“PSHE in primary school is about making sure children and young people have the skills they need to grow up as healthy individuals who can make informed decisions about their lives.” Anne Longfield

INTENT

What do we teach? Why do we teach it?

Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) including Relationships Sex Education (RSE) is at the heart of our school values and ethos and runs throughout all that we do. Our PSHE/RSE curriculum aims to enable our children to become healthy, safe, independent, responsible members of society who demonstrate respect and tolerance and who are prepared to face and manage the challenges and opportunities of an ever-changing modern Britain.

We will:

• Focus on developing a ‘Growth Mindset’ through our DREAMS values. We help our children to build resilience, independence and confidence; embrace challenge; foster a love of learning; and increase their level of happiness. We do this through the language we use in class, praising children for their efforts, and using language (including oracy signals) to encourage children to explain and be prepared to challenge their way of thinking.
• Help children to aspire to be the best they can be, to have dreams for their future and know what is required to reach them.
• Provide opportunities for our pupils to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a valuable member of an ever-changing diverse society.
• Develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.
• Stimulate, challenge and nurture children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity.
• Help pupils to understand the importance of their physical and mental health, understand emotions and feelings and have strategies to help them become resilient and confident so they are ready for the transition to Secondary school.
• Help pupils to have a good understanding of themselves, to have empathy, an ability to work with others and to form and maintain positive relationships treating everyone equally
• Teach our pupils’ age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationship and sex education.
• Teach our pupils about personal safety (online and off-line) and we will ensure pupils know where and how to get help if needed.
• Encourage all of our pupils to be the best version of themselves that they can be – using our DREAMS values in all we do.

IMPLEMENTATION

How do we teach and assess and how does this look in practice?

At Ambler we use the Islington Agreed Syllabus: You, Me and PSHE. Topics included are:

• Careers
• Drug, alcohol and tobacco education
• Financial capability and economic wellbeing
• Identity, society and equality
• Keeping safe and managing risk
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing
• Physical health and wellbeing
• Sex and relationship education

We have a broad and balanced curriculum which provides opportunities for effective SMSC development. SMSC is promoted throughout the wider curriculum (please see curriculum maps for full breakdown), in PSHE, regular assemblies, lessons and school activities such as fundraising, celebrations of special festivals and events in the global calendar and links with the wider community. Children are also given the opportunity to prepare well for life in modern Britain through attending a wide range of school trips.

IMPACT

By the time our children leave our school they will:

• be able to approach a range of real life situations and apply their DREAMS values to help navigate themselves through modern life
• be on their way to becoming healthy, open minded, respectful, socially and morally responsible, active members of society
• appreciate difference and diversity
• be able to understand and manage their emotions
• be able to look after their mental health and well-being
• be able to develop positive, healthy relationship with their peers both now and in the future
• understand the physical aspects involved in RSE at an age appropriate level
• have respect for themselves and others.

Our priority at Ambler is to ensure all children are safe and happy at school and in the wider community. We encourage our pupils to play a positive role in the community. Some of these include: choosing to support their own charities, taking part in the Junior Citizenship Scheme and pupils from UKS2 leading a ‘friendships squad’ in UKS2 – where they support children, of all ages, in the playground.

“I love PSHE because we learn about how to help others but also ourselves and to manage our feelings” – Violet (Year 3)

“I like learning about important matters, learning how to deal with them and having honest, helpful discussions as a class” – Holly (Year 5)