PSHE and RSHE

Intent

At St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School we believe RSHE and PSHE (personal, social, health and education) plays a vital part in primary education. RSHE and PSHE enables our children to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives.

At the core of our school ethos we also have spiritual development too. These aspects of development, drawn from Gospel values, form the core purpose of our school.

As part of a whole school approach, our aim is to develop the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as happy, successful and productive individuals, family members and members of society.

We aim to prepare them to manage many of the most critical opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face growing up in such rapidly changing and challenging times (and take these management skills into adulthood.)

Our intention is that RSHE and PSHE will foster pupils’ wellbeing and confidence, helping them to connect their skills and understanding to all subjects and to practical, real-life situations. We intend that our RSHE and PSHE teaching and their ongoing development and understanding in these will help them to feel safe and secure enough to fulfil their academic potential. Furthermore, we aim to provide our children with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society.

Implementation

All our year groups have timetabled RSHE and PSHE lessons and we use the Ten:Ten scheme of work from Reception to Year 6 to create our curriculum that ensures progression, development and consolidation of the knowledge, understanding and skills our pupils need. These skills are not just taught in isolation, but across the school day in incidental opportunities to support children, in assemblies, school clubs, circle time, visits and trips, community and school events, break times and within other lessons. We follow the Archdiocese recommended programme ‘Journey In Love’ to support our delivery of Sex Education. In addition we have many additional activities and opportunities planned across the child’s learning journey at St Bernadette’s.

In our programme (planned and integrated within the school day) we actively promote British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs to prepare our pupils for life in modern day Britain. Pupils learn about similarities and differences between people and cultures and our HeartSmart lessons enable our pupils to understand the British democratic process, including how to affect peaceful changes in society and with each other.

Impact

Through our RSHE and PSHE curriculum, we believe we can enhance children’s education and help them to become caring, respectful, responsible and confident individuals and citizens. Children will have the knowledge of how to develop their self-esteem and self-awareness and make informed choices and decisions. They will be able to make sense of their own personal and social experiences and will be able to understand and manage their own feelings.

Children will demonstrate and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Rule of Law and Individual Liberty
Children will demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school
Children will demonstrate understanding of how to keep themselves healthy
Children will understand how to keep themselves safe at school, in the community and locality and wider world (including online)
Children will develop positive and healthy relationships with peers, both now and in the future
Children will understand the physical and emotional aspects involved in RSHE at an age appropriate level
Children will have respect for themselves
Children will have positive body images

Children’s progress in RSHE and PSHE is monitored through the year and this monitoring is used to identify further areas of development. PSHE assessment is measured against the pupil’s own starting points. Children also reflect on their own RSHE and PSHE learning to further their own progress and development.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

PSHE/RSHE LONG TERM PLAN

LONG TERM PROGRESSION OF SKILLS

PSHE/RSHE PROGRESSION OF SKILLS

JOURNEY IN LOVE

RSE – A Journey in Love

‘Growing Together in Faith, Love & Learning’

At St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School we recognise that as parents you are the first educators of your children, and in doing so have primary responsibility in teaching your children how to build healthy, loving relationships. Our catholic school also plays a vital part in supporting you in doing this.

The Governors of St Bernadette’s have adopted the ‘Journey in Love’ programme to support Relationships and Sex Education throughout the school (Reception to Year 6)as one part of our RSHE curriculum offer.

The programme is authentic to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Journey of Life

For each of us, life is like a journey

Birth is the beginning of this journey,

And death is not the end; but the destination.

It is a journey that takes us

From youth to age,

From innocence to awareness,

From ignorance to knowledge,

From foolishness to wisdom,

From weakness to strength and often back again,

From offence to forgiveness

From pain to compassion,

From fear to faith,

From defeat to victory and from victory to defeat,

Until, looking backward or ahead,

We see that victory does not lie

At some high point along the way,

But in having made the journey,

Stage by stage.

Adapted from an Old Hebrew Prayer

‘Love is an art to be learned.

It is a giving experience, a selfless act.

Every experience of love gives us yet another glimpse of the meaning of love in God himself.

Human love is the instrument we can use to explore the mystery of love which God is’

Cardinal Basil Hume

A Journey In Love is a resources created by Sister Jude Groden of BRES. It is the recommended programme of study for Catholic schools for Sex and Relationship Education, and has been written as a progressive scheme of work that supports the Religious Education, PSHE and Science curricula taught within the school.

As children progress through the school, they discover more and more about themselves and the wider world. The thirst for learning new things is fostered by the school, as we create a safe and stimulating environment for learning and supporting all children in their development.

A Journey in Love supports children in growing and developing healthy and holistically towards an understanding of their gender and its implications for successful relationships, for this is happen children must be at ease with themselves and grow in self-knowledge.

Throughout ‘A Journey In Love’ an aspect of the mystery of love is focussed upon in each group, children and young people are encouraged to marvel at the wonder and beauty of God’s creative love. This is reflected in each stage of a person’s growth in the Primary Years through a series of suggested, progressive and developmental tasks, activities and reflections which focus on physical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development.

As with all aspects of learning, children are naturally curious and many will have questions related to their lessons. Opportunities to discuss questions form part of the lessons and again these are treated with care and understanding.

Below, is a brief outline of the content of the programme:

Reception: God loves each of us in our uniqueness

Y1: We meet God’s love in our family

Y2: We meet God’s love in the community

Y3: How we live in love

Y4: God loves us in our differences

Y5: God loves me in my changing and development

Y6: The wonder of God’s love in creating new life