Relationship, Sex and Health Education

Why is Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) in schools Important?

High quality RSHE helps create safe school communities in which students can grow, learn, and develop positive, healthy behaviour for life, and for the following reasons:

RSHE plays a vital part in schools fulfilling their statutory duties to protect and safeguard their students. Ofsted is clear that schools must have a preventative programme that enables students to learn about safety and risks in relationships.
Schools maintain a statutory obligation under the Children Act (2004) to promote their students’ wellbeing and under the Education Act (2002) to prepare children and young people for the challenges, opportunities and responsibilities of adult life. A comprehensive RSHE programme can have a positive impact on students’ health and wellbeing and their ability to achieve, and can play a crucial part in meeting these obligations.
Technology is evolving at a tremendous pace. The need to protect children and young people from inappropriate online content, cyber- bullying and exploitation is a growing concern. A comprehensive RSHE programme can support in addressing these issues

RSHE Curriculum

Relationships Education is introduced at Primary and students explore the following areas:

Families and people who care for me
Caring Friendships
Respectful Relationships
Online Relationships
Being Safe
Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools. Primary schools that choose to teach sex education should tailor teaching to take account of the age and the physical maturity of their pupils and must allow parents to withdraw their children where requested.

Physical Health and Mental Well Being in Primary Schools:

The aim of teaching pupils about physical health and mental wellbeing is to give them information they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing with a clear focus on reducing stigma attached to health issues.

In primary school the focus should be on teaching the characteristics of good physical health and mental wellbeing and the benefits of hobbies, interests and participation in their own communities. By embedding these principles teachers should be able to address issues such as isolation, loneliness, unhappiness, bullying and the negative impacts of poor health and wellbeing.
Physical Health and Mental Well Being Teaching in Primary include learning units around Mental Wellbeing, Internet Safety and Harms, Physical Health and Fitness, Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco/Basic First Aid/Changing Adolescent Body)

Overview of Teaching Expectations for Primary schools

Relationships Education (Primary)	Physical Health and Mental Well Being (Primary)
Families and People who care for me	Mental Wellbeing
Caring Friendships	Internet Safety and Harms
Respectful Relationships	Physical Health and Fitness
Online Relationships	Healthy Eating
Being Safe	Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
	Health and Prevention
	Basic First Aid
	Changing Adolescent Body

Intent

At the Bedonwell Federation, Relationships, Sex and Health Education enables pupils to become healthy, independent, confident and responsible members of society, both as child and as an adult in the future. Pupils are encouraged to develop their sense of self worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. They learn how society is organised, governed and experience the process of democracy in school through School Council and Pupil Voice. We provide opportunities, accessible to all, for children to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a positive member of a diverse society.

We understand the importance of positive wellbeing and good mental health. Using a ‘whole Federation approach’, we aim to create and maintain an ethos of understanding, confidence and emotional resilience, through demonstrating our ‘Golden Values’.

Implementation:

At the Bedonwell Federation, our curriculum is designed to directly support the pastoral education of our pupils in school and for future citizenship. Timetabled RSHE lessons are taught weekly and are an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. The planning for RSHE lessons at Bedonwell are based upon plans designed by the RSHE Association and PiXL to support a personalised and flexible RSHE education scheme of work over the course of the school year.

Schemes are based on the three core themes of: health and wellbeing, relationships and living in the wider world. A spiral programme will revisit themes, gradually extending thinking, expanding knowledge and developing skills, rather than providing a series of ‘one-off' topics. Topics are taught at an appropriate level, depending on the age of the children. The units are linked to safeguarding, our Golden Values, British Values, rights and responsibilities and `Growth Mind-sets', to enable children to have depth and breadth.

Lessons involve class discussions and group activities, where evidence is collected into a class folder, which is then passed on the next year. This is to enable focus on discussions and children’s understanding of what is taught .

There are many other opportunities where children are involved in RSHE outside of the discreet lesson, including:

assemblies - where a range of themes are covered and events
awareness days - such as world mental health day

Activities often include cross-curricula teaching (e.g RE and History) and involve the school council.

Impact:

We want our children to be safe and happy so that they can excel in all aspects of school life. Our school values and curriculum will help children to develop positive and healthy relationships with their peers both now and in the future, in order for them to develop into good citizens.

RSHE Consultation for Parents/Carers

A consultation took place in the spring term and the outcomes of the consultation can be found by clicking on the link below:

RSHE_Consultation_Outcomes_5_03_2021

RSHE Documents

Sex Education

Boys and girls are encouraged to work and play together to develop a healthy awareness of one another. The curriculum content for Sex and Relationships education is as follows.

Scheme of Work for Sex Education - Curriculum Content

At Bedonwell Junior School Sex Education is taught through the National Curriculum for Science and also using supplementary plans and resources for the children in Years 5 and 6. The programme is tailored to the age and physical and emotional maturity of the children and sessions relating to puberty, growth and the reproduction cycle are taught by the class teachers and the school nurses.
In years 5 and 6, Sex Education is taught mainly in whole class groups in a variety of ways including through:

The National Curriculum for Science
Links with other subjects, particularly RE & English (speaking & listening)
Circle time
Providing opportunities for children to listen to visiting speakers to ask relevant questions (e.g. ChildLine, Junior Citizen, etc)

When additional lessons are planned for Year 5 and 6, we always write to parents/carers before we start teaching and invite them in to an information meeting to have the opportunity to discuss the curriculum content.

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils will know and understand:

that the life processes common to humans and other animals include growth and reproduction*;
about the main stages of human life;
about the physical changes that take place at puberty, why they happened and how to manage them;

* Part of the National Curriculum for science.

The school nurse and health visitor make occasional visits to school and are available for discussion with parents. For further information please refer to the RSHE Policy.