RHSE

Following the guidance of the Bishops of England and Wales and as advocated by the DfE (and the Welsh Assembly Government) RHSE will be firmly embedded in the PSHE framework as it is concerned with nurturing human wholeness and integral to the physical, spiritual, emotional, moral, social and intellectual development of pupils. It is centred on Christ’s vision of being human as good news and will be positive and prudent, showing the potential for development, while enabling the dangers and risks involved to be understood and appreciated. 

Curriculum Intent

At St Patrick's Catholic Primary our RHSE aims to ensure that all pupils:

a)         To develop the following attitudes and virtues: 

•          reverence for the gift of human sexuality and fertility; 

•          respect for the dignity of every human being – in their own person and in the person of others; 

•          joy in the goodness of the created world and their own bodily natures; 

•          responsibility for their own actions and a recognition of the impact of these on others; 

•          recognising and valuing their own sexual identity and that of others; 

•          celebrating the gift of life-long, self-giving love; 

•          recognising the importance of marriage and family life; 

•          fidelity in relationships. 

b)         To develop the following personal and social skills: 

•          making sound judgements and good choices which have integrity and which are respectful of the individual’s commitments; 

•          loving and being loved, and the ability to form friendships and loving, stable relationships free from exploitation, abuse and bullying; 

•          managing emotions within relationships, and when relationships break down, with confidence, sensitivity and dignity; 

•          managing conflict positively, recognising the value of difference; 

•          cultivating humility, mercy and compassion, learning to forgive and be forgiven; 

•          developing self-esteem and confidence, demonstrating self-respect and empathy for others; 

•          building resilience and the ability to resist unwanted pressures, recognising the influence and impact of the media, internet and peer groups and so developing the ability to assess pressures and respond appropriately; 

•          being patient, delaying gratification and learning to recognise the appropriate stages in the development of relationships, and how to love chastely; 

•          assessing risks and managing behaviours in order to minimise the risk to health and personal integrity. 

c)         To know and understand: 

•          the Church’s teaching on relationships and the nature and meaning of sexual love; 

•          the Church’s teaching on marriage and the importance of marriage and family life; 

•          the centrality and importance of virtue in guiding human living and loving; 

•          the physical and psychological changes that accompany puberty; 

•          the facts about human reproduction, how love is expressed sexually and how sexual love plays an essential and sacred role in procreation; 

•          how to manage fertility in a way which is compatible with their stage of life, their own values and commitments, including an understanding of the difference between natural family planning and artificial contraception; 

•          how to keep themselves safe from sexually transmitted infections and how to avoid unintended pregnancy, including where to go for advice. 

Curriculum Implementation

RHSE will be taught through the Ten:Ten scheme of work, ‘Life to the Full’. This scheme will be taught to pupils during the Summer term and each year group will focus on 10 to 14 sessions during this term.

Detailed long and medium planning is in place to ensure engaging curriculum content and
systematic revisiting of key concepts and bodies of knowledge to deepen learning.

Vocabulary is explicitly taught in all units to ensure that specific terminology is understood.

Below is on outline of our curriculum offer in RHSE from EYFS to Year 6.

Module 1: Created by God 

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

• EYFS – This unit introduces children to the story of creation and children learn about their uniqueness in real terms, including celebrating differences and individual gifts, talents and abilities.

• Key Stage One – This unit explores how we are uniquely made by a loving God, that we have differences and similarities (including physical differences between boys and girls), key information about staying healthy, understanding feelings and emotions including strong feelings such as anger, and the cycle of life from birth to old age.

• Lower Key Stage Two – Children understand differences, respecting our bodies, puberty and changing bodies (recommended for Year 4+), strategies to support emotional wellbeing including practising thankfulness, and the development of pupils understanding of life before birth.

• Upper Key Stage Two – To understand the appreciation of physical and emotional differences, a more complex understanding of physical changes in girl and boys’ bodies, body image, strong emotional feelings, the impact of the internet and social media on emotional well-being (including teaching on pornography), a more nuanced and scientific understanding of the life in the womb and how babies are made, and menstruation. 

