PSHE Intent

At St James, we strive to deliver a curriculum that is accessible to all and enables children to become healthy, independent and responsible citizens within society. Our aim is to provide children with a knowledge of their world locally, nationally and globally and give them confidence to tackle many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up within this. Children learn about the importance of the British values. They engage in teamwork and critical thinking tasks. A key focus is on developing their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. We challenge all of our children to show the school values of generosity, courage, compassion, creativity, friendship and seek leadership opportunities.

 

Implementation

Our curriculum is designed to ensure standards and progress in PSHE are consistently strong across the school, with a focus on developing skills and attributes of resilience, self-esteem, risk management, teamwork and critical thinking in the context of three core themes: health and well-being, relationships and living in the wider world. St James primarily follows the Jigsaw scheme, which is designed as a mindful approach to teach this. It comprises of children working through the same units each year at a higher level, with the aim of extending knowledge, understanding and skills.

 

The whole-school PSHE long term plan and year group medium term plans ensure the key learning objectives are met. Lessons offer opportunities for children to build on the previous session learning. The structure of a lesson ensures smooth transitions between sections and these include: : connect us, calm me, open my mind, tell me or show me, let me learn, help me to reflect and closure.

Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving within the lesson. The large majority of children progress through the curriculum at the same pace. Differentiation is achieved through individual support and intervention.

There are many cross-curricular opportunities:

· History - links knowledge of Britain’s past to the diverse and democratic country that we live in today.

· Geography – links knowledge of natural world disasters and the importance of world aid at this time.

· Science – links learning about our health, environmental issues and initiatives like plant a tree.

· English – links reading about other people’s experiences and articulating own responses.

· Maths – links skills of working as a team to solve a mathematical challenge together.

· Computing – links to firstly being taught how to be safe and responsible online citizens.

· Art: links to expressing views through a variety of mediums, such as painting a poster about ‘change starts now’ during anti-bullying week.

· DT – links to designing an item and setting a goal to create and sell during enterprise week.

· Music – links to singing songs with a key message, such as being a good friend.

· RE – links to learning about different religions and showing the British value of mutual respect.

· PE – links to developing a competitive nature through sport.

· French – links to communicating well with others.

 

Impact

Each child is given a Jigsaw Journal in Year 3 that is used to record their learning throughout their time at St James. It is useful when doing book trawls to assess whether learning objectives have been met. It also shows how much progression has been made in a unit in comparison to the previous year.

Pupil voice questionnaires and discussions with children gives a deeper insight of what they think about PSHE. Teachers use a variety of teaching, learning and recording styles to cater for individual needs and ensure it is accessible and achievable for all. More formal methods of assessment are devised throughout the academic year, when children complete puzzle pieces within each unit of the Jigsaw Scheme. Attainment grades are inserted on to a class record sheet at the end of each unit. During Autumn 2 and Summer 1, grades are inserted onto O’Track to monitor progress over the academic year.

Participation in extra-curricular activity and events both in school and beyond is tracked and acknowledged through certificates, medals and trophies awarded during celebration assembly.

Ongoing CPD training, liaising with staff, researching, lesson observations and talking to children is the key to improving the teaching and learning of PSHE. At St James, we have every confidence that the majority of our children are happy, kind, helpful, competitive, enthusiastic, team players, risk takers and inquisitive learners. We aim to provide learning experiences and tasks that enable children to become healthy, independent and responsible citizens within society.