Intent:

We want all children to grow up healthy, happy, safe, and able to navigate their way through the challenges of life in modern Britain. Therefore, we teach PSHE as a discrete, statutory subject within blocked-teaching to all pupils in Years 7 – 11. Pupils in Year 12 – 13 receive the same statutory PSHE & RSE education through their allocated morning tutor time, in assemblies and in Curriculum Enrichment lessons each week.

Our PSHE teaching is designed to equip our students with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their individual well-being, relationships, and what it means to live in the wider world. Today’s young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. Our PSHE teaching reflects the exciting opportunities and the challenges that their world poses. It is our role as educators to equip young people with the skills to be safe and healthy in their ever-expanding world. Our curriculum builds on the learning our pupils experienced at primary level and the input of parental guidance. The healthiness and happiness of our subjects is a main priority and our PSHE curriculum complements the work of the pastoral team, mentoring and inclusion leads, advocacy groups, charity and fundraising events, assemblies, tutor time and many other school-led well-being initiatives.

Our PSHE curriculum is built on the latest recommendations from the Department for Education, which were released in the 2021 Relationships & Sex Education guidance. Our PSHE policy is accessible on the school website.

Implementation:

PSHE education is taught to Year 7 – 11 in discrete lessons, which are coordinated, led and delivered by the RE Department. This change took place over 2 years ago and the results have been tremendously positive. The teaching and learning of PSHE is managed by the Head of RE and line managed by one of the Deputy Headteachers.

The curriculum is arranged in a spiral manner, in which most topics are revisited year-on-year in greater depth and with age-appropriate language and case studies. Our lessons and resources are based on recommendations from the PSHE Assosciation and other well-being focused charities. Students complete their PSHE work in dedicated PSHE exercise books. We also invite guest speakers, such as Soulscape, Thames Valley Police, and our School Chaplain, to deliver themed dramas and presentations to a whole year group.

PSHE topics are split into three units that reflect the nature of the topics:

• Individual Health & Wellbeing
• Relationships
• Living in the Wider World

These are taught in blocks at appropriate intervals throughout the year.

Impact:

Before students engage in the learning of each unit, they complete a Google Forms survey to express their knowledge and confidence of each topic prior to their learning. They re-take the survey after the unit to demonstrate their progress and outline any topics they would like to re-visit in future lessons.

We review the survey results every year and use them to develop our teaching and learning resources.

In every PSHE or RSE lesson, students will complete at least one review or reflection activity based around our "Windows, Mirrors, Doors" framework. Students will draw the relevant lens-based object in their books and then write their reflection next to their drawing. This allows pupils to reflect on their "window" through which they view the topic of the lesson, the "mirror" through which the topic of lesson reflects back on their feelings, identity or thoughts or the "door" through which they will leave the lesson, equipped with new ideas, learning points and perspectives. 

We collate student reflections and responses and use them to inform future teaching, create new resources, promote advocacy groups, create material and topics for assemblies, create pieces of artwork for around the school and inform our whole school approach to Safeguarding.

Parent Feedback:

If you would like to provide feedback on your child's experience of PSHE and RSE at The Piggott School, please complete the Google Form linked below. We are more than happy to receive both positive and constructive feedback. 

Link to the Google Form: https://forms.gle/8JDprPKERGSKUEDk8