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Learning for Life & RSE
We learn important things about the world that we might need to know in the future, like how to act towards each other - Y1 Pupil
Curriculum Intent
Learning for Life prepares our children for their future through the delivery of a comprehensive, creative PSHE programme. Our goal is to enable pupils to acquire the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values which are necessary to make sense of their life experiences and help them aspire to become healthy, confident, independent and responsible members of society. Providing a high quality PSHE curriculum gives pupils opportunities to think about issues that are real and relevant to their lives in a safe environment and to create an ambitious and happy future for themselves.
Curriculum Implementation
In Years 1-6, Learning for Life is taught weekly. There may be times that additional sessions occur due to a relevant issue arising within an individual class, within our school or within the global community; we are aware that our Learning for Life curriculum must reflect the needs of our pupils and the world they live in.
Where Learning for Life has been taught, a sample of class work or a record of discussion is displayed in our Learning for Life class books. At the beginning of a unit of work, a ‘cold task’ is conducted by the class teacher to provide a baseline for pupil understanding. When a unit of work has been completed, a ‘hot task’ is completed in order to allow the teacher to assess the children’s learning; these two tasks may be completed on the same piece of paper or may constitute two separate pieces of work. This work will be stored in Learning for Life folders for reference by staff.
The curriculum is based on three core themes: Relationships Education, Physical Health and Wellbeing and Living in the Wider World.
Within these topic areas, children will learn about the importance of building positive relationships with others and how to look after both their bodies and their minds as they grow older. They will also deepen their understanding of different emotions that they may experience and explore appropriate ways to manage and express these. As part of Living in the Wider World, pupils will discuss how to recognise and manage potential dangers and risks they might encounter in life, how to save and look after their money, and where to go for help if needed.
Developing pupils' understanding of many aspects of life, these lessons will involve age-appropriate discussion, debate, role play and collaborative working.
Relationships and Sex Education
In our Learning for Life lessons, we teach both Health Education and Relationships Education which are the statutory components of the curriculum for primary schools from September 2020. Whilst it is not statutory for primary schools to provide sex education in PSHE, we teach sex education in an age-appropriate manner to pupils in our Learning for Life lessons.
RSE is taught from Year 1 up to Year 6 and follows the Christopher Winter Project (CWP) resource ‘Teaching SRE with Confidence in Primary Schools’. This programme reflects the recent developments in RSE and the Science National Curriculum and has been quality assured by the PSHE Association. The resources in the CWP scheme are age and developmentally appropriate.
PSHE Association Training and Development Lead Jenny Barksfield says: “We awarded the Christopher Winter Project’s ‘Teaching SRE with confidence in Primary Schools’ our quality mark as it achieves exactly what it says on the tin: it provides everything a Primary practitioner would need to be confident that the SRE they’re providing is comprehensive, balanced, developmental and in line with best practice in PSHE teaching and learning. The lessons incorporate a wide variety of learning activities and a range of assessment opportunities. The teacher’s guide is thorough and supportive.”
Teaching focuses on safeguarding and keeping children safe, encouraging children to develop the skills of listening, empathy and talking about feelings and relationships. Pupils are taught the importance of aspiring to healthy, lifelong relationships with families and friends. We create opportunities for children to think about and challenge age appropriate themes.
As a part of your child’s educational experience at Elmhurst School, we are committed to delivering high quality lessons in PSHE (which we refer to as Learning for Life) which gives children the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe and fulfilled lives, both now and in the future.
The Department for Education has made changes to Relationships and Sex Education (which falls under the PSHE Curriculum) following nationwide consultation which comes into effect this academic year and all schools are required to comply with the updated requirements. We will be beginning our Christopher Winters Project lessons in the Spring Term of 2021. The statutory guidance can be found in the link below:
The consultation process was as follows:
- Monday, 21 September 2020 - Consultation Opened
- Week Beginning Monday, 28 September 2020 - Survey links sent out via text message and phone survey calls made
- Wednesday, 14 October 2020 - Question and Answer Sessions conducted on Zoom
- Monday, 19 October 2020 - Consultation Closed
- We began teaching RSE in the Summer Term of 2021
Whilst our consultation is now over, communications can of course continue. Please contact the School Office via office@esglt.co.uk and we can signpost the right person for you to speak to. If you would like extra support in speaking to your child about anything covered in our policy, please contact our Family Support Workers, Mrs Wright or Miss Cawley on familysupportworker@esglt.co.uk