PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education) and RSE (Relationships and Sex Education)

PSHE and RSE Curriculum Scheme of Work: Kapow

Subject Leaders: Mrs Jopp and Mrs Begg

Senior Leadership Team Link: Mrs Prinsloo

An introduction to PSHE and RSE at Hill View

Subject Intent

PSHE and RSE teaching at Hill View aim to set children up with the knowledge and understanding that will allow them to play an active and positive role in today’s diverse society. We want our children to leave primary school with lifelong skills that will help them during new experiences and when facing challenges.

At Hill View, we recognise the importance of emotional literacy and the impact it can have across the wider curriculum and especially in an ever-changing world. We aim to provide children with opportunities that develop their resilience, empathy, self-awareness, and motivation. Through high-quality PSHE and RSE lessons, we want to equip children with the skills to navigate, participate, and stay safe in this world.

All staff at Hill View strive to help children believe in themselves and set high aspirations. We share a cohesive vision to help children understand and value how they fit into their community and how they can contribute towards the world around them.

The SCIB curriculum consists of four lessons per long term. Where content requires specialist training, we work with our professional partners to provide this prior to delivery of the curriculum content to ensure staff are prepared and confident.

Children revisit protective behaviours throughout each unit and, as we recognise that we cannot prepare children for every scenario they may be faced with, we use scenario-based work to help children explore options and discuss thought processes. We support children by giving them example scripts and phrases that they can use when their Early Warning Signs are alerting them to the fact they may be in danger.

In order to support our Year 6 children in putting theory into practice, SCIB also provides workshops based on the content that they have been taught. This is often run by professional bodies that work alongside SCIB e.g. Cherwell Theatre Group, Safeguard a Life not a Knife (BTB Training). This is outsourced to ensure that children have the opportunity to practise their skills with unknown adults in a forum outside of the comfort of their classroom and teachers.

Subject Implementation

PSHE at Hill View is implemented using the Kapow programme as a whole school approach. The programme provides an inclusive and progressive scheme of work that helps children navigate the world and build positive relationships with both themselves and others.

In addition to our PSHE and RSE Kapow curriculum, Hill View also focusses on the following areas: E-safety, Healthy Schools and first aid; as well as developing the emotional literacy of its pupils through providing young carers, ELSA support for targeted individuals, nurture groups, Anti-bullying Week and Children’s Mental Health week. At Hill View, we pride ourselves on prioritising weekly teaching of PSHE and RSE throughout the year, where the whole school focusses on the same topic each half-term.

Subject Impact

Our PSHE and RSE Curriculum is high quality, well thought out, and is planned to demonstrate progression. Through delivering an effective PSHE and RSE programme, we can tackle barriers to learning, raise aspirations, and improve the life opportunities for all children, including our most vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils. All children will learn how to stay safe and healthy, build their self-esteem, and develop resilience and empathy.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Formative assessment in lessons
Low-stakes summative assessment
Tracking of work in floor books and pupil-conferencing

Frequently Asked Questions in PSHE

Are there any books you would recommend to support with RSE?

It’s really tricky to make broad recommendations as it is so personal to the family and development stage of the child. My biggest recommendation would always be to thoroughly read whichever book it may be before reading it with your child to check and agree on what information you want to share at that time. There may be certain pages that you feel are too far for your child at that time, and you may revisit later on.

We would always recommend that these be looked at with a parent and never alone so that any misconceptions can be addressed and questions answered at that time.

Remember these top tips before opening the discussion:

Read any books you plan to share beforehand – check the language used and content covered.
Keep any explanations short and to the point – too much information can be overwhelming, and your child may be too embarrassed to listen for long.
Be prepared for questions and know where to find the answers! Children may be happier writing questions on post-it notes rather than asking aloud.

If you would like some recommendations, parts of these books are helpful, but please check carefully before sharing with your child.

I am nervous about my child being in SRE lessons; what should I do?

If you have any concerns, there are lots of things you can do to reassure yourself and help your child.

have a look through the resources on the PSHE page and check the information your child will be taught.
speak to your class teacher about the parts you are feeling nervous about.
speak to Mrs. Short (PSHE lead) and ask for any further details and/or help.

I find these conversations uncomfortable, what shall I say?

We encourage scientific, brief explanations that are factual, e.g., avoid telling children babies grow in tummies/stomachs, as then when they learn about digestion in Years 3 and 4 in Science, they will be very concerned about stomach acid and the baby! Try not to perpetuate myths, e.g., the stalk dropped you off, and be as honest as you can for their age/development stage.

Learning