PSHE & RSE

At St William’s Catholic Primary school our PSHE curriculum intends to provide values-based, progressive content that promotes positive behaviour, mental health, wellbeing, resilience and achievement. Research shows that there is a link between a pupil’s wellbeing and positive mental health and academic achievement.  Therefore, in order for our children to learn and be well, they need to have good mental health, resilience and the ability to keep themselves safe. Through our PSHE curriculum, we aim to equip children with these attributes and the skills to implement them in different contexts. We ensure that taught content is fully aligned to the PSHE Association Framework in order to provide our children with a comprehensive and progressive curriculum. In order to tailor PSHE to the needs of our pupils, we carefully combine chosen resources that make up our full PSHE offer. 

• All our year groups have timetabled RSHE and PSHE lessons.

• Stimulating RSHE and PSHE lessons using the SCARF scheme of work ensures progression, development and consolidation of the knowledge, understanding and skills our pupils need.

The programme aligns fully with St William’s Catholic Primary School’s mission statement DREAM and therefore provides a strong foundation for our relationships and health curriculum.  SCARF covers both the DfE statutory requirements and the PSHE association advisory content, which together ensure a comprehensive, spiral curriculum for our PSHE education. The curriculum is broken down into six strands;

1. Me and my relationships

2. Valuing difference

3. Keeping myself safe

4. Rights and responsibilities

5. Being my best

6. Growing and changing

Children explore these strands year-on-year, building a toolkit of strategies and knowledge which they apply in scenario-based lessons, giving them the opportunity to ask questions and practise the skills in a safe and caring environment.

• Through assemblies, trips and visitors to school provide plenty of opportunities for skills to be consolidated across the school day to support children.
• By fully understanding our children and families, and making use of local health data in order to address area needs. For example: provide additional lessons surrounding debt awareness, dental hygiene and health relationships.
• Follow the Archdiocese recommended programme ‘A Journey In Love’ to support our delivery of Sex Education.
• Enrich each child’s learning journey at St William’s through additional opportunities.
• Promote British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs to prepare our pupils for life in modern day Britain.
• Build an aware community: pupils learn about similarities and differences between people and cultures.
• Enable children to affect peaceful change within society and with each other understanding British democratic process.
• Progress in RSHE and PSHE is monitored through the year to identify further areas of development.
• PSHE assessment is measured against the pupil’s own starting points.
• Children also reflect on their own RSHE and PSHE learning to further their own progress and development.

The majority of our PSHE coverage uses SCARF as starting point to build upon. The programme aligns fully with St William’s Catholic Primary School’s mission statement DREAM and therefore provides a strong foundation for our relationships and health curriculum.  SCARF covers both the DfE statutory requirements and the PSHE association advisory content, which together ensure a comprehensive, spiral curriculum for our PSHE education. The curriculum is broken down into six strands;

1. Me and my relationships

2. Valuing difference

3. Keeping myself safe

4. Rights and responsibilities

5. Being my best

6. Growing and changing

Children explore these strands year-on-year, building a toolkit of strategies and knowledge which they apply in scenario-based lessons, giving them the opportunity to ask questions and practise the skills in a safe and caring environment.

By fully understanding our children and families, and making use of local health data, we tailor our PSHE curriculum to address the needs we have identified in these areas. Our curriculum offer is therefore bespoke to our children and our community. In support of this we provide additional lessons such a debt awareness, dental hygiene and healthy relationships. 

• PSHE Lesson Plan Titles & Half Termly units
• PSHE & RSE Long Term Plan 2025-26
• Progression Map

• Children will be caring, respectful, responsible, and confident individuals and citizens through PSHE and RSHE learning. 

• Children will have the knowledge of how to develop their self-esteem and self-awareness and make informed choices and decisions.

• They will be able to make sense of their own personal and social experiences and will be able to understand and manage their own feelings.

• Children will demonstrate and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Rule of Law and Individual Liberty 

• Children will demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school.

• Children will demonstrate understanding of how to keep themselves healthy.

