PSHE

Intent

Our intention is that when our children leave Haddenham Community Junior School that they will be equipped with the life skills to thrive in an constantly changing and challenging world.  Furthermore, as a values based school, we are committed to enabling all children to thrive emotionally, intellectually, physically, socially and spiritually.  Therefore our PSHE curriculum is woven with our carefully chosen school values and addresses the key issue of our pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development.  It is designed to empower our children with the social and emotional skills to flourish now, when they move on from our school, and in their later lives.  This will include the ability to navigate relationship building, conflict resolution and also includes age appropriate sex education.  The curriculum is designed to help children think about their roles and responsibilities as part of an increasingly diverse and digital school, village and global community.   It gives children the knowledge and skills to navigate risks, look after their mental and physical health and recognises the equal importance of good mental and physical health.

Implementation

At Haddenham Junior School, PSHE is taught through a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. We ensure we cover the Health and Well-Being, Relationships and Living in the Wider World Learning Opportunities set out in the PSHE Association’s Programme of Study, which comprehensively cover the statutory Health Education and Relationships Education guidance. 

Our school follows the Jigsaw PSHE Scheme of learning.  It is designed to ensure depth, subject knowledge and the development of vital skills and attributes.  It builds on and revisits prior learning and prepares children for the challenges that they will face both when they move to secondary school and within their adult working lives.  Additionally, we have examined the needs of our children and of our local community and prioritised key areas of our curriculum to meet these needs.  We have liaised with our infant feeder schools to ensure continuity of coverage and audit our curriculum regularly to ensure that key areas are emphasised sufficiently. 

Jigsaw PSHE is a spiral and progressive scheme of work.  It gives children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and develop positive learning experiences with themselves and others.  Jigsaw consists of six half-term units of work (Puzzles), each containing six lessons (Pieces) covering each academic year. 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 Sex Education.  

Every Piece has two Learning Intentions, one specific to Relationships and Health Education (PSHE) and the other designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills.

Jigsaw prioritises children’s awareness of their mental health and wellbeing.  Each lesson includes a mindfulness session which engenders a peaceful and reflective atmosphere in the classroom and encourages the children to calm their minds in preparation for learning.  

PSHE is taught every week by the class teacher and a PSHE assembly introducing the theme of each puzzle is carried out every half term.  Additionally the development of a Growth Mindset is prioritised in our classes, through a growth mindset lesson every half term, displays around growth mindset in every classroom and teachers modelling and using the language of growth mindset in their everyday teaching practice.  We believe that this will enable our children to become happy, resilient and determined learners.  At our school we believe that values are principles that guide our thoughts and behaviour and have adopted an approach that puts values based education at its core.  Our PSHE lessons provide explicit opportunities for children to explore both British Values and our closely connected school values.  Links to these are made within the PSHE lessons to enable children to cultivate positive personal attributes and thus develop healthy relationships and the capacity to thrive in their wider community. 

At HCJS, safeguarding is always our most important consideration. We believe in effective preventative education that prioritises teaching children about the protected characteristics and that ‘creates a culture of zero tolerance for sexism, misogyny, homophobia, biphobic and sexual violence/harassment’  During a recent audit of our PSHE curriculum, we ascertained that issues of appropriate boundaries and consent are explicitly introduced within Jigsaw in KS1 and revisited in Year 7 but only lightly touched upon in KS2. We feel therefore that it would be valuable in our Junior School setting, where children will not necessarily have experienced the Jigsaw curriculum in KS1, to adapt our curriculum to introduce and build upon lessons about boundaries and consent.  

Impact

By the time children leave our school they will:

• Be confident, curious and resilient learners

• Understand their role as members of an equal and diverse community and the importance of respecting all regardless of age, gender, sex, race, disability, religion or the type of family or relationship that is chosen.

• Be aware of the importance of nurturing their physical and mental health and be equipped with the vocabulary to discuss their emotional wellbeing

• Have developed a growth mindset - understanding that setbacks and challenges are a part of the learning process

• Have developed important skills around debate, discussion, listening and teamwork to prepare them for their adult life

• Understand how to keep themselves safe, including how to manage online safety

Class teachers will provide a range of opportunities for children to demonstrate their understanding and the skills practised in PSHE lessons.  This will come in the form of self, peer and teacher assessment and observations.  The spiral curriculum allows skills and topics to be revisited and built upon.  In order to be confident in the impact of PSHE across the whole school community, the PSHE leader will monitor the subject through visiting PSHE lessons, discussion with pupils, gathering evidence of written activities and class discussions, monitoring displays and through ongoing discussion with colleagues.