Merton Bank Primary School

PSHE

PSHE Subject Leader: Mrs Weatherby

INTENT

Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) helps to give children and young people the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives. At Merton Bank, we aim to help our pupils understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.  We offer learning opportunities across and beyond the curriculum, in specific lessons as well as in assemblies, circle time, special school projects and other activities that enrich pupils' experiences.

The aims of PSHE and citizenship are to enable children to:

• Know and understand what constitutes a healthy lifestyle
• Be aware of safety issues
• Understand what makes for good relationships with others
• Have respect for others
• Be independent and responsible members of the school community
• Be positive and active members of a democratic society
• Develop self-confidence and self-esteem, and make informed choices regarding personal and social issues
• Develop good relationships with other members of the school and the wider community

IMPLEMENTATION

At Merton Bank, we teach PSHE in a variety of ways using a range of teaching and learning styles. We place an emphasis on active learning by including the children in discussions, debates, investigations and problem solving activities. PSHE lessons are guided by the PSHE Association’s question based model, which ensures that Statutory content is covered by learning opportunities for each key stage across the Programme’s three core themes: ‘Health and Wellbeing’, ‘Relationships’, and ‘Living in the Wider World’, Each unit is structured around an overarching question for each term or half term. These questions begin in the Early Years, then continue to develop in  Key Stage 1 as ‘What? and ‘Who?’’ questions and build throughout Key Stage 2 into ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions. Teaching builds according to the age and needs of the pupils throughout their Merton Bank journey with developmentally appropriate learning objectives given to respond to each key question.

Alongside our PSHE lessons, we encourage children to take part in a range of practical activities that promote active citizenship, e.g. charity fundraising, the planning of special school events, such as an assembly, or involvement in an activity to help other individuals or groups less fortunate than themselves. Charities and events that the school regularly contributes to are McMillan Cancer Care, The Poppy Appeal, Jeans for Genes, NSPCC. We organise classes in such a way that pupils are able to participate in discussion to resolve conflicts or set agreed classroom rules of behaviour. We offer children the opportunity to hear visiting speakers, such as health workers, police and representatives from charities whom we invite into the school to talk about their role in creating a positive and supportive local community.

IMPACT

Through our teaching of PSHE we will develop skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, teamworking and critical thinking in the context of our three core themes: relationships, living in the wider world and health and wellbeing. Our curriculum also provides our pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to safeguard themselves in different circumstances. These are necessary skills that will enable them to succeed whilst at Merton Bank and beyond. Our curriculum helps to develop a knowledge and understanding of the important issues that they may encounter in world that we live in as they grow up.