PSHE

Avonwood PSHE Policy: Click Here

PSHE Curriculum Scheme of Work: Jigsaw

Subject Leader: Mrs Short and Miss Wilkes

Senior Leadership Team Link: Mrs Williams

Subject Intent

PSHE teaching at Avonwood aims to set children up with the knowledge and understanding that will allow them to play an active and positive role in today’s diverse society. We want our children to leave primary school with lifelong skills that will help them during new experiences and when facing challenges.

At Avonwood, we recognise the importance of emotional literacy and the impact it can have across the wider curriculum and especially in an ever-changing world. We aim to provide children with opportunities that develop their resilience, empathy, self-awareness, and motivation. Through high-quality PSHE lessons, we want to equip children with the skills to navigate, participate and stay safe in this world.

All staff at Avonwood strive to help children believe in themselves and set high aspirations. We share a cohesive vision to help children understand and value how they fit into their community and how they can contribute towards the world around them.

Subject Implementation

PSHE at Avonwood is implemented using the JIGSAW programme as a whole school approach. The programme provides an inclusive and progressive scheme of work that helps children navigate the world and build positive relationships with both themselves and others.

The six topics covered are: Being Me in My World and Celebrating Difference in Autumn Term, Dreams and Goals and Healthy Me in Spring Term, Relationships and Changing Me in Summer Term which covers all of Relationships and Sex Education. At Avonwood, we recognise the importance of embedding these themes throughout the whole curriculum and the school day so children can use the skills they are developing and make links to other areas of learning.

In addition to our PSHE Jigsaw curriculum, Avonwood also focuses on the following areas: E-safety, Healthy Schools and first aid; as well as developing the emotional literacy of its pupils through providing Young carers, ELSA support for targeted individuals, nurture groups, Anti-bullying week and Children’s Mental Health week. At Avonwood, we pride ourselves on prioritising weekly teaching of PSHE throughout the year, where the whole school focuses on the same topic each half-term.

Subject Impact

Through delivering an effective PSHE programme, we can tackle barriers to learning, raise aspirations and improve the life opportunities for all children, including our most vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils. All children will learn how to stay safe and healthy, build their self-esteem, and develop resilience and empathy.

The skills and attributes developed through PSHE education are also shown to increase academic attainment and attendance rates, particularly among pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as improve employability and boost social mobility. At Avonwood, we aim to show each child their potential and help remove barriers in their way to reach this whilst demonstrating the importance of equality in our society.

SRE Talk - June 2023

If you missed our parent SRE talk, you can view the slides at the link here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to talk to your class teacher or contact our school office and ask for Mrs Short (PSHE Lead) to get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions in PSHE

Are there any books you would recommend to support with RSE?

It’s really tricky to make broad recommendations as it is so personal to the family and development stage of the child. My biggest recommendation would always be to thoroughly read whichever book it may be before reading it with your child to check and agree what information you want to share at that time. There may be certain pages which you feel are too far for your child at that time and you may revisit later on.

We would always recommend that these are looked with a parent and never alone so that any misconceptions can be addressed and questions answered at that time.

Remember Mrs Short’s top tips before opening the discussion:

Read any books you plan to share beforehand – check language used and content covered.
Keep any explanations short and to the point – too much information can be overwhelming and your child may be too embarrassed to listen for long.
Be prepared for questions and know where to find the answers! – children may be happier writing questions on post-it notes rather than asking aloud.

If you would like some recommendations, parts of these books are helpful but please check carefully before sharing with your child.

I am nervous about my child being in SRE lessons, what should I do?

If you have any concerns there are lots of things you can do to reassure yourself and help your child.

have a look through the resources on the PSHE page and check the information your child will be taught.
speak to your class teacher about the parts you are feeling nervous about.
speak to Mrs Short (PSHE lead) and ask for any further details and/or help.

I find these conversations uncomfortable, what shall I say?

We encourage scientific, brief explanations that are factual e.g. avoid telling children babies grow in tummies/stomach as then when they learn about digestion in Year 3 and 4 in science they will be very concerned about stomach acid and the baby! Try not to perpetuate myths e.g. the stalk dropped you off and be as honest as you can for their age/development stage.

If in any other doubt, please attend Mrs Short’s SRE evening where we can discuss this further.