RSHE

RSHE at Wybourn Primary School

Intent

At Wybourn Community Primary School, we value and respect each child for who they are and we aim to ensure our RHSE curriculum enables them to build strong relationships, celebrate diversity, encourage respect and build a sense of community. Teaching RHSE facilitates our children to become healthy, independent and provides opportunities for them to learn about their rights and responsibilities. We aim to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially while tackling many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. Our mission is ensuring our children leave Wybourn as considerate, respectful and resilient individuals. It is important that they are aware, at an appropriate level, of different factors which may affect their world and that they learn how best to deal with these so that they have good mental health and well-being.

Our delivery of RHSE enables our children to learn how to be safe, and empowers them to have healthy fulfilling relationships, both now and in their future lives.  The curriculum encompasses a wide range of topics that are aimed at promoting the holistic development and wellbeing of our children. We aspire for the children to view themselves as lifelong learners who can always aim high. We intend for all pupils to learn how to make more confident and informed choices about their health and environment; to take more responsibility, individually and as a group, for their own learning; and to appreciate the diversity in the world.

Implementation

RHSE is taught on a weekly basis from Reception to Year 6 and the whole school follows the Sheffield City Council – Learn Sheffield RHSE scheme. Our curriculum equips children with relevant and meaningful content, which is supported through a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health.  It is split into 7 main themes; family, friends, community, online safety, mental well-being, physical well-being and growing up. RHSE is complimented with the teaching of other topics such as P4C, British Values and Project Evolve which all also aid children in reaching their full potential emotionally and mentally while providing them with the skills they will need to be successful, safe and happy members of society. The curriculum is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to navigate various aspects of relationships, health, and sex education in a safe, respectful, and informed manner.

At Wybourn Community Primary school, we teach RHSE so the lessons in each key stage link together, allowing a clear progression from year to year.

Our lessons include;

• High quality stimuli - most lessons are built on an engaging ‘hook’, such as a picture book, video or image. By using a narrative or visual catalysts we ensure our lessons are engaging for the children which increase participation.

• Discussion - each lesson is designed to promote discussion around a key question. Because of the nature of RSHE, children come away with a deep and nuanced understanding of the topics discussed, rather than a list of rules to be followed. Children are encouraged to question why such rules might exist, in order that they will become adults, who feel empowered to make their own decisions around issues of interpersonal relationships, morality, health and wellbeing.

• Flexibility - Teachers at Wybourn are flexible in their approach to teaching RSHE lessons. Wherever appropriate, tangents are followed and children are given opportunities to share their own thoughts and hear those of others. RSHE lessons at Wybourn are exploratory and allow children to test their own opinions in a safe environment, where they feel listened to.

• Diversity and inclusion – we ensure that at the foundation of RSHE teaching there is the celebration of diversity and the promotion of inclusion.

• Variety – our lessons covey key topics such as relationship, sex and health education, online safety, personal safety, values and respect.

At Wybourn Community Primary School, we believe that RHSE is a vital part of a child’s education so as well as stand-alone lessons we ensure that RHSE is integrated into all areas of school. Assemblies often have a RHSE theme which challenge, stimulate and nurture the children’s spiritual, social, moral and cultural curiosity. We also ensure that, throughout the year, we celebrate awareness days/ week such as: Anti-Bullying Week, Safer Internet Day, Mental Health Awareness Week and RSE Day to ensure that statutory parts of the RSHE curriculum are explicitly taught at every possible opportunity. Additionally, we also have special events in school such as Diversity day and Eid Parties to celebrate different cultures. As well as this, we also invite guests into school to help embed RHSE themes and have strong links with our community.

Impact

Our RHSE lessons are normally informal and don’t require a formal book like other subjects, we often complete group work and pictures of tasks are taken and recorded in our class book. RHSE truly helps develop children holistically.

RHSE helps our children become emotionally intelligent, to develop strong, positive relationships, to be respectful and understanding of all different cultures, religions, genders and life choices. In addition, it also equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to live successful and happy lives. Our pupils are growing up in an increasingly complex world, living their lives seamlessly on and offline. Whilst this presents many positive and exciting opportunities, it also presents challenges and risks that pupils must be well educated about.

We believe that the subject content delivered to pupils must be age appropriate and developmentally appropriate. RHSE is taught sensitively and inclusively, with respect to the backgrounds and beliefs of pupils and parents while always with the aim of providing pupils with the knowledge they need of the law, their rights and the rights of others. It is important that they understand their rights as a child and as an adult so they have an appreciation and understanding of their responsibilities to humanity and know how to make valuable contributions to the society we live in.

Overall, the primary RHSE curriculum at Wybourn is designed to provide children with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to navigate the complexities of relationships, health, and personal well-being in an ever-changing world. By promoting understanding, empathy, and respect, the curriculum aims to empower children to make informed decisions and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.