PSHE (including RSHE)
PSHE at Sudbourne
At Sudbourne Primary School, we believe that good quality Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) is a vital part of our children's everyday learning. Because of its excellent reputation and truly comprehensive and child-centred approach to PSHE, we use the Jigsaw PSHE programme to teach PSHE, including relationships education, sex education, and health education.
We really like the approach that Jigsaw takes to PSHE, because it is so much more than a scheme of work. It provides child-centred personal development to nurture the ‘whole child’ and increase learning capacity, underpinned by mindfulness philosophy and practice. It perfectly aligns with our school's values and beliefs about inspiring and empowering our children to flourish through a nurturing, inclusive and fulfilling education.
Jigsaw is also designed to provide structured opportunities in every lesson to practice and enhance the five skills associated with the emotional literacy:
- self-awareness
- social skills
- empathy
- motivation
- managing feelings.
At Sudbourne, we believe that these opportunities are vital for children’s development, their understanding of themselves and others, and in increasing their capacity to learn, and to flourish as individuals.
The Jigsaw programme helps us to deliver emotional literacy, social skills, mindfulness and spiritual development in a cohesive, comprehensive and creative way. Each class from Reception to Year 6 has a weekly lesson that promotes these very important aspects of learning. The lessons are supported by video clips, powerpoint presentations, music and discussions as well as a class mascot!
The whole school follows the same theme every half term pitched at the appropriate level. The themes are:-
Being Me in My World
Celebrating Difference
Dreams and Goals
Healthy Me
Relationships
Changing Me
If you want to see what is taught in each year group, take a look at the Curriculum Map below. It provides a summary overview of the content of each 'puzzle' (unit of work) and when it is taught. You can also find out more about what is knowledge and skills children will be taught each year, complemented by some very helpful questions for family learning. See our documents section for PSHE in EYFS to Year 6 summaries.
If you want to know more about the Jigsaw approach in general, then please read: A Mindful Approach to PSHE.
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RSHE at Sudbourne
What is RSHE Education?
Recent changes in law mean that all primary schools are now required to teach Relationships and Health Education, including Sex Education. This is known as RSHE.
Teaching Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (RSHE) as a fundamental part of the curriculum.
The DFE's guide for parents Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child's primary school a guide for parents is very helpful in explaining what schools have to teach by law to primary children. You can find this below in our documents section.
At Sudbourne our aim is to provide effective, age-appropriate RSHE education that meets the needs of all our pupils within an inclusive and supportive learning environment using non-biased resources. Our experienced and skilled teachers are committed to giving children the skills, knowledge and values necessary to live and learn safely in the modern world.
What we teach and what we do not teach in RSHE
Sudbourne School will be teaching RSHE through our "Jigsaw" Curriculum which we already use to teach PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education). RSHE is a component of this larger PSHE curriculum. The Jigsaw Scheme enables pupils to build on their prior learning by revisiting some themes to further develop knowledge, values and skills in an age and stage-appropriate manner. Some themes are repeated as children move through the school to enable a deeper exploration of the related issues.
You can find out what we teach and when we teach it, in the document Jigsaw PSHE Provision Map - see below. It provides an overview of the content of each 'puzzle' (unit of work) and when it is taught.
The curriculum is designed to take in to account:
- Our pupils’ age and maturity levels, as well as their cultural and religious backgrounds
- The values of our school community
- Every pupil’s learning needs
- What pupils need to know to be healthy and safe in school, in their personal relationships and in the wider world
Jigsaw also has a very helpful guide outlining the Jigsaw approach to incorporating RSHE in to the PSHE curriculum. Please do read it to find out more about what we will be teaching and what we will not be teaching. This is because there is a lot of misinformation in the social media about what primary schools will be teaching, particularly relating to LGBT+ issues.
The guide is called RSHE A Guide for Parents and Carers which you can find below.
Sudbourne Policy on PSHE and RSHE
An important document for you to read is Sudbourne School's PSHE (including RSHE) Policy. It is important to understand that:
- Relationships Education is compulsory for all pupils - see Section 6
- Relationships Education will be inclusive of all types of family composition
- Health Education is compulsory for all pupils - see Section 8
- Health Education will include learning about puberty and body changes
- Sex Education is not compulsory for all pupils - see Section 9
- Sex education will include learning about conception and birth in human beings
- Science Education is compulsory for all pupils.
- Science education does include teaching about reproduction in mammals, which can include human beings.
The vast majority of RSHE is compulsory. There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education or Health Education.
Section 9.4 and 9.5 of the school PSHE including RSHE policy provides detail about what is compulsory and not compulsory learning in Sex Education and Section 13 provides information about parents' right to withdraw/excuse their child from Sex Education.
Recommended Reading
- Sudbourne School PSHE (including RSHE) Policy
- Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child’s primary school: a guide for parents (DFE)
- RSHE A guide for Parents and Carers (Jigsaw)
- PSHE (including RSHE) Provision Map (Jigsaw)
- PSHE in EYFS to Year 6 (Jigsaw) - 6 curriculum knowledge and skills progression charts
- Including and Valuing All Children - What does Jigsaw Teach about LGBTQ Relationships (Jigsaw)
Top Tips for Talking to Your Child
Talking to your child about their feelings, relationships and changing body is important. Building good channels of communication throughout childhood can help your child to communicate with you as future issues of increasing seriousness arise.
Your child needs to know that it's OK to talk, and that you're happy to talk. They will learn this through your body language, tone and manner when you talk so try to behave as you would in any other topic of conversation.
Jigsaw have provided families with suggestions for Family Learning conversations related to the PSHE/RSHE lessons that will be taught in school. Check out the PSHE in EYFS to Year 6 documents below.
Below are simple strategies to make talking about feelings, relationships and the body more comfortable and effective.
✔ Start by talking about something that you both find comfortable, such as feelings and emotions.
✔ Ask your child what they think their friends know/think about the topic, as this provides a way to talk about your child’s views indirectly.
✔ Avoid ‘The Chat’. Talk about these topics little and often over everyday events like playing, drawing, whilst driving in the car or watching TV. This can help to normalise the conversation, easing uncomfortable feelings.
✔ Reading a story book containing relevant content is a helpful way to stimulate discussion with your child.
✔ Don’t leave it too late. Start talking about relevant topics before you feel your child is approaching a level of curiosity about it, so you establish strong channels of communication in readiness.
✔ Be prepared to listen. Your child will want to have their voice heard without feeling judged. Feeling listened to will encourage your child to talk about issues in the future.
✔ If your child asks you a question you are not sure how to answer, don’t panic! Let them know that you will answer it at another time, making sure you remember to. Sometimes a simple answer can provide a sufficient response.
✔ Try to listen calmly, even if what they say surprises or concerns you. Remember that it is good that they are comfortable to discuss issues with you. They need to trust that you will not respond negatively.
Make sure your child knows they can always talk to you anytime, about anything.