Personal, Social, Health & Relationship Education (PSHRE)

What does it mean at Sandfield?

Personal– understanding who you are, how to manage your feelings and how to keep yourself safe.
Social– knowing your worth in the world, working as part of a team and respecting our diverse communities.
Health– what it means to be healthy, lifestyle balances and making good choices                                                                                                                                        Relationship –                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Education– learning through diverse experiences, being able to talk about different opinions and practicing these lessons in life.

At Sandfield Primary School we teach PSHE throughout the school, in a range of different ways. Within our PSHE and RE lessons and through our: school trips, assemblies, visitors and community links we also promote the development of spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) understanding, acceptance and respect.

Why do we teach it?

PSHE at Sandfield aims to equip children with the knowledge, skills and attributes (such as resilience, risk-management, team work and critical thinking) needed to keep our students safe and healthy- now and in the future. We also aim to prepare them for later life, with the understanding of what it is like to live and work in modern Britain.

How do we teach it?

Our school uses a whole school SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning) approach to PSHE which means that we develop the skills of: self-awareness; managing feelings; how to be motivated; being empathetic and communicating effectively with others. Our curriculum follows a rolling 2 year programme, which allows for each unit to be visited and revisited in detail.

In Early Years the children work towards early learning goals in many areas including: personal, social and emotional development. These goals focus on children learning that they are individuals and having a range of different experiences; these are mainly achieved through play. Later in Key Stage 1 we build on the early learning goals and children learn vital social skills such as; how to take turns how to share, helping each other and resolving conflicts.

In Key Stage 2, each class has one hour of PSHE lessons a week where we build on the foundations that were established in Key Stage 1. We also use our RE lessons and assemblies to learn about the wider world. Throughout these lessons and experiences, we expose the children to many different ways of thinking and encourage them to ask questions and compare what they are learning to their lives outside school.

What do we teach?

Democracy and the Rule of Law

At the start of each year, classes elect representatives from their class for the Junior Leadership Team (JLT). As preparation for life in Britain, we mimic the democratic way in which we vote in Britain. The children are given the opportunity to create manifestos, campaign for votes and take part in ballots that reflect the way they will vote as adults. As part of this unit, we also develop class charters based on the rights and responsibilities of everyone in the school.

Environmental Awareness

Sandfield is working towards being a more sustainable school; we teach the children about what it is to be sustainable and changes that they can make in their lives. We discuss the impact of unsustainable living – on a small scale as well as globally.  We encourage the children to suggest improvements we can make in school and are keen to implement the ideas that are appropriate.

Digital Literacy

We learn about the positives and negatives of using the internet and how to stay safe online. We talk about being a good ‘digital citizen’, respecting other people and how to deal with cyberbullying. Throughout the year, we hold workshops for parents that link to different areas of the curriculum. If you wish to attend one of our IT workshops please ask in the office for details.

Money

It is important for children to be prepared for life in modern Britain when they leave school, therefore one of our units ‘money matters’ looks at finance and budgeting. We also look globally at financial inequalities and the importance of charities like Fair trade in helping to minimise hunger and poverty in the world.

Being Different

A key aim of PSHE is for all children to understand that they are unique and special in their own way. The acceptance of our own worth allows for the children to be more accepting of the differences in other people too. It is important for our children to challenge stereotypes and show mutual respect and tolerance. At Sandfield we celebrate our difference and diversities; we are very proud of our multicultural community.

Drugs Education

Our drugs education program is delivered at different depths depending on the age of the children in the class. We discuss the difference between medicines and illegal drugs and how they can affect our bodies. Smoking and alcohol are used as examples of drugs in this unit. We aim to teach the children about what risky behaviour is and how to say no peer pressure.

Sex and Relationships Education (SRE)

In each year group we teach sex and relationship education (SRE) in a unit that we call ‘growing up’.
The objectives for each class are differentiated so that they are appropriate for the age of the children that we work with. The aim is to our students about the changes that their bodies are/will go through. Each year, we also talk about what a ‘healthy relationship’ is and how to stay safe. As this unit comes later in the year we link it with our transition visits in order to prepare the children for the changes that they are going to face at the end of the year.

SRE is taught sensitively with parental access to the lesson materials and objectives- as parents, you have the right to withdraw your children from these lessons if you wish. Leading up to this unit, we send information leaflets about the scheme and invite parents to attend SRE workshops where we will answer any questions that you have on the unit. Our SRE policy also outlines guidance on how the teaching can be followed up at home. We use a series of DVDs ‘Living and growing’ (made by channel 4) to support our teaching.

Sandfield Primary School recognises that sex and relationships education is the right and responsibility of the parent.

The school provides sex and relationships education to support parents in fulfilling their responsibility. If parents are not happy with how  Sandfield provides it’s basic curriculum with regard to sex and relationships education they have the right to withdraw their child/ children from those aspects of sex and relationships education that are not covered by the National Curriculum Science Programme of Study.

Please find below information of the scheme that is taught at Sandfield.  If you have any further questions, please see your child’s class teacher directly.

Useful website links for PSHE:

Coming soon…