This is done with the THRIVE online screening tool that screens individual / group / class development in order to identify the ‘gaps’ and needs. The THRIVE approach supports staff to work in a targeted way with pupils who may have struggled with difficult life events / Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) to help them reengage in life and learning. If pupils have been emotionally thrown off track, either temporarily or over longer periods, THRIVE helps us to understand the needs being signalled by their behaviour and gives us targeted strategies and activities to help them reengage and develop in areas where they may be struggling.
We promote a ‘Restorative Approach’ philosophy that aims to build the Leys Primary School community post the enforced lockdown due to the pandemic, Covid-19, seeking to strengthen relationships within our community as we have been forced apart for some time.
Pupils will be encouraged to engage in restorative conversations and recognise the impact that their actions and behaviour can have on others and how to put things right. We believe that by using this restorative approach we will be giving pupils the skills to independently make better, more responsible and more informed choices in the future.
We have always provided opportunities for children to develop ‘pupil voice’ through our school council, Trusted Pupils, Buddies, and in-class circle times, but will add regular ‘check in’s’ to further support children during the Recovery period from the pandemic. The school also has trained Wellbeing Champions who are advocates for pupil mental health and wellbeing within school.
For some of our children, additional support around PSHE development may be needed either in the short or long term. To support this, the school has a licenced Thrive practitioner and several members of the teaching staff with Mental Health First Aid status qualifications. Leys Primary school liaises with outside agencies such as Social Care, CAMHS, and Early Help specialists to ensure the right targeted intervention is in place to support.
Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) / Outdoor Learning is a key feature of the school’s curriculum. Staff recognise LOtC as an effective strategy that supports PSHE development; positively affects children, their wellbeing and readiness to learn, as well as improving their levels of progress and attainment.
Leys Primary School is an ‘Active School’ and is in the process or renewing the Bronze Award status through the Healthy Schools Partnership’, working to promote active, healthy lifestyles including mental health. We are proud of our Wellbeing Award for Schools accreditation with the NCB and Optimus Education.