Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

What is PSHE Education?                                                                                                                           

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to successfully manage their lives – now and in the future.                                        

As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE Education develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.

Schools also have statutory responsibilities to promote well-being and pupil safeguarding (Children Act, 2004) and community cohesion (Education Act, 2006). PSHE Education plays an important part in fulfilling of these responsibilities.

What do we teach in our PSHE Education?

The National Curriculum states that every school needs to have a broad and balanced curriculum that:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school;
• Prepares pupils at the school for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
• Promotes British values
• Schools also have statutory responsibilities to safeguard their pupils (Keeping Children Safe in Education) and to uphold the Equality Act (2010).

From September 2020, primary schools in England have also been required  also need to teach Relationships and Health Education as compulsory subjects and the Department for Education strongly recommends this should also include age-appropriate Sex Education.

PSHE Intent

 At Oakley Infant School, we aspire to ensure PSHE is at the core of everything we do. We want our children to develop as great communicators, who are confident to share their views and opinions. By doing so it allows our children to blossom into confident, independent, reflective and responsible members of the ever changing society around them. We strive to ensure children are challenged intellectually, socially, spiritually and morally. We want our children to grow and develop in a safe and nurturing environment where they are able to express themselves articulately, gain a further understanding of themselves as unique people and build resilience. Oakley Infant School encourages children to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. In order to ensure that we met the expectations of the PSHE curriculum and the new RHE curriculum we have bought into a scheme that encompasses all. Our approach to teaching PSHE is intended to support and encourage all learners to be the very best they can be. PSHE is taught weekly as a stand-alone session and in addition the core values (learning values) are embedded throughout assemblies.                                                                                                                  

“High quality, evidence-based and age-appropriate teaching of these subjects can help prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. They can also enable schools to promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils, at school and in society.” Department for Education (DfE)

PSHE Implementation

Our approach to PSHE and RSE is focusing on the whole child and we wanted a PSHE scheme that reflected our vision.

We deliver the PSHE curriculum through the use of the whole school comprehensive scheme ‘Jigsaw’ and it has two aims for all children;

• To build their capacity for learning
• To equip them for life

The Jigsaw approach embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded children as well as building their capacity to learn. Jigsaw’ brings together PSHE Education, compulsory Relationships and Health Education, emotional literacy. We also wanted to provide a central ‘spine’ for the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural aspects of the children’s school experience to further develop our good practice already in place.

The Jigsaw Approach is underpinned by mindfulness (being able to observe your own thoughts and feelings as they happen, in the present moment, applying no judgement) empowering children to manage their own emotions and behaviour, improving relationships and increasing concentration and learning. Jigsaw teaches children to understand their thoughts and feelings and through both taught lessons and the ‘Calm Me’ time exercises, helps to develop their awareness, and their capacity to mindful human beings. Learning is thus enhanced as emotions are regulated, behaviour managed and calmness generated.

The enhancements mean that Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, is relevant to children living in today’s world as it helps them understand and be equipped to cope with issues like body image, bullying, and internet safety. 

This is of real importance as we are aware that children are growing up in an increasingly complex world now more than ever and we want to equip our children with strategies for dealing better with anger, stress and being more open to discussing issues affecting their lives.

EYFS

Through Personal, Social, Emotional Development children are supported to build constructive and respectful relationships that allow them to play, learn and develop alongside both adults and their peers. As children make friendships they learn to manage conflicts and rivalries with the support of adults. Children are empowered to envisage themselves as valuable individuals who are aware of what makes them unique In the Early Years children are encouraged to express their feelings and adults carefully model the handling of these feelings and emotions to support children in becoming independent in moderating their own feelings. Children are taught to manage their own physical needs and understand the importance of respecting others privacy. A large part of the curriculum in the Early Years supports the developing resilience within young children, children are encouraged to persevere to meet their goals and targets. As a part of the learning journey experienced in the Early Years developing the understanding of rules and routines is an integral part that runs parallel to all.

Puzzles                                                                                                                                             

Jigsaw consists of six half-term units of work called puzzles and these six puzzles are designed sequentially through the school year, facilitating whole-school learning themes               

The lessons are based around a theme which changes half termly and all year groups work on the same theme at the same time at their own level. This enables each Puzzle to start with an introductory assembly, generating a whole school focus for adults and children alike.

Pieces

Each puzzle has six pieces (lessons) which work towards an ‘end product’, for example, ‘The School Learning Charter’ or ‘The Garden of Dreams and Goals’.

In Year R, each piece has one learning intention. In KS1 every piece has two learning intentions, one specific to Relationships and Health Education (PSHE) designed to address children’s needs today and the other one is based on developing emotional literacy and social skills and the development to enhance children’s emotional and mental health.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Our children have one session a week and the resources give comprehensive coverage of PSHE including statutory relationships and health information. It also covers safeguarding, British values, SMSC and Online Safety.                         

Using an innovative whole school approach, it includes assemblies, music and special ’Jigsaw piece’ toy characters for each year group.

PSHE Impact

 Our teaching of PSHE will lead to children each making progress relative to their own individual starting point. The implementation and impact of the PSHE curriculum is assessed across school to ensure that children are provided with the best possible chance at succeeding. We strive to ensure that by the end of their time with us at Oakley Infant School each child will:

• Be more familiar with the British Values
• Be able to recognise, understand and manage their own emotions
• Understand who they can rely on and ask for support
• Look after their own mental health and ask for support where necessary
• Be on their way to maintaining a healthy lifestyle
• Recognise differences and have an understanding of diversity
• Apply learnt skills in real life situations
• Demonstrate self-confidence and self-esteem
• Have developed and maintained healthy relationships with peers and adults
• Understand the physical aspects involved in the teaching of RSE at the level appropriate to them as an individual
• Show respect to themselves and others