PSHE Association and PSHE Matters Derbyshire

At Howitt Primary Community school, our PSHE and RSHE curriculum is covered through a planned programme of learning and delivered through discussions, debates, circle time, stories that raise issues, role play and assemblies. To support our teaching, we use guidance from the PSHE Association programme builders and the PSHE Matters scheme, which incorporates and is supported by our school values.

Why does PSHE Matter?

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education is central to giving pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active and responsible British citizens.

PSHE enables our pupils to understand and respect our common humanity: its diversity and its differences so that they can go on to form, the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.

Safeguarding is a key element of PSHE as pupils learn about their own identity, risks, decision- making and how to keep themselves safe.

PSHE helps pupils to learn to recognise their own value, work well with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning. They can reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.

Our PSHE is embedded through our whole school ethos and the six global themes in our curriculum. We offer a wide range of activities and experiences through our curriculum in which pupils can contribute to their school life and their community.

RSHE Curriculum

RSHE is taught as both explicit lessonsa nd is also embedded in other areas of the curriculum. The PSHE Association model and PSHE Matters scheme supports our sequence of lessons and every year group follows termly units, based on the following themes:

• Relationships - families and friendships, safe relationships and respecting ourselves and others
• Living in the wider world - belonging to a community, media literacy and digital resilience and money and work
• Health and wellbeing - physical health and mental wellbeing, growing and changing and keeping safe

During the school year we plan activities such as:

• Friendship/Respect week - this has a focus on the qualities of being a good friend to others. We also hold an anti-bullying themed day during this week.
• Safer internet day - this includes an assembly and focus upon the NSPCC resources and delivered by the NSPCC if possible.