Whole School PSHE
At St Joseph's, we are committed to promoting equality, respect and inclusion for all members of our community. We teach pupils, in an age-appropriate way, about protected characteristics, which are differences that are protected by law under the Equality Act 2010. These protections exist to ensure that people are not treated unfairly or discriminated against.
Protected characteristics include:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
Our approach focuses on helping children understand:
- That everyone is different and valued
- The importance of fairness and respect
- That discriminatory behaviour is unacceptable
- How laws help protect people’s rights
Teaching about protected characteristics is embedded within our PSHE curriculum, British Values, assemblies and wider learning. It is delivered in a sensitive, factual and age-appropriate manner, with no explicit content.
By the time pupils leave our school, they are able to talk confidently about equality, understand why discrimination is wrong and show respect for others as they move on to the next stage of their education and life in modern Britain.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development at St Joseph’s
At St Joseph’s, the SMSC curriculum is embedded into each curriculum area and is enhanced through activities such as school trips and extracurricular clubs. The aim of the SMSC curriculum is to equip each child for life in modern Britain. SCARF plays a key role in laying a solid foundation for children’s spiritual, moral, social, and cultural education and development, forming the core of the SCARF curriculum. The SCARF resources are carefully designed as a structured series of lessons that follow a spiral approach, ensuring that children’s spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development are a core part of this. These SMSC themes threads throughout the resources, providing a strong foundation for SMSC education.
Spiritual Development
Pupils’ spiritual development is shown by their:
- ability to be reflective about their own beliefs and perspective on life
- knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values
- sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
- use of imagination and creativity in their learning
- willingness to reflect on their experiences
How do we do this?
- Whole school assemblies/ Collective worship
- Themed assemblies - Anti-bullying, Mental Health, Online safety etc.
- R.E and PSHE curriculum - Different faiths/cultures in PSHE, UKS2 R.E - Islam and Judaism
- Celebrations of events - Harvest, Easter, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Remembrance etc.
- Fundraising for charity - Salvation Army, CAFOD, Macmillan etc.
- Behaviour policy
- Inviting members of the community into school to share their experiences and jobs (the police, fire service, a refugee, MIND etc.)
- Enrichment opportunities e.g. Sign Language, Sport, Science, Bikeability
- Residential Visits - Robinwood
- Community links e.g. Care Home visits
- St Joseph’s Got Talent
- School trips and visitors which inspire awe and wonder e.g. a past pupil who became an author, visit from a refugee, poetry workshop with Ian Bland etc.
- School of sanctuary award
Moral Development
Pupil’s spiritual development is shown by their:
- ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and apply this understanding to their own lives as well as recognising legal boundaries and therefore respecting the laws
- follow rules and understand the consequences of their behaviour and actions
- investigate moral and ethical issues and the ability to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues
- have an appreciation of British Values
How do we do this?
- Star of the week during celebration assemblies - encouraging an appreciation of, and respect for, the work and performance of other pupils
- The school is divided into 4 teams, each team has a Captain and children are awarded points for their house to reward effort and achievement
- Class dojo points
- Traffic light behaviour system
- Understanding of how democracy works through the school council
- Eco - council (Litter picking, saving energy etc.)
- Positive Role Models- Year 6 reading with Reception
- Developing teamwork and fair play through PE and group games
- Listening to others - talk partners
- Children make decisions for the school e.g. school council
- Visits from the police, dentist, fire service, paramedics etc.
- Visit to Preston city council chambers and meet with local councillors and the mayor
Social Development
Pupil’s social development is shown by their:
- use of a range of social skills in different contexts, for example working and socialising with other pupils, including those from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
- willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, including by volunteering, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
- acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values
How do we do this?
- British values assemblies
- Anti-Bullying Week
- Harvest Food Bank collection
- Wide range of extra-curricular clubs on offer to all
- School trips and residential trips on offer to all
- Opportunities to work together in different groupings and situations e.g. talk partners, group work
- Encouraging teamwork and co-operation in PE, games and outdoor learning
- Opportunities for pupil leadership roles: Sports, Team Captains, School Council, Eco-Council
- Taking part in competitions inside and outside of school e.g. sports events
- Mental Health and Family Support - Nurture provision, 1:1 anxiety workshops, drawing and talking therapeutic workshop, Bounce Forward delivered by MIND on resilience for Year 5
- Playground is well-equipped to support co-operative play
- Community events e.g. Carol concert, Remembrance Day service, Christmas performances, Choir singing at different places in the community etc.
