Intent

At St Louis Catholic Primary School, the intent of our PSHE curriculum is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all, and that will maximise the outcomes for every child, so that they know more, remember more and understand more. We are preparing the young leaders of the future who will have respect for all people in God’s world. PSHE is embedded in all that we do to enable our children to become independent, responsible, healthy and confident members of society.

We encourage our pupils to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across the curriculum and beyond so that they play a positive role in contributing to the life of the school. Upon joining our school at either nursery or reception, children are assigned a buddy from a Key Stage 2 class. This ensures the children have a familiar child, whom they share learning experiences with and act as positive role model for the younger children. As well as this, children have the opportunity to be school council members from Year 1 onwards, Year 6 children have the opportunity to become house captains and are elected by their fellow house members. Year 5 and 6 children also have the responsibility of being Playground Friends for the youngest members of the school. Children are selected from Years 5 and 6 to become Mind Mentors for lower Key Stage 2 children. They meet weekly to discuss any worries or issues that have arisen that week.

Through our discrete lessons as well as wider cross curricular approach to teaching PSHE, children are taught how to keep themselves safe, physically and emotionally resulting in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, which enables children to access the wider curriculum.

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development is at the heart of our school ethos. British Values are promoted through the overarching aims and objectives of PSHE to support our children as they prepare for life and work in modern Britain.

Our programmes/schemes of work are set firmly in the context of our Christian community where we aim to help children develop a properly formed conscience to enable them to make right judgements and to take the right actions in the many and varied situations in which they may find themselves. They learn to understand and respect our diversity and differences so they can go on to form the effective and fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.

EYFS: Building Good Habits

In the Early Years curriculum, PSHE contributes to most of the areas of learning, particularly when a goal or challenge is chosen for or by the children, however, the most significant are personal, social and emotional development, communication and language and understanding the world. We believe that young children are intrinsically curious, questioning and spiritual and can, with well-planned teaching and learning opportunities, gain knowledge, skills and experience that support their ongoing development. Through following the three modules in Ten: Ten Life to the Full Plus we hope children will be able to show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly. They should be able to set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate. We would like them to be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge. Understand rules and explain the reasons for rules, knowing right from wrong and try to behave accordingly. They should work and play cooperatively and take turns with others and form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.

KS1: Journey of Discovery

In Key Stage 1, children continue to develop the skills they have begun to acquire in EYFS. They improve their social skills to better enable collaborative learning.  They learn the importance of relaxing their bodies and calming their minds to prepare them for learning. The staff support them in reflecting on their learning and personal development.

KS2: Broadening Horizons

In Key Stage 2, children continue to follow the spiral curriculum, further embedding concepts and ideas that they have learnt in the previous key stage and becoming more reflective in their own learning.

Implementation

At St Louis, we follow the guidelines from the Department of Education for PSHE and facilitate this through the use of the ‘Ten:Ten Life to the Full Plus ‘scheme. This spiral programme allows for effective teaching and progression across the school. It supports the PSHE and RHE curriculum whilst staying true to our Catholic ethos and values that we hold as a school. This combination of content helps to enable children to understand and respect who they are, empowers them with a voice, and develops their resilience, thereby equipping them for life and learning.

Ten: Ten Life to the Full Plus is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same module, at the same time, at their own level. The programme is set out into three modules:

Created and Loved by God explores the individual. Rooted in the teaching that we are created by God out of love and for love, it helps children to develop an understanding of the importance of valuing themselves as the basis for personal relationships.

Created to Love Others explores the individual’s relationship with others. Building on the understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, this module explores how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and teaches strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe both online and in our daily lives.

Created to Live in Community explores the individual’s relationship with the wider world. Here we explore how human beings are relational by nature and are called to love others in the wider community through service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. In Life to the Full Plus, continued exploration of careers and money are underpinned with the religious understanding that our identity, purpose and value comes from God.

Within these modules there are various units that seek to teach the children about how their

• Religious Understanding

• Me, my body, my health

• Emotional well-being

• Life cycles

• Personal Relationships

• Keeping Safe

• Living in the Wider World

Our chosen Programme Pathway delivers the full programme over 3 terms every year. The children will experience the programme twice (e.g. the full KS1 programme is run with Year 1 and then repeated with Year 2). It may seem that repeating units would mean the children experience the same teaching but children change and grow; their level of engagement will increase as they develop their social, moral, cultural and spiritual awareness and understanding. Also, the learning will be embedded as children build upon what they have previously learned.

Some of the sessions will not have a written outcome or activity at all but are instead completely immersive and reflective with discussions, questions, prayer and songs being used as the main outcome or focus of learning. Lessons are over seen by the Class Teacher all of which have had training on implementing and teaching the programme. These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways including:

• Collective worship (Whole school, Key Stage and Gospel assemblies)

• Prayer times within the classrooms

• Modelling of relationships between adults, between adult and child and peer to peer relationships

• Buddies across the Key Stages

• School Council

• Mind Mentors (KS2)

Additional opportunities for enrichment of the curriculum across the school include celebration of important events such as Anti Bullying Week, Show Racism the Red Card, Children’s Mental Health Week and the NSPCC ‘Speak out. Stay Safe’ programme.

Impact

The impact of the teaching of PSHE can be ascertained in a number of ways.

Firstly, the work in pupils’ books should reflect the learning that has taken place over the course of a module, and from year group to year group, demonstrating progress and a deepening knowledge over time. Children will have an assessment activity at the start of each module to ascertain their knowledge before the module and they then complete the same assessment piece, adding their new learning with red pen or pencil at the end of the module. In EYFS and Year 1 this assessment piece will be done as a whole class and put into the class floor book.

Secondly, pupils should be able to talk with confidence about their learning, and show an understanding of the vocabulary and key themes explored within each module, where appropriate. As pupils progress through the school, they should become increasingly confident at making links with prior learning.

Finally, lesson visits and discussion with pupils should demonstrate the learning that is taking place. This would include pupils’ being able to answer questions based on the work in their books and the learning taking place, as well as their ability to recall prior learning.

The personal and social development of pupils underpins all aspects of school life at St Louis Catholic School. Through our carefully chosen, planned programme, supported by all who work in or with the school, we successfully embed all areas required; ensuring that our children leave our school with the necessary tools they need to help them be emotionally and socially ready for their next steps and to be ready for life beyond our classrooms. Please click on the below if you want to know more about what the children learn in PSHE. 

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