How do we teach PSHCE at Abbeyfield?
Department of Education PSHCE Guidance
Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education. All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and this expectation is outlined in the introduction to the proposed new national curriculum.
PSHE is a non-statutory subject. To allow teachers the flexibility to deliver high-quality PSHE we consider it unnecessary to provide new standardised frameworks or programmes of study. PSHE can encompass many areas of study. Teachers are best placed to understand the needs of their pupils and do not need additional central prescription.
However, while we believe that it is for schools to tailor their local PSHE programme to reflect the needs of their pupils, we expect schools to use their PSHE education programme to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions.
Schools should seek to use PSHE education to build, where appropriate, on the statutory content already outlined in the national curriculum, the basic school curriculum and in statutory guidance on: drug education, financial education, sex and relationship education (SRE) and the importance of physical activity and diet for a healthy lifestyle.
Intent
At Abbeyfield, our PSHCE curriculum has been built to support the development of the ‘whole child’, by helping our children to understand how they develop personally and socially as well as promoting their social, mental and physical development. Children develop the ability to tackle the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. Children are taught how to keep themselves self, physically and emotionally and we provide our children with opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society.
Implementation
Our PSHCE curriculum is built around high quality picture books which have been actively selected to represent our community and wider British society. PSHCE is timetabled fortnightly with a dedicated 45-minute slot where progressive lessons have been mapped out each half-term using a visual learning journey. Lessons are supported by fortnightly Philosophy 4 Children (P4C) sessions and also our Thought 4 the Day (T4tD) slots.
Impact
Our PSHCE programme equips pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions. We believe that PSHCE plays a vital part of primary education and as well as discrete focused lessons, it is also embedded throughout the wider curriculum. Children will understand and apply the British Values of Democracy, Tolerance, Mutual Respect, Rule of Law and Liberty.
Children will demonstrate a healthy outlook towards school – attendance will be in-line with national and behaviour will be good; children will achieve age-related expectations across the wider curriculum; children will be prepared for transition to secondary school, as well as life and work in modern Britain.
Core Learning Year 1
Core Learning Year 2
Core Learning Year 3
Core Learning Year 4
Core Learning Year 5
Core Learning Year 6
Learning Journeys
We send out learning journeys to families at the start of each half-term. Here is an example of a Y1 Learning Journey including the picture books and identified key vocabulary.
