At Waddington Redwood Primary Academy, our intention is to ‘Broaden Horizons’ to improve children’s life chances so that ultimately they become true citizens of the modern world. One way we achieve this, is through our PSHE curriculum.

What is PSHE?

PSHE stands for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education. It is an important part of the curriculum. PSHE helps to give children the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives. It aims to help children understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are a part of growing up.

PSHE lessons are a vital part of the curriculum we offer at Waddington Redwood Primary Academy. This is where our pupils investigate and learn about bullying, citizenship, drug education, healthy eating, physical activity, mental and emotional health, wellbeing, and relationships and sex education.

At Waddington Redwood, PSHE learning takes place in specific timetabled lessons. This is as well as enhancing our PSHE learning through other opportunities such as during class, key stage and whole school assemblies, circle time, part of special school projects and other activities that enrich pupils' experiences such as visitors into our academy and visits outside of the academy.  

Why does PSHE matter?

At Redwood, we know the importance of a delivering a quality PSHE curriculum. PSHE education helps pupils to achieve their academic potential and equips them with the skills they need throughout their life. At Redwood, we know that:

• PSHE is an important subject to teach. It is vital children learn how to keep safe and healthy in an ever-changing world.
• PSHE is a key way that we can ensure children receive a wide and varied curriculum relevant to the lives they live today and prepare them for the future.
• PSHE education helps children and young people to achieve their potential by supporting their wellbeing and tackling issues that can affect their ability to learn.

PSHE equips children and young people with the knowledge and skills to become heathier, happier and safer members of the community.

What does our PSHE curriculum look like?

At Waddington Redwood Primary Academy, our PSHE curriculum is based on the programme ‘You, Me, PSHE’. Our PSHE curriculum helps children to explore, learn and understand the world around them. The ‘You, Me, PSHE’ curriculum is designed around seven strands of learning. The seven strands of learning included are below:

• Relationship and sex education.
• Drug, alcohol and tobacco education.
• Keeping safe and managing risk.
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing.
• Physical health and wellbeing.
• Careers, financial capability and economic wellbeing.
• Identity, society and equality.

Our PSHE curriculum enables us to meet our three main principles of our curriculum design. Our PSHE curriculum content is progressive for each year group. It ensures that children are exposed to effective spaced repetition through the interleaving of topics and subjects and regular retrieval. This ensures children move learning and knowledge from their short-term memory to their long-term memory.

What is the impact of our PSHE curriculum?

Our PSHE curriculum aims to:

• Develop the children’s sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community.
• Develop children’s skills and understanding to enable them to become healthy, independent and responsible members of society.
• Ensure children respect themselves and others and know how to show this.
• Develop the children’s understanding so that they have a wider sense and understanding of the world around them.