• Children will understand how to keep themselves safe at school, in the community and locality and wider world (including online)

• Children will develop positive and healthy relationships with peers, both now and in the future

• Children will understand the physical and emotional aspects involved in RSHE at an age-appropriate level.

• Children will have respect for themselves.

• Children will have positive body images.

The impact and measure of implementation is to ensure children not only acquire the appropriate age related knowledge linked to the curriculum, but also skills which equip them to progress from their starting points. In shaping our curriculum this way, progress can be measured and evidenced for all children, regardless of their starting points or specific need. 

We shall assess the impact of our curriculum by high quality teacher assessment, formal assessments for core subjects (including NFER), effective intervention and support, the use of nationally standardised tests in core subjects, professional reflection and consultation with pupils and parents and other means of external support. These methods will ensure teaching is matched to learning needs and pupils build learning blocks and competences as they grow. We will also mentor their attitudes to self and school and enhance their personal development.

Statement of Relationship and Sex Education

We understand and appreciate that our children are growing up in an ever-changing and increasingly complex world and here at St. William’s Catholic Primary School we believe that along with Parents as the first educators we need to ensure that the children are prepared for the wider world by equipping them with the tools that they will need in order to be safe and healthy, to be able to build positive relationships and to understand how to manage their personal and social lives in a meaningful way. We are tasked with educating young people and children about healthy loving relationships. We understand that any teaching about love and sexual relationships in a Catholic school must be rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching about what it is to be truly human in Christ, what it means to live well in relationship with others and be presented within a positive framework of Christian virtue.

Our intent through our delivery of RSE is to ensure that our children understand that they are made in the image and likeness of God, through this understanding they will be at ease with themselves and deepen their self-knowledge of how to grow and flourish healthily and holistically towards developing successful relationships. Our RSE curriculum promotes strong links and connections with Catholic teaching and gospel values, and we have sought to ensure that this is accessible to all. We want our children to become happy, healthy and responsible members of society who understand the necessary components to develop healthy and successful relationships within their own lives. They are actively encouraged to develop a positive sense of self-esteem and to have a healthy respect and love for their own bodies and minds.

The Governors of St. William’s have adopted the ‘A Journey in Love’ programme to support the teaching of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSE) throughout the school. The programme of study is authentic to the teaching of the Catholic Church. 

Please see the summary of planned teaching for each year group…

Nursery: Wonder at God’s love

Reception: God loves each of us in our uniqueness

Year One: We meet God’s love in our family

Year Two: We meet God’s love in the community

Year Three: How we live in love

Year Four: God loves us in our differences

Year Five: God loves me in my changing and development

Year Six: The wonder of God’s love in creating new life

As part of our commitment to parents, as the first educators of your children, we will annually share information regarding the ‘A Journey in Love’ programme of study. 

You have the right to withdraw your child from certain aspects of the curriculum when in Year 6.

Please see our RSE policy for more details.

• PSHE National Curriculum
• St Williams PSHE Subject Policy
• RSE Policy
• RSE Content Summary

PSHE as a subject is not just learnt within the classroom, good PSHE Education is a partnership between the child’s home and school and there are lots of things you can do as a parent/carer to support your child’s journey.

Allowing your child to talk about PSHE topics at home can be a really good way for them to explore and contextualise some of the content. If you have time, research some of the areas you know are coming up in your child’s PSHE programme, and anticipate any awkward questions. Also, be honest if you can’t answer a question, we can’t be expected to know everything from first aid, to online safety but you can listen to your child and explore these areas further together. 

For additional and information you might felt helpful, please see our ‘Useful Links’ section 

RSHE

A Journey in Love EYFS Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y1 Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y2 Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y3 Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y4 Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y5 Parents Booklet

A Journey in Love Y6 Parents Booklet

DFE Primary School Guidance

FAQ About RSHE

• https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/ 
• https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ 
• https://parentzone.org.uk/ 
• https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/ 

Mindful Moments 

30 second visualisation and breathing exercise - star

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-3n5iBi4u0

30 second visualisation and breathing exercise - dome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEGnXTiaNIM

30 second visualisation and breathing exercise - pyramid

https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpI9bm3lTQw