Rationale:

Our curriculum is underpinned by our five core values which support pupils’ academic and personal development, make learning and knowledge gain meaningful, develop character and prepare pupils to be successful Eskdalers now and into the future. We achieve this by introducing pupils to the idea of our ‘Think like a..’ approach to their learning, enabling them to become a little more ‘expert’.

‘Think like a…’, including talk, write and read like a Responsible Citizen, is central to pupils’ learning and is designed to develop pupil oracy and vocabulary skills to enable them to use language meaningfully when talking in and about PSHE.

When reading like a Responsible Citizen, pupils have opportunities to read across the curriculum to support the knowledge and vocabulary to be gained in the subject.

When Thinking like a Responsible Citizen, children learn about and begin to understand a range of factors that may affect them in their own lives. Closely aligned to the school’s core values, children learn life skills, resilience and are taught how to look after their own emotional, physical and financial wellbeing. Substantive knowledge is organised within six key concepts (Me and My World; Celebrating Difference; Dreams and Goals; Being Safe and Healthy; Relationships and Emotions; Changing Bodies and Minds) which pupils revisit with increasing levels of challenge and complexity across the key stage. RSE content is built into the PSHE curriculum, delivered as part of assembly themes and within specific, discrete sessions.

Through Recognising, Reflecting and Responding to each of the key concepts, children will gain the skills to:

• develop understanding of their personal Health and Wellbeing through recognising attitudes, behaviours and influences of others
• develop an awareness of relationships, how to control emotions and changes that occur as they grow
• understand people’s contribution to the modern world through discussions on workplaces, laws and citizenship.

 PSHE is taught following the 3D Scheme. To develop and promote good quality discussion and development of thinking, each class has a floor book to record responses and thoughts. Challenge and enrichment are provided and developed through opportunities such as School Council, House Captains and in-class systems such as classroom responsibilities and working partners, as well as opportunities like the Parliament box and visits from MPs. Daily assemblies further embed the key concepts within the PSHE curriculum, the school’s core values and underpin children’s understanding of British Values and understanding of SMSC themes.

When ‘Thinking like a Responsible Citizen’, the school follows a process model incorporating the following stages of learning:

• Question and discussion – introducing the Big Question for the unit, discussing past experiences and children’s understanding of the topic
• Response –A range of strategies that allow children to respond appropriately to the questions, problems and ideas that develop and arise from discussion and understanding of the Big Question. This includes responses in the class floor book.
• Reflection – further understanding of how the work, discussions and activities may help them in the future, and how their responses link to the School’s core values

Our method of teaching incorporates specific meta-cognitive strategies to all pupils to retain the learning of both skill and knowledge. This is typically applied by:

• Activating prior knowledge
• Small step teaching delivery
• Independent practice
• Feedback

How we adapt the PSHE Curriculum for SEND Pupils

As part of our quality first approach to teaching, we use a range of strategies to support SEND pupils to access the PSHE curriculum. The document below details examples of the adaptations that are made to support pupils in class.

• Adaptive Teaching - PSHE.pdf