Personal Development (PSHCE & RSHE)

Intent:

Rainford High recognises the vital role that effective PSHCE & RSE plays within the personal development of all students. We are very aware that children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives on and offline, as well as engaging and being exposed to different relationships. This presents positive and exciting opportunities, but also presents a variety of challenges and risks. Students are joining a competitive world and will need to work hard to be successful citizens. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way – as stated by DFE.

The aim of at Rainford High’s PSHE and RSE curriculum supports the schools Personal Development aim which is:

‘To ensure all students are equipped with the knowledge, understanding and wisdom to become well-informed, productive and successful members of their communities and a global society.’

Working with the school’s ethos at its heart, the PSHE and RSE curriculum aims to develop a range of personal attributes that will ensure all students are safe, prepared to lead happy, healthy and productive lives and secure successful futures.

*We want our students to be

Everyone Matters: We expect our community to be polite and respectful

*Respectful, Responsible and Resilient

Everyone Helps: We expect our community to make sensible choices

*Helpful, Happy and Healthy

Everyone Succeeds: We expect our community to work hard

*Safe, Successful & Sociable

We intend for our students to develop these skills, as well as their knowledge and understanding of concepts within the curriculum themes below in order to best prepare them for life after school (as recommended by the PSHCE Association)

Identity (their personal qualities, attitudes, skills, attributes and achievements and what influences these; understanding and maintaining boundaries around their personal privacy, including online)
Relationships (including different types and in different settings, including online)
Risk (identification, assessment and how to manage risk, rather than simply the avoidance of risk for self and others) and safety (including behaviour and strategies to employ in different settings, including online in an increasingly connected world
Diversity and equality (in all its forms, with due regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010)
Rights (including the notion of universal human rights), responsibilities (including fairness and justice) and consent (in different contexts)
Change (as something to be managed) and resilience (the skills, strategies and ‘inner resources’ we can draw on when faced with challenging change or circumstance)
Power (how it is used and encountered in a variety of contexts including online; how it manifests through behaviours including bullying, persuasion, coercion and how it can be challenged or managed through negotiation and ‘win-win’ outcomes)
Career (including enterprise, employability and economic understanding)

Implementation:

At Rainford we study PSHCE under the below three themes; linking with the PSHCE Association Guidance and expertise within the delivery of PSHCE:

Living in the Wider World
Health and Well-being
Relationships

Two x 35 min tutor time sessions per week are spent studying PSHCE, led by learning tutors in their tutor room. The curriculum is supported by a broad and balanced assembly programme that is led by a mixture of specialist subject staff and a range of external speakers / providers to enrich and further support the programme. Learning Leaders and Learning Tutors deliver a challenging and thought provoking PSHCE curriculum, which is based on:

Developing students’ knowledge and understanding of a range of PSHCE and RSE topics covered within the three curriculum themes of Relationships, Health & Well-Being and Living in the Wider World.
Providing opportunity for self-reflection, discussion and debate within all areas, the development of individual and collective confidence and self-expression, as well as the development of students’ oracy and communication skills – via the promotion of speaking, listening and presentation opportunities.
Being proactive in the prevention of and responsive within addressing local, regional and national issues and safeguarding concerns.

Learning Leaders utilise, adapt and tailor a range of resources from the PSHE association, Brook, National Online Safety and a range of other sources; within a common delivery framework that allows for effective delivery of content, provision of discussion and debate opportunities and signposting students towards where they can find further help and support.

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

In line with DFE (2020) statutory requirements, we ensure that relationships, sex and health education is prioritised within the scheme and in enrichment assemblies and activities; including links with mental health and well-being education and securing inclusive provision for our most vulnerable SEND and DA students.

The curriculum is progressive in order to reflect the ‘stage and age’ of students within Year 7 to 13 covering more complex topics at appropriate times in their development. Delivery of RSE themes is supported by a range of curriculum areas who cover key strands within their subjects. In line with DFE expectations (2020) these RSE themes ‘should be 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’.

Please click the link below to see the relationships and sex education policy and cross-curricular audit for more detailed information.

Relationships, Health and Sex Education Policy

Impact:

Whilst the impact of many areas of personal development provision – including PSHCE and RSE – are difficult to measure, we believe that our PSHCE and RSE provision and inclusive delivery plays a vital role in enabling the overwhelming majority of our students reach their next steps and become well-informed, productive and successful members of their communities and a global society. Destinations data supports this belief and indicates that 98% of students were successful in gaining their chosen ‘next steps’.

As a result of the knowledge and understanding gained within both the curriculum and enrichment opportunities, the vast majority of students work productively within the school’s inclusive ethos and are able to develop as person as well as a pupil; demonstrating the positive personal and social attributes described within our curriculum Intent / Aims section both as a current student and within the next stages of their personal development journey.

Curriculum Overview:

Core Theme 1: Health and Well-being

how to manage transition
how to maintain physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing;
how to make informed choices about health and wellbeing matters including drugs, alcohol and tobacco; maintaining a balanced diet; physical activity; mental and emotional health and wellbeing; and sexual health*
about parenthood and the consequences of teenage pregnancy*
how to assess and manage risks to health; and to keep themselves and others safe
how to identify and access help, advice and support
how to respond in an emergency, including administering first aid
the role and influence of the media on lifestyle
Education on FGM

Core Theme 2: Relationships

how to develop and maintain a variety of healthy relationships within a range of social/cultural contexts and to develop parenting skills
how to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships
how to deal with risky or negative relationships including all forms of bullying (including the distinct challenges posed by online bullying) and abuse, sexual and other violence and online encounters
about the concept of consent in a variety of contexts (including in sexual relationships)
about managing loss including bereavement, separation and divorce
to respect equality and be a productive member of a diverse community
how to identify and access appropriate advice and support

Core Theme 3: Living in the wider world

about rights and responsibilities as members of diverse communities, as active citizens and participants in the local and national economy
how to make informed choices and be enterprising and ambitious
how to develop employability, team working and leadership skills and develop flexibility and resilience
about the economic and business environment
how personal financial choices can affect oneself and others and about rights and responsibilities as consumers