Curriculum Leader

Mr P Freeman Myers

Intent

PSHE is a chance to give every child and young person an equal opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and in the future.

This includes helping them to deal with critical issues they face every day such as friendships, emotional wellbeing and change. And giving them a solid foundation for whatever challenging opportunities lie ahead, so they can face a world full of uncertainty with hope.

From making informed decisions about alcohol to succeeding in their first job, PSHE education helps pupils prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they will face.

This in turn achieves a ‘virtuous circle’, whereby pupils with better health and wellbeing can achieve better academically, and enjoy greater success.

Implementation

All pupils are taught a PSHE curriculum that uses a combination of PSHE Association-approved and Pol Ed resources along with some financial and economic education. This hybrid approach allows for coverage of the following strands of learning:

  • Relationships
  • Keeping safe
  • Understanding the law
  • Wellbeing

The use of resources is carefully considered to respond to the context of the school and what is age appropriate. Themes and lesson content are regularly reviewed and may change to underpin the dynamic nature of the subject. Pol Ed lessons use a driving question (or DQ) to help orient attention. Pupils are encouraged to take part in meaningful discussions, led effectively by their teacher, along with plenty of ‘Think/Pair/Share’ opportunities. PSHE is supporting the school’s wider focus on developing oracy, and pupils are encouraged to demonstrate the universal set of transferable skills as set out in our Skills Builder programme, such as speaking and listening, adapting, teamwork and leadership.

Timetabled one hour lessons take place once per fortnight in Key Stage 2 and once a week in Key Stage 3. The learning in these lessons is supplemented by work done during tutorial sessions and assemblies. The PSHE programme is supported by other opportunities in the school calendar to develop citizenship as part of the broader personal development agenda. This includes the use of visiting speakers and organisations such as Northumbria Police, The Be You team, and Safety Works.

Impact

Measuring impact through assessment is central to effective teaching and learning in PSHE education. It also ensures that the programme is delivering what is intended and that pupils have remembered crucial knowledge.

The impact of the PSHE programme can be measured in a various ways and using a combination of teacher and pupil (self and peer) assessment. The model of assessment that is most meaningful in PSHE education is ipsative assessment. Ipsative assessment compares where a pupil is at the end of a lesson or series of lessons against where they were before the lesson(s).  Examples of assessment that can be used in PSHE include:

  • Baseline assessments (Diagnostic tasks) to gauge prior knowledge and understanding
  • Ask-it-basket end of lesson or unit question / summary of key messages
  • Mind-map / Spider diagram
  • Questionnaire
  • Explain to an alien
  • Washing line
  • Card sort / diamond 9
  • Discussion

Pupils are supported to reflect on what they have learned in lessons and the impact this has on themselves as well as those around them and the wider community.

Policies

Please see below links to our: 

An updated policy was shared with all stakeholders in September 2023 – comments and questions are welcomed to admin@hexhammiddle.org.uk.