Relationships,
Sex and Health Education (RSHE)

During the Ofsted inspection in February 2022, Personal Development at Lipson Vale was judged as ‘good’. The inspectors noted that ‘Personal development is a strength of the school. Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE).’

At Lipson Vale, we are proud of the way pupils embrace the broad, balanced and rich curriculum for Relationships and Health Education in all aspects of their learning and day to day. Children are encouraged to adopt the core values of the school and are guided and supported to ensure that ‘Together we are inspiring a community with a bright future’. The core values at Lipson Vale are Communication; Responsibility; Bravery; Self-belief; Resilience; Collaboration. The curriculum for RSHE incorporates all aspects of PSHE, SMSC, Citizenship, British Values, as well as the statutory content of the RSHE programme of study. At Lipson Vale, we have adopted a teaching strategy for RSHE to provide the children with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values, and skills that they will need in order to reach their potential, both as individuals and within the local community. The education the children experience is set within a meaningful context appropriate to their age, aptitude, and background. As a result, everyone connected with the school is aware of the values and the overarching principles of the school ethos and mutually respectful relationships are actively encouraged and modelled.

Following extensive research and consideration of our local and school community, we have developed a programme of study that we believe meets the needs of our pupils and is consistent with the recommended statutory content for relationships, health, and sex education. Using the recommended Thematic model from The PSHE Association, our whole school long term planning overview, combined with a detailed knowledge and skills progression outline, guides us through the curriculum, ensuring that lessons are appropriately planned and taught, according to the age and stage of children and in line with statutory guidelines. As a general approach, PSHE topics are divided across the three terms into themes and taught as follows (although this may be subject to change at any time, within a year group for example): Autumn Term – Health and Wellbeing; Spring Term – Relationships; Summer Term – Living in the Wider World.

PSHE is a timetabled subject for all year groups and taught weekly. However, children are actively encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences above and beyond the whole school curriculum. By doing this, they contribute fully to the life of the school and their own community. Children have the opportunity to learn to recognise their own worth, work effectively with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning. They are encouraged to reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially. They are also able to challenge many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up and that form part of their everyday life. Children learn to understand and respect each other, including diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, purposeful relationships that are an essential part of life and learning. We believe that, whilst it is important to teach pupils about the issues covered and suggested in the RSHE curriculum, it is equally important that children can explore their attitudes, values and beliefs about themselves and to develop the skills, language and strategies necessary to manage these issues, should they encounter them in real life situations.

What does PSHE look like at Lipson Vale Primary School?