At Chaddesley Corbett Primary School we teach a Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum through Discovery Education.
Why do we teach Relationships and Health Education?
First and foremost, it helps to keep our children safe. RSHE gives children the knowledge to tell right from wrong, and the skills to assess risk and seek support if they are worried.
It gives children information and skills to make healthy choices. Children need to have knowledge about what is healthy and what is not, but also the skills to be able to use this information.
It promotes tolerance and respect linked to our school ethos and our core British values. We want our children to become adults who are accepting of all people, even if their way of life is not the same as their own.
It develops the skills to form and maintain healthy relationships: whether friendships, family or with teachers, every child needs these skills in order to function effectively in society.
Sessions are grouped around half-termly themes (see below). All year groups will learn about the same theme at the same time, ensuring consistency and progression as children move through the school. The majority of our learning comes from the Discovery Education Health and Relationships Programme which is developed in line with DfE statutory guidance. The DfE guidance states ‘The DfE continues to recommend that all primary schools should have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.' We plan to include the non-statutory elements of sex education in Year 6 to meet the needs of our pupils. Parents can withdraw their child from these elements provided in the Year 6 programme, but no other part of our RSHE programme. The sex education lessons in the programme fall within the Year 6 Families and Committed Relationships strand. Discovery Education Programme The Discovery Education RSHE programme develops skills and knowledge in a values-based context which enables schools to convey and enhance their own values, learning and behaviour, supporting these whole-school approaches to developing pupil wellbeing. Each topic contains age-appropriate content, developing themes in a ‘spiral curriculum’ so that pupils are building on their skills and understanding each year.
Topics:
Happy and healthy friendships - This topic explores friendships: their importance, what being a good friend means, and how to keep friendships positive and healthy. Pupils investigate their own values and identity (including their online identity), and develop skills to resolve difficulties within friendships, including maintaining and respecting personal boundaries and safe touch, managing peer pressure and the effects on friendships of change
Similarities and differences - This topic explores and celebrates the similarities and differences between people, exploring and encouraging ways to value and respect difference and diversity. It looks at the damaging effect that stereotypes can have, and how to identify and challenge them. It helps pupils recognise their own personal strengths and abilities, and develop self-respect.
Caring and responsibility - This topic focuses on special people. It explores why they are special and how they care for and keep one another safe. It examines pupils’ increasing responsibilities towards themselves and others as they get older, including the role they can play and the difference they can make within their communities.
Families and committed relationships - This topic explores the importance and diversity of families, and the characteristics of healthy, positive family relationships. It enables pupils to recognise when they may feel unsafe within a family, and how to ask for help if they need it. It identifies the characteristics of a committed relationship, and at Year 6 explores human reproduction and other ways that people can start a family.
Healthy bodies, healthy minds - This topic explores how to stay healthy, both physically and mentally. It explores ways to maintain wellbeing and prevent illness; how to develop a healthy, balanced lifestyle; and the consequences and effects of different habits and choices. It encourages the development of positive self-worth and recognition, what might affect or influence unhealthy ways of thinking, and how to overcome this
Coping with change - This topic explores how people grow and change from babies, through puberty to adulthood. At Key Stage 1, it examines ways in which children have grown and how they will continue to change, and how to develop resilience to change. At Key Stage 2, it identifies changes that will take place in children’s bodies during puberty, and explores ways to manage the emotional effects of life changes, including transition to secondary school.
PSHE In addition to the Discovery curriculum, we supplement our Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum with additional content and experiences.
Each year, Year 6 take part in the Young Citizens Challenge Safeguarding Event where they experience a series of workshops that address various safety issues and are delivered by the Police, the Fire Service and other partner agencies.
Amongst the subjects covered:
West Mercia Police – internet safety / stranger danger / knife crime awareness
Hereford & Worcester Fire Service – fire safety
Eon / Western Power Distribution – safety near electricity substations
Safer Roads Partnership – road safety
Severn Area Rescue Association – water safety & rescues
Red Cross – personal safety / first aid
Local Councils – anti-social behaviour
In addition to this, we have strong links with outside agencies such as the local PSCOs and police who deliver assemblies on a range of themes and visit school to support curriculum teaching.