PSHE and RSE
Intent
Our overall intention is to nurture and develop our six qualities of learning which enable all children to shine…for life! We nurture and encourage creative, kind and resilient learners who are reflective, inquisitive and determined in all they do. Our intention is for learners at St Levan to know more and remember more in Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) by knowing their own identity, understanding the impact of their choices on others and developing an awareness of their responsibilities to themselves and others.
To think using these qualities, learners at St Levan focus on our three subject specific characteristics which are:
Identity
o I know my own identity
Choice
o I understand how my choices may impact on others
Responsibility
o I understand I have responsibilities to myself and others
These three characteristics are woven throughout our Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum and are built upon as children progress through the school. This ensures that children acquire the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, couched in concepts and language with which they have already become familiar.
Implementation
We provide an engaging, characterful and balanced curriculum for all.
Our inclusive curriculum is carefully planned to allow for progress for all pupils in our two mixed age classes. We recognise the challenges of teaching a progression within a subject to a mixed age class and, having undertaken our own research and consulted subject specialists and organisations (including a consultant at Jigsaw), developed our own pedagogy and created what we believe is the best fit for our setting. We are currently working with Jigsaw to establish a mixed age range of units for use in small schools, amalgamating essential elements from existing yearly objectives. With a commitment to the removal of barriers to learning and participation, we offer high quality teaching and appropriate differentiation to meet the needs of all. Using our rolling programme (see our Curriculum Offer page), we teach PSHE through half termly topics:
- Being in my world
- Celebrating Difference
- Dreams and Goals
- Healthy Me
- Relationships
- Changing Me
Through these, we revisit and progress themed strands throughout pupil’s primary career, revisiting and building upon previous knowledge.
We interconnect learning opportunities with an enriched environment to promote a love of learning and the outdoors.
To allow for an engaging, characterful and balanced curriculum, PSHE at St Levan involves weekly sessions which take the same format across the school, including:
Connect us
o A group game or activity to strengthen our connections and feeling of community
Calm me
o Using a musical chime and age-appropriate guided-meditation, we encourage the children to be calm with the help of Jigsaw Jerry Cat. They love this peaceful, quiet time.
Open my mind
Tell me/show me
Let me learn
o An individual or group activity
Help me reflect
o Children self-assess their own understanding using ‘My Jigsaw Learning’ (see assessment, below)
We ensure children are supported within a kind and caring community which enables them to progress and flourish.
Our PSHE curriculum has been developed in consultation with the school community, including parents and governors. We have chosen Jigsaw partly because it incorporates all of PSHE including statutory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We have consulted with parents on the inclusion of this and have developed our whole school PSHE policy. Please find details below.
Quotes from the children
"I like Jigsaw because it is calm." - Year Two pupil.
"I like it when it goes all calm and quiet." - Reception pupil.
"We do 'calm me' time in Jigsaw. I like it." - Year One pupil.
"I love calming time." - Year One pupil.
"I love being calm. It helps me learn." - Year Two pupil.
"In Jigsaw, I really liked dressing up our little people in clothes about friendships and bullying." - Year Two pupil
At St Levan, we use assessment in three different ways across all subjects. In Jigsaw, all assessment is incorporated within the programme.
Assessment for learning (AfL)
This assessment is formative, ongoing and informs classroom practice and future planning. Through careful observation, listening and questioning, teachers glean what learners know and can do and plan next steps accordingly.
Assessment as learning (AaL)
This assessment is about how pupils self-regulate their own learning and develop metacognitive skills. Through structured peer and self-assessment activities, pupils understand their own needs as a learner and reflect on their own next steps. By taking ownership of their own learning, this can help pupils to know more and remember more. For example, in PSHE, pupils complete a ‘My Jigsaw Learning’ activity, giving a thumbs up, thumbs middling or thumbs down for two statements linked to the learning covered that day.
Assessment of learning (AoL)
This assessment is summative, at the end of each half term’s unit a reflective piece is used to glean understanding. This may be via a circle time style conversation or finished piece of work.