Intent

At St Mary’s, we believe that a high-quality PSHE curriculum inspires children to develop the knowledge and attributes they need to reach their full potential throughout their lives. Our PSHE curriculum aims to engage children in exciting lessons, that portray real-life scenarios, whilst providing them with the opportunity to problem solve in a safe environment. We strive to promote pupils’ self-esteem and well-being by teaching lessons that reflect our school values and impart crucial knowledge in three key areas - Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, and Living in the Wider World.  Our teaching equips pupils with the skills they will need to develop into happy adults, who contribute effectively to society.  With these skills, pupils will then be able to draw upon their understanding in order to engage and excel in the ever-changing world in which they live, both now and in the future.

Implementation

At St Mary’s we use SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friendship), a comprehensive scheme of work for PSHE, RSE and Wellbeing education. The SCARF scheme is mapped to the PSHE Association Programmes of Study to provide a whole-school approach to promoting positive behaviour, safety, achievement and wellbeing, and is in line with our school Catholic Values. We have chosen SCARF as our PSHE resource because the lessons build upon children’s prior learning and the content is both relevant and sensitive to the needs of the children. There is planned progression across the SCARF scheme of work, so that children are increasingly and appropriately challenged as they move through the school. Assessment is completed by the class teacher using the range of SCARF Assessment tools, to demonstrate progression of both skills and knowledge. 

We follow the six suggested half-termly units and adapts the scheme of work where necessary to meet the local circumstances of our school.

The SCARF programme divides the year into 6 themed units: 

• Me and My Relationships: includes content on feelings, emotions, conflict resolution and friendships;
• Valuing Difference: a focus on respectful relationships and British values;
• Keeping Myself Safe: looking at keeping ourselves healthy and safe;
• Rights and Responsibilities: learning about money, living the wider world and the environment;
• Being My Best: developing skills in keeping healthy, developing a growth mindset (resilience), goal-setting & achievement;
• Growing & Changing: finding out about the human body, the changes that take place from birth to old age and being safe.

Children are encouraged to engage in activities that promote an understanding of themselves as growing and changing individuals, and as members of a wider community, based on their own first-hand experiences. These activities also encourage pupils to understand how their choices and behaviours can affect others. They are encouraged to play and learn alongside – then collaboratively with – their peers. They may use their personal and social skills to develop or extend these activities. Children are also given the opportunity to make choices about their health and environment and are encouraged to develop a caring attitude towards others.

Impact

At St Mary’s, pupils are able to use the skills they have learnt to demonstrate a deeper understanding of what it takes to become a positive member of society. They will know the meaning and importance of our school values and the essential requirements for the development of positive relationships. We seek to ensure that the PSHE that we teach, improves the physical, social, and mental well-being of pupils. Through our PSHE lessons, we believe that we can enhance children’s education and help them to become caring, respectful, aspirational and confident individuals. Further to this, we strive for all pupils at St Mary’s to have:

•   the knowledge, self-esteem, confidence and self-awareness to make informed choices and decisions
•   made significant in the development of social skills and social awareness
•   a sense of their own personal and social experiences
•   a responsible attitude towards the maintenance of good physical and mental health, supported by a safe and healthy lifestyle
•    effective interpersonal relationships and developed a caring attitude towards others
•    a caring attitude towards and responsibility for the environment
•    developed skills to manage their feelings, build resilience and be independent, curious problem solvers
•    understood how society works and the laws, rights and responsibilities involved.