PSHE & RSHE

The school's lead for RSHE is Mrs H Chahal (Headteacher).

If a parent/carer wishes to withdraw their child from the teaching of Sex Education, please email Harjit.chahal@timbertreeacademy.org.uk.

PSHE and RSHE

At Timbertree Academy, we value Personal, Social, Health and Education (PSHE) as one way to support children’s development as human beings, to enable them to understand and respect who they are, empower them with a voice and to equip them for life and learning. To ensure progression and a spiral curriculum, we use Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, as our chosen teaching and learning programme and tailor it to your children’s needs. The Jigsaw programme offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through scheme of work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning in this vital curriculum area.

Aims of the Personal, Social, Health Education & Sex and Relationships Education

The national curriculum for PSHE aims to ensure that schools teach a broad and balanced curriculum that:

• promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school;
• prepares pupils at the school of the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
• promotes British values.

Jigsaw covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education.  Jigsaw PSHE brings together Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a lesson-a-week programme, which is delivered from Pre-School to Year 6. These weekly themes are embedded during weekly JIGSAW assemblies. Children from each class are recognised and celebrated weekly by being added to the weekly JIGSAW Scroll.

Developing ‘emotional literacy’ is a key to a healthy child. Regular check-ins are held in class and children are encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and actions.  Our day starts by children self-registering in the Zones of Regulation and then a Brain, Smart, Start activity helps us all to get into the executive functioning state before learning begins.

Whilst JIGSAW provides the vehicle for PSHE delivery, it is threaded throughout our whole curriculum and linked at every opportunity to our school values:

#RELATIONSHIPS #LEARNING #SUCCESS

Protected Characteristics

The Equality Act came into force from October 2010 providing a modern, single legal framework with clear, streamlined law to more effectively tackle disadvantage and discrimination. It stated that it is against the law (UK) to discriminate against anyone because of:

• age
• being or becoming a transsexual person
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or on maternity leave
• disability
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

These are called ‘protected characteristics’, and schools have a duty of care to protect all pupils from discrimination or harassment. Jigsaw PSHE helps schools understand and promote these characteristics more fully and in a child centred way. The Puzzle ‘Celebrating Difference’ focuses on similarities and differences and teaches about diversity, such as disability, racism, power, friendships, and conflict; children learn to accept everyone’s right to ‘difference’, and most year groups explore the concept of ‘normal’; bullying – what it is and what it isn’t, including cyber and homophobic bullying – is an important aspect of this Puzzle.

The Relationships Puzzle also has a wide focus, looking at diverse topics such as families, friendships, pets and animals, and love and loss – all of which can help to deliver the vital messages behind the Equalities Act. A vital part of this Puzzle is about safeguarding and keeping children safe; this links to cyber safety and social networking, as well as attraction and assertiveness; children learn how to deal with conflict, their own strengths and self-esteem. They have the chance to explore roles and responsibilities in families, and look at stereotypes. All Jigsaw lessons are delivered in an age- and stage-appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs and can help them understand the wider world.

We have aligned their Jigsaw PSHE lessons to the Equality Act. The grid below shows how particular Jigsaw lessons address these themes:

Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)

The Department for Education announced changes to Relationships and Sex Education following nationwide consultation. These changes came into effect from September 2020 and all schools are required to comply with the updated requirements. Due to COVID 19, schools have been able to delay this until the summer term 2021. The statutory guidance can be found here. 

The new guidance focuses on healthy relationships and keeping children safe in the modern world. It also covers a wide range of topics relating to physical and mental health, well-being, safeguarding and healthy relationships.

Learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up will give children and young people the information, skills and positive values to have safe, fulfilling relationships and help them take responsibility for their own well-being.

Consequently, from September 2020, Relationships, along with Health Education, became statutory, and formed part of the National Curriculum. For Secondary schools, Sex Education also became statutory. However, the DfE continue to recommend that all primary schools should have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils.

Where schools provide Sex Education at Key Stages 1 and 2, parents will have the right to withdraw their child from Sex Education but not from statutory Relationships Education, Health Education or what is taught in the Science National curriculum.

Here at Timbertree, puberty is taught as a statutory requirement of Health Education and covered by our Jigsaw PSHE Programme in the ‘Changing Me’ Puzzle (unit). We conclude that sex education refers to Human Reproduction, and therefore inform parents of their right to request their child be withdrawn from the PSHE lessons that explicitly teach this i.e. the Jigsaw Changing Me Puzzle (unit) e.g.

Year 4, Lesson 2 (Having a baby)

Year 5, Lesson 4 (Conception)

Year 6, Lesson 4 (Conception, birth)

The school will inform parents of the right to withdraw their children from the lessons above by letter in the Spring Term before the Changing Me Puzzle is taught in the summer term.

Response to the RSE Consultation

Our RSE Consultation has now closed.  Thank you to those parents who took the time to respond. As a result of the consultation process, we will be delivering the planned RSE curriculum in the Summer term.  We have taken feedback on board and will now be sharing with parents the lesson summary each week before it is delivered.  

Both Relationship and Health Education is statutory.  Sex Education at Primary is NOT statutory. “Sex Education is not compulsory in primary schools” although, “the Department continues to recommend…that all primary schools should have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils”.  Parents do have the right to withdraw their child from Sex Education and if they wish to do so, a letter needs to be sent to school to make us aware of this intention. Parents are unable to withdraw their child from any national curriculum Science lessons which teaches reproduction.

Staff will be trained on the teaching of this curriculum before it is delivered so please speak to your Class Teacher if you have any concerns.

Support For Parents and Carers

You've probably already talked to your children about things like crossing the road safely. But have you spoken to them about how to stay safe from sexual abuse? We know it’s a conversation no parent wants to have, but we believe it can feel just as natural and easy as the road safety chat. We call it talking PANTS. From P through to S, each letter gives an important message for children as young as four to help them stay safe. The NSPCC have produce a simple guide for parents to support them with having conversations with their children to help keep them safe from abuse. It is called PANTS - The Talk Guide for Parents and can be accessed by clicking this link.

https://www.parentkind.org.uk/blog/8857/NSPCCs-PANTS-campaign---how-to-help-your-child-to-stay-safe

Where to get more information to help - The NSPCC have a range of other PANTS guides for parents, carers and children, including guides in a number of different languages and for people with a disability. They also have guides for foster carers, parents with a learning disability, parents of children with autism, and a film for deaf children. You can find these on the NSPCC website.

Childnet offers some good support and information for parents and carers. This link offers advice on a range of topics relating to online safety.                                 

https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics

The Ealing Grid for Learning signposts parents and carers to a wide range of websites and support services. Their page can be found by clicking here:

https://www.egfl.org.uk/services-children/safeguarding-and-child-protection/safeguarding-specific-issues/online-safety-0