PSHE AND CITIZENSHIP

What is our vision for PSHE?

At WHPS, we provide a broad and balanced curriculum across all subjects, which develops the individual child according to their age and ability. We want all of our children to leave WHPS as:

Fluent readers with a love of books and excellent comprehension.
Fluent mathematicians, with a confidence in problem-solving and reasoning.
Clear and engaging writers who can communicate their thoughts and feelings.
Happy, healthy, interested children with a range of experiences, memories and knowledge of a broad and deep-rooted curriculum.

The curriculum in PSHE is designed to equip students with essential knowledge, skills, and attributes necessary for managing their lives. It is organised into three core themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, and Living in the Wider World.

PSHE helps children to develop their attitudes and values to live healthy, safe, fulfilled and responsible lives. It helps them manage feelings, learn how to be healthy and safe and how to understand relationships. It covers physical health, emotional health and wellbeing, drug education, sex and relationship education, citizenship, anti bullying, safety (including online safety and anti-bullying), personal finance education, careers and the environment.

Intent

What are our aims in the teaching of PSHE?

We believe that children learn best through a curriculum that has rigour, challenge, depth and breadth, and which connects all areas of learning. At WHPS, we intend to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to:

Make choices to live healthy lives.
Stay safe.
Develop self esteem and confidence.
Make a positive contribution.
Respect one another.
Make and maintain positive relationships.

Most PSHE education became compulsory for all schools in September 2020. Our PSHE curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure coverage of the statutory objectives for Relationships and Health education and Key Stages 1 and 2.

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education is a crucial part of a child’s education. It gives children access to critical information about themselves and the many facets of the diverse world around them. At WHPS we provide a specifically tailored curriculum that is both broad and balanced, and meets the unique context of our school. We give pupils access to big ideas and conversations, alongside practical experiences. At the heart of this we aim to promote children’s knowledge, self esteem, emotional wellbeing and resilience, and to help them to form and maintain worthwhile and positive relationships. Children will be taught to have respect for themselves, and for others, within our local, national and global communities.

We aim to develop key character skills, including decision making, informed risk taking, good communication, and self-regulation strategies. We encourage the exploration of, and respect for, values held by different cultures and groups within our local community, and promote the development of positive attitudes. We encourage honesty and respect in all relationships, and nurture sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others. We aim to enable children to develop a deepening knowledge of their health and wellbeing, including their mental and physical health. We aim to equip children and young people with information, skills and values to understand and to be able to cope with the physical and emotional changes that happen during puberty. The information provided will be relevant and appropriate to the age and maturity of pupils. At WHPS we aim to prepare pupils adequately for adult life: its decisions, responsibilities, experiences and opportunities, and to allow pupils to develop fully as emotional mature human beings.

There is a proactive approach to preparing pupils- not just responding when safeguarding issues arise, but instead equipping all pupils for some of the most complex decisions they will have to make.

How have you designed the curriculum for PSHE to ensure that it covers the statutory objectives?

At WHPS, our scheme of work is based on the Camden PSHE curriculum and is carefully planned to ensure progression through each of the main strands of PSHE and Relationships and Health Education (RHE). Learning builds upon knowledge and skills from the previous year and ensures that children’s understanding is developed and revisited. Our curriculum includes statutory Relationship and Health Education (RHE) and aspects of non-statutory Sex Education which is taught in Year 6.

Units have been carefully selected from the Camden scheme to ensure coverage and progression whilst ensuring content is manageable for teachers. Some aspects of the PSHE curriculum will be taught within the science curriculum and online safety is taught within computing lessons.

Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of the statutory RSE, other than as part of the science curriculum. Parents will be informed by letter before teaching of these lessons begins and teachers hold an information session to share the content of the lessons and how parents can support children’s learning at home. There is no right for parents to withdraw their child from statutory Relationships and Health education.

Implementation

What is the content of PSHE at WHPS?

Our curriculum is designed to:

Be clear about what knowledge children will learn, and in which order, throughout their time at our school.
Provide regular opportunities for children to review and apply prior learning to interrupt forgetting.
Provide enrichment opportunities that enhance and develop children’s learning.

The curriculum map provides further details on the objectives covered in PSHE and the progression of knowledge and skills in each year group.

