PSHE including Relationships and Health Education (RHE)

At St James’ C of E Infants and Nursery School, personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables our children to become healthy, independent and responsible members of a society. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. We provide our children with opportunities for them to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.

At our school we deliver PSHE through the Heart Smart (Church of England) scheme of work alongside Kidsafe and Picture News to highlight current affairs around the world.

This is delivered through:

• The sequence of lessons

• Worship and class circle times

• Special events and themes

 • Visitors to the school

 • School trips and visits

• School initiatives

• Individual support for identified pupils

 At St James’, we believe that it is vital to educate children so they understand how physical activity can help them be healthier. We offer a wide range of activities for a variety of age groups ranging from cricket to multi skills. We hold events such as a ‘Walk to School Week’ to emphasise the importance of keeping fit.

We have implemented our RHE curriculum following parent consultation and we are following the diocesan guidance for this.

The Life Education Bus is an event which the children look forward to and highlights the importance of PSHE. The children especially love meeting Harold the Giraffe.

At St James’, we believe that PSHE plays a vital part in primary education and needs to be taught at least weekly. There are always occasions where teachers may feel it necessary to teach PSHE as a result of an issue arisen in their own class. PSHE is integral to the development of children values for them to become a positive citizen in a forever changing community. PSHE is an important part of school worship where children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity is stimulated, challenged and nurtured.

At St James’ the PSHE curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, allow the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. Children leave St James’ with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.

The Relationships Health Education curriculum is fully covered by the RHE Heartsmart overview. 

Some PSHE is taught through other subjects: 

English

• Stories about families, caring for our world and animals

Science

• Parts of the human body
• Growing and changing 
• Exercise, diet and hygiene

Geography

• Our local study- Whitehaven

PE

• Keeping fit

RE

• Jesus as a friend to everyone

We include special weeks and days such as: 

• Anti Bullying Week
• Safer Internet Day
• Road Safety Week

Continuous PSHE:

Behaviour- how to play cooperatively, how kind and unkind behaviour can affect others and how to be polite and courteous (living in the wider world)

Friendships- how to make friends and how to resolve arguments (relationships)

Hygiene- Why hygiene is important and simple hygiene routines (health and well being)

PE- How to be physically active and how to keep our bodies healthy (health and well being)

St James' is a KidSafe UK Registered Provider. In Autumn 2023 we rolled out the programme to our Year 1 and 2 children. The programme is delivered by a trained teachers.

KidSafe UK Children’s Mental Health & Safeguarding, founded in 2001 by Val Webb and Jude Walker, provides schools with in-depth training materials enabling any member of staff to deliver KidSafe UK programmes directly to your pupils from Early Years Foundation Stage through to Secondary School.

KidSafe programmes are age appropriate and delivered to children without shattering their innocence, all KidSafe UK programmes contribute significantly to Ofsted PSHE, RSE and KCSiE.

KidSafe UK Children’s Mental Health & Safeguarding is proactive, not reactive.

We wholeheartedly believe that educating children directly and empowering them to speak out to a trusted grown-up about anything that is having a detrimental impact on their mental health and emotional wellbeing will help break cycles associated childhood trauma.