PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) Education at St Patrick’s
Subject Leader – Mrs Miller & Mrs Mulrooney
I am Mrs Miller, the PSHE subject leader for St Patrick’s. My role of subject leader is to support the other teaching staff in their delivery of PSHE, promote our love of self-development and monitor the progress of our children. I firmly believe in the importance of children understanding who they are in themselves, to others and the world around them. I believe we can inspire our children to create the future that they wish through their choices. PSHE is a about personal development which is why strive to ensure that our curriculum in relatable to our students. We believe it fosters the understanding and respect for others that is vital for diverse community like the one of St Patrick’s.
To support the progress that children make throughout their time at St Patrick’s I have created a progression map which spans the Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. In each of the 4 strands of PSHE: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World and Citizenship there are statements for each key stage of children to achieve. These build upon on each other so that children have time revisit similar themes and deepen their understanding as they make their way through the school. Alongside this I have also mapped out a vocabulary progression map so that each year as we revisit the 6 topics that we look at in PSHE their vocabulary can develop as well.
In order to gain an understanding of how PSHE is taught across the school, I ensure that my subject is monitored termly, evidence is gained through book scrutiny and pupil voice. This informs the strengths and areas for development in my subject, which I share with staff individually. During the monitoring I also get feedback from staff via staff voice surveys on the areas they feel are strengths/ areas for development and will support them to the best of my ability.
My own passion for PSHE stems back to my teaching degree, where I undertook research into the impact of emotional wellbeing on education. I have continued with this passion and continue to educate myself further on child psychology and the impact of outdoor learning on education.
Curriculum
The objectives for PSHE match to the Statutory Guidance for PSHE and encompasses the Statutory Guidance for Primary RHE.
At St Patrick’s we firmly believe in teaching the ‘whole’ child. Our PSHE curriculum is designed to develop our children into the adults of tomorrow and help them fulfil the hopes and dreams that they have whilst deepening their understanding of who they are and who they want to be. We follow two schemes of learning from TenTen and 1 Decision. We have chosen to use both of these curriculums to ensure that the learning we provide is aspirational as well as relatable to our children but it also underpins our Catholic values. The child enjoy and engage well with the range of stories, videos, songs, discussion groups and activities that these curriculums provide. Through PSHE we celebrate all aspects of the British values and teach essential safeguarding to our children at levels that appropriate to their age.
PSHE and the Wider Curriculum
English
PSHE often uses the teaching method of discussion and therefore supports children’s listening and speaking skills. It allows children the time to express their ideas and hear contrasting opinions and reasoning. Through discussion of emotions children develop their understanding of emotions and therefore can interpret a character’s emotions with a wider vocabulary to help them understand their texts in a more in-depth way.
Mathematics
Children reinforce their understanding of money through our economic side of learning. They reinforce their understanding of addition and subtraction through their learning of budgets, pocket money and earning money.
MFL
PSHE gives the children the opportunity to learn about cultures from a different country but maybe a part of their local community. In PSHE we celebrate our similarities and differences and look at how these differences enrich our lives and understanding.
Geography
Through PSHE we learn about the communities that we are a part of and this reinforces our understanding of the geography of the local area. We also look at how our actions affect the wider world through out celebration of World Oceans Day and Rainforest Day.
Computing
Computing safety is one of our key topics in PSHE where we discuss the importance and how we are to stay safe online. Children explore themes such as: what is safe to share on line and what isn’t, who we should be speaking to, what to do if we see something we shouldn’t, how being online can be helpful and support our daily lives as well as the implications of using it incorrectly.
Science
We reinforce our understanding of animals and local habitats through out exploration of our local area and what we can do to make positive impacts on the area around us. We look at the importance of bees and their impact on the ecosystem of plants.
Spiritual
PSHE supports the spiritual development by getting pupils to reflect on themselves, who and what is important to them and what they believe to be right. We aim to create an excitement in our children for their beliefs and in the world around them.
Moral
Through PSHE we aim to look at what is right and wrong and develop our understanding of the choices that we make and their consequences. We foster an environment that is of mutual respect and allows pupils to share their ideas with confidence of being treated with respect. We discuss the moral impact we have on each other as members of society and the impact that we have on the world and what we would like to do to change it.
Social
PSHE encourages children’s social development through paired and group working. We also develop the understanding of how relationships work and what to do when we fall out or have a disagreements with others.
Cultural
In PSHE we learn about our local communities and what gives us this sense of belonging. We look at the different communities that we belong to and how we may have some that differ and others in common. We look at the British Values and how this help shapes the culture we have here in Britain.
Enrichment
PSHE is a flexible curriculum and is designed to help children learn through a range of ways. Each half term we have a celebration day or week of the topic that we are learning and these include First Aid, World Ocean Days, Bikeability, Road Safety workshops, Rainforest Day, Outdoor Learning Days, Eco Committees and Fairtrade awareness activities. As well as other National celebrations such as Antibullying Week, Walk to School Month, Mental Health awareness and Safer Internet days.
PSHE Documents
Please view the additional documents in school:
- PSHE Knowledge and Skills Progression
- PSHE Vocabulary Progression
- PSHE Unit Markers
- PSHE Knowledge Organisers
