Personal Development and PSHE at St. Monica's

Intent

At St Monica’s, we aim for all pupils to understand how to play a positive and successful role within our society and wider world, both as a child and as a future adult. We foster a whole school approach to PSHE, and we aim to engage the children across the curriculum while also creating an environment, which fosters good relationships and well-being for pupils and teachers alike. Through PSHE teaching, our pupils will also learn about their rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. We believe that it is vitally important to ensure that pupils at our school develop the knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future.

We follow the ‘Jigsaw’ scheme of work recommended by the PSHE Association which covers 6 different pieces across each half term. Alongside this, we carefully plan and schedule themed weeks and opportunities to enrich learning which reflect the needs of our community. We plan for whole school themes such as Anti-Bullying, Black History Month, Diversity Day, Environment Day etc.

 Implementation

Our whole school will focus on 6 Jigsaw themes across the school year, with a focus on one theme per half term. Therefore, this allows the whole school to focus on the same learning themes, with learning tailored to each year group. Teachers are able to recap on prior knowledge from the previous topic as they revisit the topic the following year.

During the teaching of PSHE, lessons are interactive, participative and engaging; pupils’ views should be encouraged in a safe and nurturing environment. Our teachers will talk to the pupils about the importance of being respectful to others’ views, ideas and beliefs, help them to understand that these may be different to their own thoughts and encourage safe spaces for this discussion. We wish to encourage this reflective discussion from Nursery as we aim to start early and take a developmental approach; ensuring that the teaching, discussions and resources are relevant to pupils depending on their age and maturity.

British values are linked to lessons throughout year groups and all link to the value of mutual respect. Our first Jigsaw theme focus on the rule of law as the children learn about their class and school roles. In the Jigsaw theme of Celebrating difference, the children learn about respecting others and having mutual respect to all. All teachers will begin each lesson, revisiting the British Values and how we live them out at St Monica’s.

At St Monica’s we plan visits from outside organisations to deliver certain aspects of the PSHE curriculum to Year Groups:

• GANGS visited Year 6 to talk about the importance of staying safe within the community and making the right choices.
• Bullybusters delivered an assembly to all key stages discussing the importance of telling an adult. They delivered a workshop to our Year 5 classes.
• British Military School has delivered team-building activities from Year 1-6 allowing children to work as part of a team and collaboratively.

Wider Curriculum

Across the school year, whole school themes and celebrations are timetabled to enrich our pupils' understanding of global themes such as Anti-Bullying Week, Black History Month, Careers Day, Maths Day, World Book Day, British Science Week and Diversity Day. These themes are celebrated as a whole school and are some of the days which our children remember as they leave St Monica's. 

Impact

At St Monica’s, we use a variety of different ways to measure the impact of the delivery of our PSHE curriculum across our school. PSHE lessons allow for formative assessment and feedback from all teachers. Each lesson revises on prior knowledge from prior topics and understanding of British Values. Each child has a PSHE lesson and records their thoughts for that lesson into their book.

As PSHE lessons are discussion based, photo evidence may take place such as working as a group, sharing ideas or role play. Teachers may record some pupil voice discussions.  

At the end of each PSHE topic, there is an assessment. This will have a theme related to each lesson they have learnt about. Pupils can record their answer showing an understanding of what they have learnt.

All PSHE books are monitored by the PSHE lead every half term to check consistency and to check planning. Comparing the books across year groups shows the progression from Year 1 to Year 6. Pupil voice allows for pupils to give their honest views on PSHE.

PSHE education is further evidenced through:

• Photos on School Website/Twitter
• Our core values - FARR
• Displays within all classrooms
• Cross-curricular lessons
• Charity fundraising events 
• Visitors, Workshops, Trips and Assemblies 
• Participation in extra-curricular activities e.g. wellbeing club
• School Buddy System at lunchtime
• School Council involvement