- Opportunities for pupil voice - Subject leaders, annual pupil survey - actions are taken and the school council lead on this
- Transition days- dedicated time with new teachers to promote positive attachments
Cultural Development
Pupil’s cultural development is shown by their:
- understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others
- understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures in the school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain
- ability to recognise, and value, the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities
- knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain
How do we do this?
- Using guided reading to explore important aspects of both British heritage and other cultures, e.g. Black History Month, Chinese New Year, Spanish week, Refugee Week
- Looking at the contributions to society that a diverse range of famous people have made including Black History Month figures of interest
- Opportunities to hear music from different composers, cultures and genres
- Opportunities to learn songs from different cultures in singing assemblies and playing a range of instruments
- Learning to speak Spanish
- Taking part in swimming lessons at the local swimming pool
- Links with other schools e.g. pen pal letters in Spanish, transition days at high school
- World Book Day - share books from around the world
2023 - The children had an assembly based on the theme ‘Make a Noise’ and a competition was ran for the children to enter.
2022 - The children had an assembly based on the theme ‘Reach Out’ and we ran a competition for the children to take part in. Each year group enjoyed a book based around bullying too.
Throughout the week, the children participated in a range of activities such as mindfulness colouring and yoga.
Intent
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, we believe PSHE helps pupils develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and become responsible citizens. At our school, we are committed to ensuring that the emotional and social needs of all our children are met within our school environment, and we support the development of children’s health and wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence. Through our PSHE curriculum, children understand how to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships. We aim to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and how to negotiate the moral, social and cultural issues that they will encounter when growing up. Our intention is that when children leave St Joseph’s, they will do so with the knowledge, understanding and emotions they need to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s diverse society.
Implementation
The work we do in PSHE links directly to SCARF and has a cross-curricular dimension as it permeates all aspects of life in school. The scheme of work covers all the required objectives and follows the three core areas of Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. These themes have been broken down into six main areas for termly coverage, and are as follows:
- Me and My Relationships
- Valuing Difference
- Keeping Myself Safe
- Rights and Responsibilities
- Being my Best
- Growing and Changing
It is designed to be taught in thematic units with a spiral approach to ensure themes can be revisited and pupils can recall and build upon previous learning, exploring the underlying principles of PSHE education regularly at a depth that is appropriate for the age and stage of their education. All lessons include supporting materials, including building a rich bank of vocabulary. All pupils at St. Joseph's Primary School will have the opportunity to access the PSHE curriculum, irrespective of social background, culture, race, religion, gender or ability. Where appropriate, activities will be differentiated by the class teacher to facilitate this.
Pupils are taught discreet PSHE lessons once per week; however, we implement bespoke lessons that deal with issues as they arise in real time and in real life. On top of this, PSHE objectives are an integral part of all curriculum subjects and embedded in everyday life at St. Joseph’s. For example, Science and P.E may include work on food, diet and exercise. R.E includes many aspects related to relationships, families and different faiths and beliefs. Whilst Maths involves work on financial capability and Computing covers online safety. PSHE is also an important part of assemblies and collective worship, where spiritual and moral beliefs are nurtured. The distribution of lessons also complements key campaigns throughout the year, such as; Anti-Bullying Week, Black History Month and Children's Mental Health Week.
A mixture of both summative and formative assessment is used to assess pupils learning in PSHE. Pupils’ learning will be assessed throughout each topic using a pre and post assessment task. This helps pupils’ to be involved in regular reflection of their own learning journey in relation to PSHE education.
Children use books to record their work and progress in PSHE lessons. These travel with the children as they move to the next year group so they can look back at their learning and the next teacher can see their starting points.
Impact
Children will leave St Joseph’s as healthy, independent and responsible members of society. They will be able to demonstrate and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual respect, Rule of law and Liberty. Children will know how to be safe and to understand and develop healthy relationships both now and in the future. They will be aware of the dangers encountered in life and have the necessary tools to manage and mitigate these as adolescents and adults. They will have an awareness of society as a whole and will be equipped to live in the modern world successfully as adults.
Through our PSHE curriculum, we aim that our pupils will:
- Develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally;
- Develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
- Value themselves and others;
- Acknowledge and appreciate difference and diversity;
- Be independent, responsible and active members of the school and local community;
- Learn to make informed choices regarding personal and social issues;
- Be prepared to be positive and active members of a democratic society;
- Understand what constitutes a safe and healthy lifestyle;
- Develop the ability to form good relationships;
- Understand and manage their emotions;
- Have opportunities to consider issues which may affect their own lives and/or the lives of others;
- Understand where to go and who to go to, to have an open and safe conversation;
- Raise their self-esteem, develop resilience and ensure a healthy wellbeing.
