At Parklands Junior School, personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of a society and it is an embedded part of our broad and balanced curriculum. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.
Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development is fully at the heart of our school ethos. British Values are promoted through the overarching aims and objectives of PSHE by supporting our children to become healthy and responsible members of society, as well as preparing them for life and work in modern Britain.
At Parklands Junior School, we recognise the importance of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and the role it plays in developing our pupils into healthy, independent, and responsible individuals who are prepared for life and work. Our curriculum builds upon the children’s first stages of development through progressive and sequenced topics, which revolve around three key themes: relationships, health and wellbeing and living in the wider world. Within the study of PSHE, our children develop the knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future.
The quality PSHE that not only is taught, but embedded in our ethos at Parklands Junior School ensures children are given wide perspectives to the diverse society that we live in today. Pupils develop fully as:
It is essential that we teach PSHE to provide the link between pupils’ health and wellbeing, and their academic progress. We know the value of focusing on promoting positive behaviour, mental health, wellbeing, resilience, and achievement will impact their whole education.
We believe that PSHE plays a vital part of primary education and is therefore timetabled to be taught at least weekly to ensure that quality time is dedicated to these areas. There are always occasions where teachers may feel it necessary to teach PSHE as a result of an issue that has arisen in their own class. Many objectives from the curriculum will also be covered as an important part of school assemblies, where children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity is stimulated, challenged and nurtured. The distribution of the lessons complements key campaigns throughout the year, such as National Anti-bullying Week and E-safety Week.
Teachers follow a Primary Scheme of Work called SCARF – Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friendship (Coram Life Education). Developed by teachers and centred on a values-based and ‘Growth Mindset’ approach, SCARF’s lesson plans and resources help to promote positive behaviour, mental health, wellbeing, resilience and achievement. There is now a proven link between pupils’ health and wellbeing, and their academic progress. Crucial skills and positive attitudes developed through comprehensive Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) are critical to ensuring children are effective learners and SCARF provides a whole-school approach to building these essential foundations – crucial for children to achieve their best, academically and socially.
SCARF lesson plans are organised around the PSHE Association’s Programmes of Study Learning Opportunities, which includes three core themes of Health and Wellbeing; Relationships; and, Living in the Wider World. These themes have been broken down into six main areas for termly coverage, and are ordered as follows:
In addition to dedicated PSHE lessons, many other curriculum subjects make a link to PSHE, British Values, SMSC and the language is used consistently by all staff. British Values and SMSC displays throughout the school also reinforce the PSHE curriculum, further enabling children to make links.
Beyond our documented curriculum, it is hoped that the school’s values provide a culture that contributes equally towards the pastoral development of our children. Therefore, our teaching approach places great emphasis upon collaboration and cooperation: group work should be a key element of all classrooms, enabling our pupils to achieve success together. Beyond this, pupils are encouraged to show leadership in their community through Student Council.
At Parklands Junior School, our PSHE curriculum demonstrates appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding to fulfil the statutory duties of the Relationship Education (RE), Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education (HE) curriculums. It is hoped that our overall curriculum is designed to directly support the pastoral education of our pupils as well as the academic outcomes that the school aims for.
Each day, our happy, healthy giraffe mascot, will be giving children positive, fun messages about what he’s doing to stay happy and healthy while he’s off school, separated from his friends. He’ll invite the children to join in activities which will be family-friendly, varied and tailored to all ages, follow his Daily Plan and download and fill in their own version.
Topics will include:
Harold has already put a little message on the website: https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/harolds-daily-diary
The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has seen a huge change in the way we run our day-to-day lives which will have a big impact on our mental health. While it is important to stay informed, there are also many things we can do to support and manage our wellbeing during this time. The resources listed below provide guidance and help parents to support the wellbeing of our children and explain Coronavirus in a way that is child-friendly.
There are also a range of activities that promote positive mental health and are fun for all the family to complete.