How is PSHE taught at WHPS?

PSHE lessons are taught by class teachers, using planning developed alongside subject leads. Children take part in regular lessons throughout each term.

At WHPS, we believe that the features of high-quality teaching and learning in PSHE are:

Pupils have the opportunity to express their views and listen to others and to respect different beliefs and views.
Pupils have the opportunity to research and evaluate information in order to make informed decisions.
Teachers use a wide range of active teaching methods to ensure pupils are fully engaged in learning, which include providing challenging tasks appropriate to pupils needs, effective questioning and opportunities for pupils to reflect on their learning, encouraging collaborative working and facilitating discussions. We use activities such as debating, drama, role play, quizzes and stories.
We use a variety of highquality resources in our planning. Teachers carefully select resources before the lessons to ensure that their content is appropriate, relevant and up to date, reflect the diversity of the school and local community and promote positive images and avoid stereotypes e.g disability, non-stereotypical gender roles, different families including same sex parents, ethnic, religious and cultural background.
In Key Stage 2, classes have an anonymous question box for pupils to raise questions that they may not feel comfortable raising in class.
We will always seek to answer children's questions, taking account of their age and maturity and the appropriateness of the question.

We also recognise that there are many elements of excellent practice that are consistent across all subjects, which are included in our WHPS Teaching Standards for teachers to refer to and implement.

How are planning and resources for PSHE organised?

Every year group has a Year on a Page Overview, which provides an overview of units covered throughout the year, and a Foundation Subject Overview, which includes all of the objectives covered in each subject each term. Planning for all subjects is saved in the WHPS Curriculum folder for teachers to access.

We have membership with the PSHE Association, which gives us access to additional resources, training, guidance and advice.

How do we ensure that all children have access to the PSHE curriculum?

At WHPS, we aim to provide equal access to the curriculum for all children. We believe that all children can achieve and we value and promote each child’s achievements across every subject. We give our children every opportunity to achieve their best by taking account of our children’s range of life experiences when planning for their learning. We regularly review our curriculum and the resources we use to ensure that our teaching reflects equality and respects diversity. All teachers will adapt lessons and resources to provide support for individuals with SEND or other needs.

In PSHE this support may include:

The use of visuals such as Widgets, pictures and videos.
Breaking learning down into small steps so that it is accessible for all.
Varied tasks and activities which are appropriately scaffolded.
Opportunities for group and paired work as well as individual tasks.

How do we assess learning in PSHE?

Assessment for learning is an important part of every lesson at WHPS in order to check children’s knowledge and understanding. Lessons are carefully planned to provide opportunities for teachers to assess children’s knowledge in a range of ways, which can then support them to adapt future lessons appropriately. Any written work is recorded in Wider Curriculum books and is clearly marked with the subject name and learning objective. However, we also recognise that a more active or practical approach may be relevant for some objectives, which is detailed in the unit plans developed by teachers and the subject lead.

In PSHE, assessment opportunities include:

Observation and questioning.
Paired, group and class discussions/ activities.
Recorded opportunities for written work throughout lessons.

What opportunities are there for enrichment in PSHE?

Our aim at West Hampstead Primary School is to ensure that every child is able to take part in a range of inspiring and exciting opportunities during their time at school. Enrichment opportunities are carefully planned as part of the curriculum in order to:

Bring children's learning to life in a new or different context
Cover or revisit key knowledge and skills from across the National Curriculum
Providing an inspiring or aspirational experience for children
Develop children's confidence and self esteem in a new environment

Impact

How do we monitor the impact of our teaching in PSHE?

Leaders regularly monitor teaching and learning across the subject throughout the year. Monitoring takes place through:

Planning scrutiny to ensure that planned lessons match the learning objectives and outcomes provided in unit plans
Book looks to ensure that outcomes reflect those provided in unit plans and check that children are making good progress within the subject
Pupil voice to understand children’s perspectives on their learning in the subject and explore whether they have remembered the knowledge identified in the curriculum maps
Learning walks to see teaching and learning in action across the school and ensure highquality teaching is taking place
Teacher surveys or informal conversations to ensure that teachers are confident in their subject knowledge and identify any support needed

Strengths and next steps identified during monitoring are recorded on our monitoring overview document and discussed with SLT.