PSHE

What does PSHE look like at Rosa Street?

PSHE is deeply engrained in life at Rosa Street. It is delivered discreetly within PSHE lessons and through our wider school ethos. It encourages children to embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, gaining knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships and to build their self-efficacy. The PSHE curriculum gives opportunities to put this knowledge into practice as children develop the capacity to make sound decisions when facing risks, challenges and complex contexts. We believe that an effective PSHE education can support young people to develop resilience, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support.

We use the PSHE Association question-based programme builder to organise our curriculum which builds in developmental progression by revisiting themes year on year, building on and extending prior learning. This programme builder is structured around an overarching question for each term or half term. These begin in key stage 1 as ‘What? and ‘Who?’’ questions and build throughout Key Stage 2 into ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions. The three core themes from the Programme of Study are fully covered – colour-coding highlights whether the overall topic focus is Health and Wellbeing, Relationships or Living in the Wider World, although some half term blocks will draw on more than one core theme. Teaching builds according to the age and needs of the pupils throughout the primary phase with suggested developmentally appropriate learning objectives given to respond to each key question.

Within the health and wellbeing section of our study, children will be taught that mental wellbeing is a normal part of daily life, in the same way as physical health and that there is a normal range of emotions, e.g. happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and nervousness. They will understand how to recognise and talk about their emotions, including having a varied vocabulary of words to use when talking about their own and others’ feelings. They will understand the benefits of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation, and voluntary and service-based activity on mental wellbeing and happiness. They will also learn simple self-care techniques, including the importance of rest, time spent with friends and family, and the benefits of hobbies and interests.  Our PSHE curriculum makes it clear that mental health issues can affect anyone, in the same way as physical health issues, and that there is nothing unusual about people experiencing difficulties with their mental health.

Within the relationships section of our study, children are exposed to a wide variety of positive relationships and helped to identify when a relationship is negative. Children are explicitly taught that families are important for them growing up because they can give love, security and stability. They are also shown that others’ families, either in school or in the wider world, sometimes look different from their family, but that they should respect those differences and know that other children’s families are also characterised by love and care. At Rosa Street, we have a high proportion of pupil premium and looked after children; many of whom come from unstable home lives. For these children, experiencing a wide and varied PSHE education is of vital importance. Positive friendships (and what to do in the event of experiencing a negative friendship) also play a huge part in our curriculum. Pupils are taught about the different types of bullying (including cyberbullying), the impact of bullying, responsibilities of bystanders to report bullying to an adult, and how to seek help. The increasing amount of time spent by young people online is central to this education. We know that for many young people the distinction between the online world and other aspects of life is less marked than for some adults and that young people are vulnerable to negative relationships developing online. Our children understand that people sometimes behave differently online, including pretending to be someone they are not. How to stay safe online, in conjunction with out ICT curriculum, is a key focus of PSHE at Rosa Street.

Teaching primary aged children how to live in the wider world is also a huge part of the PSHE curriculum at Rosa Street. Pupils are taught the different purposes for using money, including concepts of spending and saving, managing money, being a critical consumer and how money comes from different sources. Pupils are also exposed to a wide variety of different professions and encouraged to begin to think about potential future careers. This work is reinforced by our career’s day, where a variety of professional people are invited into school to discuss different career paths. 

Key to our PSHE education is the understanding that it is vital to respect others regardless of whether they are different. Pupils are taught that it is inappropriate (and against the law) to discriminate against people because of protected characteristics such as race, sex, sexuality, religious beliefs, disability or age. At Rosa Street, we develop good citizens who can look after their own mental and physical health, develop positive relationships (both in person and online), flourish in the wider world and treat others with respect.