PSHE
PSHE and Citizenship
PSHE and Citizenship education in our school aims to explore the knowledge and understanding children need to stay safe, be happy and healthy and fulfil their potential, while also preparing them for life, both in the present and future. It also aims to equip children with the skills they need to live successfully as citizens of the communities to which they belong and enables them to celebrate diversity and treat all people with kindness and respect. PSHE and Citizenship education in our school also aims to encourage children to develop positive mental health and emotional wellbeing, by empowering them with the knowledge of why this is important and how it can be achieved. We want to educate the whole child through our PSHE and Citizenship education and believe this positively impacts the individual, the school community, the wider community and the global community - both present and future.
Relationships, Sex and Health Education
At Havergal CE Primary Academy, we understand that pupils must be provided with an education that prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. A key part of this relates to relationships and health education, which must be delivered to every primary-aged pupil. Primary schools also have the option to decide whether pupils are taught sex education. State-funded primary schools are also required to teach health education.
Relationships education focusses on giving pupils the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships, and to build their self-efficacy. Health education focusses on equipping pupils with the knowledge they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing.
We understand our responsibility to deliver a high-quality, age-appropriate and evidence-based relationships, sex and health curriculum for all our pupils. Our RSE policy sets out the framework for our relationships, sex and health curriculum, providing clarity on how it is informed, organised and delivered.
As a Church of England academy, we operate in line with the Church of England vision:
Relationships and sex are good gifts of God and should bring joy. In our experience, young people most desire to learn about (and have modelled for them) good, healthy relationships. They want to learn how to secure, develop and sustain healthy relationships and how to be able to recognise when and how relationships go wrong. They must be prepared for the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of being in relationship with other people. Relationships education and RSE must give pupils the understanding, vocabulary and strategies they require to keep themselves safe and to thrive within good, stable long-term relationships of all kinds. RSE should give pupils accurate information to equip them for life in the modern world and to make sure they are not influenced by unrealistic dangerous materials.
In Church of England schools, and in all schools, we want young people to flourish and to gain every opportunity to live fulfilled lives. For Church schools, RSE is about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, healthy relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health. It is also about the spiritual and moral aspects of relationships within a context of a Christian vision for the purpose of life.
RSE should teach the diversity of healthy relationships, lifestyle choices and beliefs and schools must be given the flexibility to reflect their own ethos and values as well as that of their local context. This must include their context of belief, faith and religion. In Church schools, RSE must be culturally and community sensitive as well as encompass the teachings of the Church, including the Christian understanding of marriage as the context for sexual relationships and the importance of trust, loyalty, fidelity and choice as well as the understanding of abstinence and celibacy as positive life choices.
Our Relationships education and RSE is inclusive and meets the needs of all pupils.