At St Chad's, we are committed to building a loving, compassionate and respectful community in which every child can flourish. We understand that children's health, well-being and emotional and social understanding are at the heart of their ability to develop into successful learners which is why we value and fully embrace Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE).
Our PSHE curriculum is underpinned by our school's Christian vision (LOVE God, LOVE Neighbour, LOVE Self) and core Christian values of love, friendship, compassion and respect. We incorporate PSHE into all curriculum areas and throughout the school day, teaching, modelling, promoting and embedding our school values in all that we say and in all that we do. We seek to be positive role models to our children, guiding and teaching them through our ‘LOVE Promise’. We:
PSHE is taught across the whole school, from our very youngest children in Nursery through to our oldest in Year 2. Children begin their PSHE journey in Early Years Foundation Stage; Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is one of the three prime areas of learning within statutory the EYFS framework.
Children's personal, social and emotional development is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Our children are supported to:
- manage their emotions
- develop a positive sense of themselves
- set themselves simple goals
- have confidence in their own abilities
- persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary
Children learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.
Our PSHE curriculum design ensures that our children:
- Learn new knowledge, skills, and understanding, progressing in these so that they develop their identity and self-esteem as active, confident members of their community.
- The themes and topics support social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and provide children with protective teaching on essential safeguarding issues, developing their knowledge of when and how they can ask for help.
PSHE at St Chad's is taught using the PSHE Matters scheme produced by Derbyshire County Council alongside our Computing curriculum which addresses the specific objectives relating to online safety and R-time, a personal, social education programme, which focuses on building effective and respectful relationships.
The resources recommended by the PSHE Matters scheme are interchanged and supplemented by a range of resources carefully selected for our school's community.
At St Chad's, the PSHE Matters is constructed around two age groups:
- Early Years Foundation Stage
- Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2)
Within each age group, there are 12 learning modules:
- Drug Education
- Exploring Emotions
- Being Healthy
- Growing Up
- Changes
- Bullying Matters
- Being Me
- Difference and Diversity
- Being Responsible
- Being Safe
- Relationships
- Money Matters
In EYFS, the learning modules include the Early Learning Goals (ELG) taken form the statutory
Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, as well as guidance from
Development Matters. Each Key Stage 1 module starts with learning opportunities taken from the
PSHE Association Programme of Study which are based on three core themes: Health and Wellbeing; Relationships and Living in the Wider World.
Learning modules are taught in a spiral curriculum which revisit each theme every two years. This enables children to recall and build upon previous learning, exploring the key values regularly at a depth that is appropriate for the age and stage of the child. Lessons are taught weekly and are planned to be delivered in a creative manner, using many approaches such as role play, discussion and games with groups of various sizes. These activities enable children to build confidence and resilience. Lessons use and develop key words to build a rich vocabulary to develop understanding.
The curriculum is fully in line with the statutory DfE guidance, Relationships and Health Education (RHE), setting these learning intentions in the context of a broad and balanced curriculum. Our Relationships and Health Education policy was developed by working in partnership with cluster schools in Derby City. A core focus of this partnership was seeking and gaining the views of parents, as well as local religious and community groups.
Collective Worship
As a Church of England school, our
Collective Worships lie at the heart of our curriculum and play a pivotal role in embedding our school values and PSHE. Collective worship helps to links our PSHE programme to other whole school approaches and encourages not only children but also staff, families and the wider community to get involved. We follow the Christian calendar, exploring main events and themes throughout the year. Collective worship themes also incorporate national and international events which encourage the children to develop a broader understanding of the world and deepen their sense of a shared responsibility.
We have a structured approach to our collective worships and specific lessons that teach the values to the children and encourage them to deepen their understanding of what the values mean to them. Children also learn about values through everyday interactions with everyone in the school community. It is through modelling positive behaviours and values that we can all understand our expectations of each other and how we all want to be treated.
To support our children in making purposeful and meaningful links from their learning of values in collective worship to themselves and their world, we have created a 'Values in Action' overview map. Children regularly experience visitors into school, local trips and outings, as well as theme days and theme weeks. Children have the opportunity to share their learning outside of school through regular home learning activities linked to our half-termly values. Further information about our 'Values in Action' curriculum can be found
here.
School Council
Although we are an infant school, we teach our children from a young age that they have a voice and that their voice matters. One way that we achieve this is through our very active
School Council (our
LOVE Council). Our LOVE Council is led by a group of children in Year 2. The successful candidates are sworn into their new roles during a special collective worship, receiving a shiny new badge that they must wear every day to school. Our Love Council members meet regularly with the Headteacher, Ms. Leach, to discuss exciting projects, share ideas and solve problems. It is their role to be the voice of all of their classmates so we can all work together to create an even better school. They also meet regularly with the school's Chair of Governors to champion their ideas. We encourage children to play a positive role in contributing to the life of the school. In doing so, we develop their sense of worth. We teach them about the process of democracy and rights and responsibilities through our regular school 'pom-pom' surveys.
Safeguarding and Pastoral Support
Safeguarding is a key element of PSHE education as pupils learn about their own identify, risks, decision-making and how to keep themselves safe. We ensure that PSHE is embedded within our other commitments to ensuring that children in our care have positive relationships with adults, feel valued and where those who are most vulnerable are identified and supported. As a school, we value effective home-school partnerships and we work closely with our families to support our children's wellbeing and any issues that may be affecting their ability to learn. We have a dedicated pastoral team in school who provide target support to families and children, both in school and with the support of wider professional and agencies where required. Further information about the role of our pastoral team can be found
here.
We are fully committed to providing a high quality, purposeful and nurturing learning environment. Great care and thought is given to the planning, design and installation of our classroom and school spaces and displays following the principles of Communication Friendly Spaces. We strive to create a 'home away from home' learning environment so that children and families know from the minute that they arrive into our school that this a safe, calm and loving place. We have a dedicated Nurture room - our Rainbow Room - which provides a place for our children to socialise, play, explore, eat, relax...and regularly enjoy a chat over a hot chocolate!
Developing our children's emotional literacy
As a school, we value the importance of reading and for children to see themselves in book. Books play a pivotal role in helping to bring our PSHE curriculum to life and due thought and consideration is given when selecting our reading material to ensure age appropriate content, as well as diversity and inclusivity. Our books, in addition to our safe and supportive learning environment, help to develop our children's language and vocabulary, confidence to ask questions, challenge the information they are offered, draw on their own experiences, express their views and opinions and put what they have learned into practice in their own lives. Some of the books that we use in school to support our PSHE curriculum can be viewed
here.
A copy of our progression map for PSHE can be found below.