Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) Curriculum at Geoffrey Field Junior School
The aims of our PSHE curriculum
Personal, Social and Health Education in our school aims to promote each child’s personal development. We want them to leave Geoffrey Field Junior School armed with the knowledge, attitudes, skills and strategies they will need to be safe, healthy and productive members of their families, schools and society.
Our PSHE Curriculum
Our PSHE Curriculum is split into 4 main themes and these are taught and developed yearly and across the school year.
Our PSHE curriculum overview can be found here.
Myself & Others
There are two units of Myself and Others covered across the year. At the start of the school year, we focus on teaching the children about our school values, as this is linked so closely to our whole school community. We also look at developing children’s knowledge about their own emotions & feelings, as well as being able to identify these in other people. We seek to develop the children’s understanding of friendships and personal relationships during their time with us, increasing awareness of the wellbeing of themselves and others. During this term, this is also addressed within Anti-Bullying Week and in the Spring term we celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week.
In the Summer term, all year groups revisit the Myself and Others unit, focusing on diversity and stereotypes and linking with our RE curriculum. During this unit, the children are encouraged to develop responsible attitudes towards their own learning by learning how to set goals appropriate for them and how to best challenge themselves further.
Staying Safe
Children learn how they can stay safe in their everyday lives and how to recognise risks in different situations in school, at home and in the wider world. Throughout the school, there is a constant focus on ways to live as healthy as possible to ensure we can be our best possible selves. This unit links in closely to the computing objectives of being safe online and we also celebrate e-safety day in the spring term.
My Community
Years 3 and 4 focus on our school community and learning how to work as a member of a group. They learn about voting and making decisions through participating in our school council elections. Years 5 and 6 learn how these skills are applied in local and national government. We have also been developing the ‘Making a difference challenge’ across the school, to encourage social action to benefit the school or wider community. Children also participate in special events such as Aspire 2 Be day, Inspire Week and Enterprise Week, great opportunities for children to learn about the world of money and work.
Sex and Relationship Education
The governors have approved the school’s policy on sex and relationship education. You are invited to read the policy (SRE Policy) and to see and discuss the materials used in teaching this aspect of the curriculum.
Our scheme of work for sex and relationship education (SRE Curriculum Overview) covers all the year groups and ensures that children build on their previous knowledge. Children are encouraged to discuss what they already know so that the teacher can cover misunderstanding and gaps. A variety of resources are used for this work – sometimes videos but often research work and discussion.
The school has established a clear SRE policy through consultation with parents, governors and the wider community. A thorough consultation gave our parents/carers the opportunity to have their say on where various aspects of the SRE curriculum are taught during KS2. The results of the consultation helped to form our current SRE curriculum. Click here to view the consultation results.
School’s Statement on Sex and Relationship Education
Parents do not have the right to withdraw their children from relationships and non-statutory components of sex education within RSE. The statutory science curriculum which pupils cannot be withdrawn from includes the following areas that crossover with the year 5 and 6 sex and relationship education units.
Every year we run an information session for parent/carers in the summer term. These sessions allow parents/carers the opportunity to view the resources the school uses to deliver the SRE curriculum and to ask any questions.
Our School Values
Our school values form an important part of our whole school ethos.
They are:
Children receive positive praise when demonstrating any of the school values and they are encouraged to actively look for these values in other children. Our annual Madejski Award Ceremony is based on these values; children are given the opportunity to evaluate their attitudes and behaviours during the year and set themselves targets for further development.
British Values
Through our British Values, we look at different ways we can support our pupils. We do this in a number of ways: Peer mediators, ELSA, one to one support, focused targets and pupil premium coaching. We promote democracy, where decisions are made together and the school council is a great way to ensure that the pupils’ voices are being heard. We ensure that children understand that their own and others’ behaviour has consequences, and learn to distinguish right from wrong. Across their school life, children should develop a positive sense of themselves. We also teach about mutual respect and tolerance: treat others as you want to be treated.
Localised curriculum links:
At Geoffrey Field, we have developed a localised curriculum, which focuses on areas of importance and barriers for our pupils. These key areas are woven into our PSHE curriculum, to ensure our pupils receive a full, rich and engaging curriculum.
Impact – Our children leave Geoffrey Field Junior School with the skills, attitudes, knowledge and strategies that will allow them to be a happy and productive member of their community. Whilst at school, the children are shown how to make appropriate and informed decisions, develop positive behaviours towards themselves and others and to develop a resilient and responsible attitude towards their own learning.