What is PSHE Education?

PSHE Education (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to successfully manage their lives – now and in the future. As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE Education develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.

What do schools have to teach in PSHE Education?

According to the National Curriculum, every school needs to have a broad and balanced curriculum that:

• promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school;
• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
• promotes British values.

From September 2020, primary schools in England also need to teach Relationships and Health Education as compulsory subjects and the Department for Education strongly recommends this should also include age-appropriate Sex Education.

Schools also have statutory responsibilities to safeguard their pupils (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE, 2019) and to uphold the Equality Act (2010).

At Moor Hall Primary School, we have chosen to follow a whole school PSHE scheme called Jigsaw. Please see the Parent/ Carer leaflet for more information on the Jigsaw Approach. The snapshot overview map below shows the content overview for each year group.

RSE

The DfE recommends, ‘that all primary schools should have a Sex Education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.’  At Moor Hall Primary School this is taught through our Jigsaw PSHE programme, which is delivered through the ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’ puzzle pieces which are covered in the summer term.

Each year group will be taught appropriate content to their age and developmental stage. At no point will a child be taught something that is inappropriate; and if a question from a child arises and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer, (for example, because of its mature or explicit nature), this information with be shared with you by your child’s class teacher. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s programme.

Below is a summary of RSE coverage within the Jigsaw scheme for each year group:

• Foundation Stage – Growing up: how we have changed since we were babies
• Year 1 – Boys’ and girls’ bodies; naming body parts
• Year 2 – Boys’ and girls’ bodies; body parts and respecting privacy (which parts of the body are private and why this is)
• Year 3 – How babies grow and how boys’ and girls’ bodies change as they grow older
• Year 4 – Internal and external reproductive body parts, body changes in girls and menstruation
• Year 5 – Puberty for boys and girls, and conception
• Year 6 – Puberty for boys and girls and understanding conception to birth of a baby

If you would like more information about statutory Relationships and Health Education, please see the DFE guidance below and the Jigsaw Guide for Parents and Carers.