At St Leonard’s Lower School, we are growing and learning together with God’s Love and our Christian values are embedded in all that we do.

We recognise that every child is a unique individual within God’s creation and it is our aim is to provide learning opportunities that enable our children to develop deep roots to enable them to flourish and succeed. 

Our PSHE curriculum is ambitious and inclusive for all, enabling each child to learn and develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive. It is a relevant, creative, exciting and challenging curriculum planned to support all learners to achieve their full potential, to know more and remember more and to support our children become kind, happy and healthy people, who show resilience in the face of challenge and who contribute positively to an ever changing society.

Our aim is to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through appropriate curricular opportunities with particular reference to equality and diversity.

Through our PSHE teaching we aim to provide pupils with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and within the community. Pupils are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of their school and communities. In doing so they learn to recognise their own worth, work well with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning.

They reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. They learn to understand and respect our common humanity; diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.

Implementation

PSHE lessons are taught using the Jigsaw PSHE scheme. Lessons in personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) are timetabled weekly for each class.

Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings as well as building their capacity to learn. Jigsaw is a comprehensive and completely original PSHE Education programme (lesson plans and teaching resources) for the whole primary school from ages 3-11.

It includes all the statutory requirements for Relationships and Health Education, and Sex Education is also included in the Changing Me Puzzle (unit).

Jigsaw has two main aims for all children:

• To build their capacity for learning

• To equip them for life Jigsaw brings together PSHE Education, compulsory Relationships and Health Education, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills and spiritual development.

All lessons are delivered in an age- and stage-appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs.

The overview below summarises the content in each of Jigsaw’s units of work (Puzzles):

Being Me In My World covers a wide range of topics, including a sense of belonging, welcoming others and being part of a school community, a wider community, and a global community; it also looks at children’s rights and responsibilities, working and socialising with others, and pupil voice.

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 ‘normality’. Anti-bullying, including cyber and homophobic bullying, is an important aspect of this Puzzle.

Dreams and Goals aims to help children think about their hopes and dreams, their goals for success, what their personal strengths are, and how to overcome challenges, using team-work skills and tasks.

There is also a focus on enterprise and fundraising. Children learn about experiencing and managing feelings of pride, ambition, disappointment, success; and they get to share their aspirations, the dreams and goals of others in different cultures/countries, and their dreams for their community and the world. It’s great for children to have this experience, to think ambitious

Healthy Me

covers two main areas of health: Emotional/mental health (relaxation, being safe, friendships, mental health skills, body image, relationships with food, managing stress) and Physical health (eating a balanced diet, physical activity, rest and relaxation, keeping clean, drugs and alcohol, being safe, first aid). Most of the statutory content for Health Education (DfE) is contained within this Puzzle.

Relationships

Relationships starts with building a respectful relationship with self and covers topics including families, friendships, pets and animals, and love and loss. A vital part of this Puzzle is about safeguarding and keeping children safe; this links to online safety and social networking. Children learn how to deal with conflict, build assertiveness skills, and identify their own strengths and strategies for building self-esteem and resilience. They explore roles and responsibilities in families and friendship groups, and consider stereotypes. .

Changing Me

Changing Me deals with change of many types, from growing from young to old, becoming a teenager, assertiveness, puberty, self-respect and safeguarding. Each year group thinks about looking ahead, moving year groups and how to cope positively with such changes. Life cycles and human reproduction are taught in some year groups at the school’s discretion. Jigsaw has produced a separate leaflet explaining the approach taken with Relationships and Sex Education. 

The PSHE curriculum extends beyond the weekly lesson. Some content may also be covered in Maths, Science, Geography, RE or History lessons. The PSHE curriculum is reinforced through community and global events, values education and collective worship. 

IMPACT

Pupil assessments linked to clear success criteria provide evidence of progress throughout the PSHE curriculum. Teachers keep formative assessments of progress within each lesson and at the end of each unit an assessment is made to confirm whether children are working below, at or above age related expectations. 

Monitoring of the PSHE curriculum takes various forms. A key component of this is pupil self-evaluation and the confidence they have in discussing work they have completed. Work monitoring throughout all year groups also takes place to compliment this, allowing leaders to ensure that children have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge fully. 

Knowledge Organisers