PSHE
Core Aim: For all children to leave our school with a toolkit to keep themselves and others safe. PSHE and RSE educate pupils to be confident, body-respecting, kind, and compassionate community members who belong and build relationships with themselves, others, the world, and God & beyond.
Core Purpose & SCARF Values
The SCARF Core Values
- Safety: Managing physical/emotional risks, self-protection, and online safety.
- Caring: Developing empathy, kindness, and understanding how personal choices impact others.
- Achievement: Fostering a growth mindset, personal goal-setting, and celebrating milestones.
- Resilience: Equipping pupils with coping strategies for setbacks and managing big emotions.
- Friendship: Building positive social skills, collaboration, and respectful conflict resolution.
Threshold Concepts & Delivery
- Threshold Concepts: Personal Safety and Wellbeing • Living Well as a Community.
- Spiral Curriculum: Delivered weekly via the SCARF scheme, covering statutory Relationships & Health Education and non-statutory Sex Education.
- Real-World Learning: Combines classroom study with experiential opportunities to build practical life skills, critical thinking, and social responsibility.
Cross-Curricular & Executive Function Integration
| Domain | Skill Integration & Practical Application |
|---|---|
| Communication & Language | Respectful listening, speaking in full sentences using precise PSHE/RSE technical terms, self-advocacy, and sharing ideas through storytelling, role-play, and conversation. |
| Executive Functioning | Managing personal emotions; practicing peaceful conflict resolution; organizing personal values and thoughts; link-making and asking clarifying questions. |
| Reading & Writing | Retrieving information from varied sources; building comprehension through discussions; labeling anatomical/safety diagrams; purposeful sentence construction and spelling. |
Progression: Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS / Reception)
Early Learning Goals (ELGs)
- Speaking: Expressing feelings and personal experiences clearly in full sentences.
- Managing Self: Regulating behavior, exercising impulse control, waiting turn, setting goals, and managing basic personal hygiene/dressing needs independently.
- Self-Regulation: Trying new challenges with resilience, understanding rule rationale, and choosing healthy food/lifestyle habits.
- Building Relationships: Cooperative play, forming positive adult/peer attachments, and displaying empathy toward others.
- Understanding the World: Identifying cultural/religious similarities and differences, comparing global communities, and observing natural changes.
Curriculum Overview by Half-Term Unit
| Year Group | Autumn 1 Me & My Relationships | Autumn 2 Valuing Difference | Spring 1 Keeping Myself Safe | Spring 2 Rights & Responsibilities | Summer 1 Being My Best | Summer 2 Growing & Changing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EYFS | What makes me special; people close to me; getting help. | Similarities/differences; celebrating uniqueness; kindness. | Body safety; safe touches/secrets; people who help us. | Looking after friends, the environment, and money. | Healthy food, exercise, and sleep habits; Growth Mindset. | Life cycles and stages; similarities/differences between girls & boys. |
| Year 1 | Expressing feelings; classroom rules; special people; friendship. | Accepting/respecting others; recognizing & handling bullying. | Feeling-based safety; online safety; safe/unsafe touches; medicine; sleep. | Taking care of self, money, and the local environment. | Growth Mindset; healthy eating; personal hygiene; cooperation. | Becoming independent; body parts; getting help; self-care. |
| Year 2 | Bullying/teasing rules; being a good friend; self-regulation. | Kindness; people who help us; active listening skills. | Appropriate touch; medicine safety; safe vs. unsafe secrets. | Cooperation; self-regulation; online safety; saving/spending money. | Growth Mindset; physical body care; hygiene; exercise & rest. | Life cycles; handling loss; mutual support; privacy. |
| Year 3 | Rule purpose; cooperation; respectful friendships; coping with loss. | Diversity, tolerance, and respect; community; bullying & online safety. | Risk management; decision-making; drug risks; digital literacy. | Growing up skills; environmental care; managing money. | Healthy choices; empathy; identifying & growing personal strengths. | Changing bodies & puberty; relationships; safety & secrets. |
| Year 4 | Healthy relationships; listening to feelings; assertive skills. | Celebrating cultural/religious diversity; challenging stereotypes. | Risk management; drug norms (tobacco/alcohol); peer influence. | Community contribution; media influence; spending choices. | Health decisions; environmental ownership; developing talents. | Puberty changes; managing difficult feelings; marriage/relationships. |
| Year 5 | Emotional needs; compromise in friendships; assertiveness. | Cultural diversity; social media pressure/influence; cyberbullying. | Online safety; drug norms; legal risk assessment. | Health rights & duties; lending, borrowing, and spending decisions. | Independence; health; media safety; AI & community awareness. | Managing change & emotions; safety cues; getting help. |
| Year 6 | Assertiveness; safe/unsafe touches; positive relationships. | Prejudice-based bullying; bystander intervention; gender stereotypes. | Emotional needs; online footprints; drug risks & the law. | Media bias; digital critical thinking; democracy; earning/saving. | Aspirations; risk management; mental health wellbeing. | Coping with big changes; AI/deep fakes; body image; sex education. |
RSE Policy
Ensuring Inclusive Practice & Adaptations
| Broad Area of Need | Specific Barriers | Planned Adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| Communication & Interaction | • Expressive language • Receptive language • Social communication | • Emotion fans, sentence stems (“I feel ___ when…”), drawing, pointing, or selecting cards. • Chunk explanations; pre-teach key terms; use Widgit symbols and concrete visuals. • Explicit rules, Social Stories, and scripted role-play cards instead of open improvisation. Avoid abstract metaphors. |
| Cognition & Learning | • Working memory • Dyscalculia • Executive functioning • Dyslexia / Literacy • Aphantasia | • Visual cues for auditory memory tasks; single, sequential questions. • Color-coded timeline strips (no numerical years); physical counters for money concepts. • Start/end lesson anchors; SCARF graphic organizers for key themes. • Minimize writing; prioritize video clips, oral discussions, and dictation tools. • Real photos, illustrations, and physical props (avoid “close your eyes and imagine” prompts). |
| Sensory & Physical | • Visual Impairment (VI) • Hearing Impairment (HI) • Sensory Overload (Autism/SPD) • Fine Motor / Dyspraxia | • Tactile anatomy models, audio descriptions, high-contrast imagery, and verbalized facial expressions. • Carpet circles with clear sightlines for lip-reading; closed captions on all videos. • Advance warning before introducing tactile items; option to opt out of loud group games. • Pre-cut resources and thick-grip utensils; prioritize physical demonstrations over writing. |
| SEMH | • Anxiety & Perfectionism • Impulse control | • Anonymous question (“worry”) boxes; clear messaging that PSHE has no right/wrong mark; advance warning for sensitive topics. • Explicit ground rules every lesson; physical “talking objects” to regulate turn-taking. |