PHSE
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ASPIRE - LEARN - FLOURISH
The Aspire Learning Federation is made up of two schools - Elm Park Primary School and R J Mitchell Primary School in the London Borough of Havering.
At R J Mitchell Primary School our PSHE curriculum precisely follows the intended learning outlined in the PSHE Association’s programme of study. It is our intention that through studying Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education pupils will develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. It helps children and young people to stay healthy and safe, while preparing them to make the most of life and work. When taught well, PSHE education also helps pupils to achieve their academic potential.
Our PSHE education addresses both pupils’ current experiences and preparation for their future. We want our pupils to have a wide range of knowledge and skills to manage their emotions and be able to share their thoughts and feelings with others. We aim for them to have a good understanding on how to keep themselves healthy and fit, and how to manage this in their day to day life and in their future. Pupils will leave here with a solid understanding on how to manage money, and the importance of this.
We teach PSHE using the Jigsaw scheme of works, which provides a spiral curriculum to develop knowledge, skills and attributes, where prior learning is revisited, reinforced and extended year on year. This is grounded in the established evidence base for effective practice in PSHE education.
Jigsaw offers a comprehensive Programme for Primary PSHE including statutory Relationships and Health Education, in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others. With strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, Jigsaw properly equips schools to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole-school approach. Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus.
We organise intended learning into modules or units. These group the knowledge, skills and understanding that we want children to remember, do and use. Each module aims to activate and build upon prior learning, including from the early years, to ensure better cognition and retention. The skills required for working in a particular subject are outlined e.g. working scientifically. Close attention is paid to the tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary to be taught to allow pupils to engage in the required vocabulary. They are deliberately spaced within and across years to introduce and revisit key concepts. This enables staff to deepen pupil understanding and embed learning. Each module is carefully sequenced to enable pupils to purposefully layer learning from previous sessions to facilitate the acquisition and retention of key knowledge.
The Jigsaw Structure - how the big picture fits together: Jigsaw consists of six half-term units of work (Puzzles), each containing six lessons (Pieces) covering each academic year. Every Piece has two Learning Intentions, one specific to PSHE and the other designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills. Puzzles are launched with a whole-school assembly containing an original song, with each year group studying the same unit at the same time (at their own level), building sequentially through the school year, facilitating whole-school learning themes. The various teaching and learning activities are engaging and mindful of different learning styles and the need for differentiation and the Early Years planning is aligned to the National Early Years Framework.
Jigsaw’s Puzzles are:
Jigsaw is motivated by the genuine belief that if attention is paid to supporting children’s personal development in a structured and developmentally appropriate way, this will not only improve their capacity to learn, but will ultimately improve their life chances. That’s why Jigsaw is completely child-focussed.
PSHE lessons provide an inclusive environment where all learners can access the PSHE curriculum. Individual needs are catered for by class teachers and learning support assistants who work with SEND pupils on a daily basis and can identify individual adaptations to the lessons where needed.
At R J Mitchell teachers employ a range of strategies both at and after the point of teaching to check the impact of their teaching on the permanence of pupils’ learning. These include: retrieval practice, vocabulary use and application, deliberate practice and rephrasing of taught content, cumulative quizzing within the learning sequence, summarising and explaining the learning question from the sequence, tests and quizzes.
Relationships and Sex Education
We include the statutory relations and health education within our whole school PSHE program which is taught following the Jigsaw scheme of learning. See RSE section for policy and further information.
Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE.