Intent
The intent of the RHSE (relationships, sex and physical health and wellbeing education) curriculum at our school is to teach the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships with particular reference to friendships, family relationships and relationships with other children and with adults. We aim to:
- Provide a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place
- Prepare pupils for puberty, and give them an understanding of sexual development and the importance of health and hygiene
- Help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy
- Create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships
- Teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies
- Allow our children to recognize their state of mind and know which strategies to use to help them improve their mental health
- Prepare pupils for their adult lives as responsible, respectful citizens, teaching them to understand how to engage with society and providing them with plentiful opportunities to do so
- Develop pupils’ understanding of the protected characteristics and how equality and diversity are promoted
As a maintained primary school we follow the Relationships education and relationships and sec education and health education statutory guidance from the DFE.
We are not required to provide sex education but we do need to teach the elements of sex education contained in the science curriculum topic of life cycles and reproduction. Should staff feel the need to teach sex education beyond the curriculum they will discuss with the RSHE lead and governor and also with parents. Parents will have the right to withdraw their children from these elements.
In teaching relationships education, we must have regard to guidance issued by the secretary of state as outlined in section 403 of the Education Act 1996. PSHE programmes of study are non-statutory and can be found on the PSHE Association website.
Implementation
At the Federation of Boskenwyn and Germoe Schools, we allocate 20-40 minutes to RSHE each week in order to teach knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way.
These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways:
Assemblies and collective worship, praise and reward system, Learning Charter, through relationships child to child, adult to child and adult to adult across the school, learner profiles, themed days such as anti-bullying, internet safety. We aim to ‘live’ what is learnt and apply it to everyday situations in the school community. We have many visits and visitors to the school to reinforce teaching of aspects of the health curriculum such as the school nurse, fire service, lifeguards and PCSO.
Class teachers deliver the weekly lessons to their own classes alongside teaching assistants.
Relationships .
Relationships education is embedded into our 2 year rolling programme and focuses on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships including:
- Families and people who care for me
- Caring friendships
- Respectful relationships
- Online relationships
- Being safe
- Healthy minds
These areas of learning are taught within the context of family life taking care to ensure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances (families can include single parent families, LGBT+ parents, families headed by grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents/carers amongst other structures) along with reflecting sensitively that some children may have a different structure of support around them (for example: looked after children or young carers). All learning takes place via inquiry based learning and taking a multi-disciplinary approach.
Physical Health and Mental Wellbeing
Physical health and wellbeing also forms part of our 2 year rolling programme for RSHE. In order for children to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing and how to seek support, the curriculum is split into the following categories:
- Mental wellbeing
- Internet safety and harms
- Physical health and fitness
- Healthy eating
- Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
- Health and prevention
- Basic first aid
- Changing adolescent body
Our rolling programme and RSHE milestones shows how the whole-school approach spirals the learning and meets all statutory requirements of RSHE in a progressive way.
Staff
Staff are responsible for:
- Delivering RSHE in a sensitive way guided by our mapping document and rolling programme
- Modelling positive attitudes to relationships
- Monitoring progress using Insight assessment
- Responding to the needs of individual pupils
- Responding appropriately to pupils whose parents wish them to be withdrawn from the non-statutory components of relationships and sex education
Staff do not have the right to opt out of teaching RSHE. Staff who have concerns about teaching it are encouraged to discuss this with the headteacher.
Pupils
Pupils are expected to engage fully in RSHE and, when discussing issues related to this, treat others with respect and sensitivity.
Parents
Parents do not have the right to withdraw their children from relationships education.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children from the components of sex education within RSHE if the teacher finds it appropriate and necessary to go beyond the science curriculum only.
Requests for withdrawal should be put in writing and be addressed to the headteacher.
Impact
We strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and inquiry-based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school.