Module 2: Created to Love Others

Created and Loved by Others explores the individual’s relationship with others. Building on the understanding that we have been created out of the 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.

• EYFS – In this unit children to understand why the Bible is so special to Christians, children will expand their vocabulary by applying names to different family/friend relationships, consider positive/negative behaviour in relationships and learn to look to Jesus as their role model for a good friend. The children will also explore the NSPCC’s PANTs rules.

• Key Stage One – In the unit ‘Personal Relationships’, children are taught to identify the special people in their lives who they love and can trust, how to cope with various social situations and dilemmas, and the importance of saying sorry and forgiveness within relationships. In the Unit ‘Keeping Safe’, we explore the risks of being online by incorporating ‘Smartie the Penguin’, a resource from Childnet, the differences between good and bad secrets, and the teaching of physical boundaries (incorporating the PANTS resource from the NSPCC).

• Lower Key Stage Two – The sessions here help children to develop a more complex appreciation of different family structures and there are activities and strategies to help them develop healthy relationships with family and friends; here, they are also taught simplified Cognitive Behaviour Therapy techniques for managing thoughts, feelings and actions. In the ‘Keeping Safe’ unit, we have incorporated some excellent NSPCC resources, as well as teaching on bullying and abuse through a series of animated stories.

• Upper Key Stage Two – These sessions for UKS2 in ‘Personal Relationships’ module aim to equip children with strategies for more complex experiences of relationships and conflict; this includes sessions that help children to identify and understand how to respond to spoken and unspoken pressure, the concept of consent and some practical demonstrations of this, and further teaching on how our thoughts and feelings have an impact on how we act. In the ‘Keeping Safe’ unit, the programme explores the risks of sharing and chatting online at a level more appropriate to Years 5 and 6, and a more complex understanding of different forms of abuse.

Module 3: Created to Live in Community

Finally, 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 by service, through dialogue and through working for the Common Good. In the first Unit, Religious Understanding, the story sessions help children to develop a concept of the Trinity. In subsequent sessions, we apply this religious understanding to real-world situations, such as the community we live in, and though exploring the work of charities which work for the Common Good.

• EYFS – In this unit children will be introduced in a very simple way the concept of the Trinity, where God is three-in-one and each part loves the others and loves us. The children to extend their understanding of communities from Unit 1, as they learn about the responsibilities they have to people, places and the planet now and increasingly as they get older.

• Key Stage One – The ‘Religious Understanding’ unit uses stories to show children that God made us to be in loving relationships with one another. Living in the Wider World helps children to learn about the different local and global communities that they are part of, and what rights and responsibilities come with belonging to these communities.

• Lower Key Stage Two – In the ‘Religious Understanding’ unit, children will learn that as they are made in God’s image, they too are created to live in community. Children will learn some of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching from Together for the Common Good, which will help them to live in communities in the way God intends. Teaching includes the common good, the human person, social relationships and stewardship.

• Upper Key Stage Two – The unit ‘Religious Understanding’ explores an allegorical story of three-part community love, the Trinity, with the endpoint of discussing the Trinity as it might be discussed in a church setting. Children will learn that the Trinity demonstrates the perfect loving community, and we are called to emulate this self-giving and self-sacrificing love in our communities. ‘Living in the Wider World’ teaches children some of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching from Together for the Common Good, which will help them to fulfil their purpose of making a difference in the world around them.

Curriculum Impact

It has been agreed that RHSE will be recorded in ‘floorbooks’. Floorbooks are blank books where we can record children's voices and their ideas to use it to display a sample of the children’s work. Group writing in a floorbook allows shared thinking as children recall each other’s ideas and record them through writing, diagrams and photographs. Some units may use a booklet to record their learning as suggested by the ‘Life to the Full’ scheme of work. Each child will complete a ‘before’ and ‘after’ assessment for each unit which will be filed appropriately.

Each unit of work has an assessment activity associated with it. Not only is it important to assess the outcomes that are being achieved, but it will also provide evidence of this. As Relationships Education becomes statutory, thorough evidence of assessment will become even more important. Each unit has a simple assessment activity which take into account the learning objective of the sessions within the unit and provide before and after evidence that learning has taken place.