Personal, Social and Health Education

"PSHE education gives pupils the knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and to prepare them for life and work in modern Britain."

PSHE Association

Intent: In our school the teaching of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of a society. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. We strive to provide our children with learning opportunities across and beyond the curriculum, in specific lessons, circle time, special school projects and other activities that enrich pupils’ experiences. It allows pupils to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.  At St John the Evangelist CE Primary School PSHE supports many of the principles of safeguarding and its close links to the school’s Safeguarding, SMSC and British Values Policies.

Implementation: PSHE is taught weekly using the Jigsaw scheme of work, where the whole school focuses on the same theme ‘puzzle piece’ each half term:

Term 1: Being Me in My World

Term 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)

Term 3: Dreams and Goals

Term 4: Healthy Me

Term 5: Relationships

Term 6: Changing Me (including Puberty and Human Reproduction Education)

The whole school works on the same ‘Puzzle’ at the same time, meaning that each Puzzle can be launched with a whole-school assembly and learning can be celebrated by the whole school in a meaningful way. The spiral nature of the curriculum ensures that content is progressive and built on year after year. In addition to covering the PSHE objectives, the scheme offers opportunities for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development as well as the skills associated with emotional literacy (self-awareness, social skills, empathy, managing feelings, motivation).

Themes taught in PSHE lessons are revisited continually through class reflection time as well as acts of collective worship for the whole school, phase and year groups. In addition, whole school theme days and weeks support learning in this subject, for example, during children’s mental health week and our annual health and fitness week. The school also follows the Zones of Regulation curriculum to support pupils with identifying and managing ‘big’ feelings, as well as wider curriculum connections being made within other subjects which support children’s wider personal development.

RSE is provided through the Personal, Social and Health Education Framework and is planned to ensure pupils receive their sex education in the wider context of relationships, and are prepared for the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of adult life. We believe that the teaching of sex education should be complementary and supportive to the role of parents and should have regard to parents’ views on its content and presentation.

To view our Relationship and Sex Education Policy click here.

To view national guidance click here: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education

EYFS: Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) in the Early Years Foundation Stage focuses on developing children's emotional, social, and health skills. It encourages self-awareness, helping children recognise and express their emotions while understanding the feelings of others. PSHE promotes relationship building, teaching children to interact positively with peers and adults through sharing, cooperation, and communication. It also emphasises the importance of self-regulation and independence, guiding children in managing their behaviour and positive making choices. By fostering an inclusive environment, PSHE helps children appreciate diversity and develop empathy, laying a strong foundation for their overall well-being and social skills. Nursery and Reception also follow the Jigsaw scheme of work.

Impact: Each unit of work identifies key knowledge that children are expected to know by the end of the unit and the spiral nature of the curriculum ensures that prior learning is revisited regularly. In addition, key social and emotional skills are assessed each term, in each unit.  

Class floor books allow teachers to regularly revisit learning in PSHE. Alongside this retrieval tasks are planned throughout the unit of work to ensure pupils know and remember more. Teachers use these tasks to address gaps in knowledge and provide opportunities for children to reflect on their changing beliefs and attitudes over time. Teachers use the subject assessment grids to record pupils’ learning and this then informs future units of work and teachers. 

Curriculum Plans:

Click the link below to down the whole school curriculum overview for PSHE.

Whole school Jigsaw PSHE overview

Whole school PSHE knowledge progression

Whole school Relationships and Sex Education coverage and progression

Parent Guide to Relationships and Sex Education from Jigsaw