At Cheddington Combined School, we believe that each child interacts and interprets the world in their own distinctive manner. Our role is to harness this individuality to enable the pupils to become successful members of society who can embrace their uniqueness, embrace and accept differences of others, and thrive within society and its expectations. Through a coherently planned curriculum, the children will know more, remember more and understand more about what it means to be a member of British society in the 21st century. There are three core themes of our PSHE curriculum: ‘Health and Wellbeing’, ‘Living in the Wider World’ and ‘Relationships’. These run sequentially through each year and build on previous years learning to provide the children with a rich knowledge and skill base to continue their education journeys.
Health and Wellbeing
Every class begins each year with a ‘Good to be Us’ module whereby we address life choices. E-safety, effective interpersonal communication, healthy living and keeping safe in society form the basis of this module.
In Key Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2), the children learn to identify feelings, emotions and positive interactions through book studies, discussion and role play. Personal targets are set to allow for reflection as the year goes on. The children are encouraged to assess how they perceive their learning environments and how they interact with them to create a more positive workspace for all.
Through to Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6), the children learn more about what keeps us healthy and how this can impact our physical and mental health. Positive interpersonal relationships are discussed and encouraged by developing empathy for others by understanding the world from another’s perspective. This is facilitated via stories from books as well as the sharing of personal experiences.
Living in the Wider World
British values form the core of being successful in modern-day Britain. These encompass five main themes: ‘Rule of Law’, ‘Democracy’, ‘Individual Liberty’, ‘Mutual Respect’ and ‘Tolerance of all Religions, Beliefs and Cultures’. Although these themes are explicitly taught as part of our PSHE curriculum, they are cross-curricular throughout the year dependent of the time of year (for example, festivals from other religions), as well as reactive based on events within class (for example, a growing family), or in the country at the time (for example, snap elections).
In Key Stage 1, the children begin to learn about what rights and responsibilities we have and how these can impact the world around us. The value of money and work are also taught to allow the children to understand the importance of money and that we all have different strengths, and these help us to be part of a community. The module of Media Literacy and Digital Resilience teaches the power of the internet and how to filter information that is readily accessible online.
Key Stage 2 children build on the power of the internet and learn about social media types and how online information can be targeted. They also discover more about what it means to be part of a community and the role of the democratic vote and the Rule of Law that governs the UK. The children continue to build on prior self-awareness learning, to begin to mould aspirations for their futures and understand what is required to achieve these goals.
Relationships
In addition to the ‘knowing yourself’ aspect of PSHE delivered during the Health and Wellbeing module, the children become increasingly familiar with interpersonal interactions within modern society. The learning is progressive and is delivered in an accessible way so that all can benefit.
In Key Stage 1, the children become familiar with what is a healthy relationship and how this can impact the individual. In addition to learning about different emotions, the children learn about self-regulating emotions. The children are introduced to the concept of negotiation and how compromises can work to the benefit of all concerned.
Through Key Stage 2, the children build on prior knowledge of healthy relationships by comparing and contrasting familial and friend relationships. Developing empathy for others and knowing when and how to ask for help when needed is also taught. In Year 6, the children are prepared for a positive transition to Secondary School.
Health, Relationships and Sex Education (HRSE)
Running concurrent to PSHE, the children also study Health, Relationships and Sex Education. From September 2020 it is statutory that we teach Relationship education and within that, pupils at Cheddington School are taught to respect differences in others (see above). We also teach Sex Education in an age-appropriate way (see also the Progression Roadmap). This familiarises the children with the correct anatomical terminology of body parts and how this sits alongside some transitions of humans, progressing from knowing and understanding the human life cycle in Year 2, to puberty (including personal hygiene) in Year 5 before learning about the biology of reproduction in Year 6.