Curriculum Intent

As a Church of England school, our vision and Christian values are at the heart of everything we do and play a vital part in our pupils’ education, and moral, social and cultural development. The Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and Relationships Education curriculum is integral to this. We believe the knowledge and attributes gained by exploring the key topics in this subject will help to keep our pupils safe and allow them to support their own, and others’, health and wellbeing, aiding our pupils to become successful and happy adults who make a meaningful contribution to society. At Ormskirk CofE, we provide our pupils with opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

We aim for our pupils:

• to be inspired and able to make informed choices about their future,
• aim high and understand how to work collaboratively or independently towards their goal,
• feel emotionally safe so that they can achieve their full potential,
• and help themselves and their peers to shine through learning how to establish respectful and healthy relationships and celebrate differences.

Curriculum Implementation 

The PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum has been carefully designed by staff to ensure that the objectives are age appropriate and relevant for the school context. During the development of the PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum, the PSHE subject lead attended local networking meetings and met with a PSHE advisor. We follow the PSHE Associations’ three core themes: Health and Wellbeing; Relationships; and Living in the Wider World. Each year group covers content related to each theme every year, ensuring that a spiral programme is in place: one that revisits themes, gradually extending thinking, expanding knowledge and developing skills. 

Early Years - Personal, Social and Emotional Development 

PSHE Overview Y1-Y6 

Teachers are trusted to teach PSHE and Relationships Education in a way that meets the needs of their class, as this can change from cohort to cohort. We believe that class teachers know the needs of their class the best. This can often be through class discussion, circle time, role play, producing collaborative pieces of work, and recording independent reflections.

Whilst PSHE and Relationships Education is taught discretely, with each year group receiving one lesson a week, there are many cross-curricular links which sees pupils’ personal, social, health and economic education being addressed in meaningful ways across the curriculum. Computing lessons regularly address issues of online safety, whilst Science and PE lessons explore how to stay physically healthy, with stages in the human life cycle also being taught at relevant points in the Science curriculum.

The PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum is supplemented by additional assemblies and workshops. All year groups watched the NSPCC Speak Out virtual assembly and Years 5 and 6 had someone from the NSPCC to deliver further workshops linked to the assembly. Other assemblies, workshops and cross-curricular activities include: a Fire Safety talk for Year 2, Road Safety for Year 6 pupils, and Year 5 pupils have the opportunity to take part in Bikeability. Additionally, our pupils benefit from an in-house swimming teacher and swimming pool which provides numerous opportunities to address water safety starting from our nursery children all the way through to our Year 6 pupils.  With our school being close to a railway station, we ensure our pupils also have a clear understanding of rail safety in both key stages one and two.

Beyond the PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum, pupils are presented with lots of opportunities to support their personal development and put into practice many of the life skills that they learn in their PSHE lessons. Pupils in Year 6 are given the opportunity to work towards the Junior Rotary Award which sees them serve in their community, learn a new skill and take part in physical exercise, all for ten weeks, as well as gain some social experience of religion, culture and the arts. Whilst pupils in Year 1 have the opportunity to put into practice some of what they learn about playing and working collaboratively in their Forest School lessons. Opportunities to expand pupils’ personal development are particularly apparent on the many trips, residentials and school camp nights that are open to all pupils.

Ormskirk Church of England Primary School was chosen as one of three schools in West Lancashire to take part in the ‘Mini Police’ programme which aims to help foster positive relationships between children and the police. This year, the Mini Police officers are working on a project with Lancashire’s Deputy Crime Commissioner to raise awareness about safe driving in winter, including wearing reflectors.

Curriculum Impact

As a result of a progressive, well-sequenced and purposeful PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum, the children at Ormskirk Church of England Primary School are knowledgeable about how they can stay safe and healthy, and are equipped with a plethora of skills to help them navigate the challenges and possibilities of their lives now and in the future. Our culture of openness and mutual respect has been created throughout school and children are keen to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions confidently. As a school, we celebrate differences and encourage uniqueness and individuality.  Children have a clear understanding of how they are developing both personally and socially and have a good sense of self-worth. They understand how their words and actions can affect others and know how to treat each other with respect.  This is clear in the children's behaviour towards each other on a daily basis.

The PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum plays an important role in the safeguarding of pupils in school. Our PSHE curriculum provides pupils with the language, skills and strategies needed to enable them to tackle and mitigate risks to their (or others’) physical and emotional safety. It also supports pupils in the development of personal attributes such as self-esteem, resilience and self-confidence and skills such as decision making.

The impact of PSHE and Relationships Education is monitored in line with other subjects through:

• Prior learning and post learning activities following a question-based PSHE model.  
• Subject leads routinely monitor the effectiveness of their subjects through pupil voice, work scrutiny (PSHE journals to be introduced September 2024) and learning walks.
• Clear progression maps which ensure teachers are aware of end points, previous and future learning.