Curriculum Intent

Within the Clementswood Federation, we believe that PSHE and RHE help to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives, in order to become informed, active and responsible citizens.

Under the new guidance issued by the DfE, by September 2020 (deferred to September 2021), Relationships and Health Education (known as RHE within our schools) will be compulsory. We believe that for this to be effective, it must be taught primarily within a broader PSHE education programme, allowing its teaching to be enhanced by learning related topics, including: anti-bullying; keeping safe on and offline; keeping physically and mentally healthy; learning about the risks of drugs, alcohol and tobacco; and the development of skills and attributes such as communication skills, managing peer pressure, risk management, resilience and decision-making.

Our teaching of PSHE and RHE aims to:

• Provide pupils with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and within the community.
• Ensure that our pupils build confidence, respect for themselves and empathy for others.
• Enable our pupils to learn to understand and respect our common humanity, diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning. 
• Encourage our pupils to safely take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of our school and wider community.
• Enable our pupils to reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.
• Enable our pupils to make safe, healthy choices, by educating them about physical health, mental health, well-being and relationships.
• Prepare pupils for puberty and give them an understanding of their developing bodies and the importance of health and hygiene.
• Ensure that our pupils have the knowledge and capability to take care of themselves and get support if challenges arise.

We have developed the curriculum in consultation with parents, pupils and staff, taking into account the age, needs and feelings of pupils and parents alongside the statutory teaching requirements. Children will be able to ask questions and responses should be evidence-based, age-appropriate, based on the law and sensitive to the needs of the children.

The curriculum has been designed to ensure continuity, consistency and progression across the primary age range.

The curriculum contributes to the school’s Safeguarding and Equality Duties, the Government’s British Values agenda and children’s SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural) development.

Home and school partnership and communication and understanding of the school’s approach to safeguarding disclosures is important.  If pupils ask questions within the scope of this policy, teachers will respond in an appropriate manner, so they are fully informed and do not seek answers online.

Where children ask questions that are outside of the scope of this policy, teachers will suggest that children discuss these with their parents and notify the parents, where appropriate.

The Primary National Curriculum includes:

• Preparing boys and girls for the changes that adolescence brings (puberty).  This will be taught in the summer of Year 5.
• Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals (in the science curriculum).  This will be taught through science lessons in Year 5.

As part of RHE, children will learn the correct names for their external private parts.  We have chosen to teach this language in Year 5 to support the children’s learning about puberty.

Teachers in all year groups will always use the correct terminology when asked about body parts but will acknowledge that “family names” also exist for some body parts. They will always teach that some parts of the body are private. These aspects are important to support safeguarding.

Delivery of PSHE and RHE

RHE will be covered within the weekly PSHE lessons.

Some aspects of RHE will also be explored and reinforced in other curriculum areas, where natural links exist, in subjects such as Science, Physical Education, Religious Education and Computing. Themes may be explored in assemblies, too.

The majority of our teaching will take place in class groups. There may be occasions when this might take place in smaller groups or single-gender groups, if deemed appropriate.