PSHCE

What is PSHCE?

Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic (PSHCE) education is a subject through which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. These skills and attributes help pupils to stay healthy, safe and prepare them for life and work in modern Britain. PSHCE education at Ashmount helps pupils to achieve their academic potential, and leave school equipped with skills they will need throughout later life.

PSHCE includes the compulsory subjects of relationships and health education. Sex and relationship education is taught as part of our comprehensive PSHCE curriculum. The scheme we follow is called You, Me PSHCE and this reflects modern times, with practical guidance and ideas, assisting teachers in providing children with the vital, good quality PSHCE lessons they are entitled to, to be safer in an ever changing world. The scheme You, Me, PSHCE builds on pupils’ learning through the Early Years Foundation Stage, especially in the prime areas of personal, social and emotional development and physical development.

Why is PSHCE important to safeguard our pupils?

PSHCE provides opportunities to teach children how to keep safe, identify unsafe situations and ask for help. The Government’s statutory safeguarding guidance for schools: Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges (Sept 2019) states:

Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that children are taught about safeguarding, including online safety. Schools should consider this as part of providing a broad and balanced
curriculum. This may include covering relevant issues through Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education (formerly known as Sex and Relationship Education), tutorials (in colleges) and/or where delivered, through Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education.

The Government has made regulations which will make the subjects of Relationships Education and Health Education mandatory from Summer term 2021.

What is statutory?

Relationships and health education are compulsory in primary schools. The DfE advises all primary schools to teach a programme of sex and relationships education. In You, Me, PSHE RSE lessons are included in the relationships and health education strand in Years 2, 4 and 6. Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools. Puberty is taught as part of statutory health education. The statutory science curriculum includes some of the biological aspects of sex education. This includes the main external body parts, the human body as it grows from birth to old age (including puberty) and reproduction in some plants and animals. For more information about RSE at Ashmount please read the RSE policy.

How is PSHCE taught?

PSHCE is taught each half term and covers a range of different topics including:

• Physical health and wellbeing
• Identity, society and equality
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing
• Keeping safe and managing risk
• Drug, alcohol and tobacco education
• Careers, financial capability and economic wellbeing

Discussion, turn taking along with speaking and listening are a focus of PSHCE lessons alongside individual, paired and group work. Where appropriate, we work with external agencies, services and providers to enhance our curriculum offer. Outside of set PSHCE lessons, teachers build into their curriculum ‘circle time’ sessions when they feel there is a specific need to do so within their class.

Curriculum Overviews

Year Group Curriculum Overviews

Whole School Curriculum Overview

More information

If you would like more information on our PSHCE /RSE curriculum, please contact Zoe Sanders, our PSHCE lead via the school office.