This section also includes information on our Relationships and Sex Education curriculum.
We wish children to develop a strong sense of values which guide their choices in life and to develop self-esteem and a positive attitude towards others. As well as explicit teaching of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), we are committed to providing excellent pastoral care, ensuring every child feels valued.
Aims
We wish children to develop a strong sense of values which guide their choices in life and to develop self-esteem and a positive attitude towards others. As well as explicit teaching of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), we are committed to providing excellent pastoral care, ensuring every child feels valued.
Planning and delivery
We use the Kapow scheme as a structure for our PSHE and Relationships lessons throughout the year. The whole school assembly programme addresses each theme, and teachers follow up with lessons in class, making use of the resources available online to support them. Jigsaw is endorsed by Bristol's Public Health Team and is used in a large number of schools.
We teach children how to develop healthy relationships with each other both in the taught curriculum and at playtimes. We use Circle Time and Drama in classes to enable them talk about and act out their emotional responses to different situations. We help them to help each other resolving conflicts, using strategies such as The Three Steps.
Teaching children about online safety is a vital element in their development of responsible attitudes to relationships and to their wellbeing. We use lesson plans from Common Sense Education to provide age appropriate lessons that equip children to enjoy the technology at their disposal safely.
Relationships and Sex Education
Since 2019, Relationships and Sex Education is compulsory in all secondary schools. Relationships Education is compulsory in primary schools. Sex Education is non-statutory in primary schools, but we believe it is important for children to learn about this important aspect of relationships. They learn about their bodies and how they change as they grow. We provide a safe environment in which they can talk about their feelings and ask questions. The materials we use, from the Jigsaw scheme, are sensitively written and appropriate to the age group.
The Relationships and Sex Education Policy is reviewed by Governors regularly.
Parent/Carer Right to Withdraw
At Henleaze Juniors School, Sex Education is an important and essential part of a child’s education and will be taught in a way which is developmentally appropriate for each year group. However, parents/ carers do have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of the PSHE (and Relationships and Health Education) curriculum.
The Kapow Primary scheme of work includes two Year 6 lessons in which parents have the opportunity to withdraw their children from all/part of the lesson: Safety and the changing body: Lesson 5: Conception and Lesson 6: Pregnancy and birth. No other year groups have any lessons which parents can withdraw their children from. If a parent or carer wishes their child to be withdrawn from Sex Education lessons, this request must be given in writing.
It is worth noticing that the National Curriculum for Science requires children to know how mammals reproduce. This subject knowledge will therefore be taught within our Science curriculum. Due to this, we feel that it is important that children receive both elements of the curriculum; however, we understand that it is down to your disclosure.
Equal opportunities and inclusion
PSHE provides a naturally inclusive platform and we use this to build a curriculum which reflects the lived experience of the people in our community and which focusses on a strong sense of belonging. As a subject, it fosters important attitudes for all children, such as independence, perseverance, responsibility and self-esteem. We teach the children about the protected characteristics of race, religion, age, disability, sex and sexual orientation, and explain that families come in 'all shapes and sizes'.
All pupils share the same statutory entitlement to a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum regardless of ability, gender and cultural background. We plan our PSHE lessons to facilitate the learning of all pupils as individuals with differing needs, backgrounds, experiences and expectations. Children with SEND may be provided with adult support, an expectation of differentiated outcomes and, where needed, differentiated tasks and adapted equipment.