West Leigh Infant School

Intent

At West Leigh Infant School, PSHE and wellbeing is at the heart of what we do; supporting and encouraging our children to be the best they can be! From a young age, have high aspirations, a belief in themselves and realise that anything is possible if they put their mind to it.  We recognise that the skills and knowledge taught in the Infant school will not only help our children to navigate their childhood, but will also help equip them for their futures and prepare them for the opportunities, experiences and responsibilities of adult life. By the time the pupils leave our school, we want all children to have a good understanding of how to stay safe, how to develop and maintain healthy relationships, the importance of valuing and respecting differences as well as having a willingness to try new things and persevere with challenges. In an ever–changing world, it is important that they are aware, to an appropriate level, of different factors which will affect their world and that they learn how to deal with these so that they have good mental health and well-being.

Through the fully aligned SCARF and PSHE Association programmes of study, we develop the whole child through carefully planned and resourced lessons that foster children’s knowledge and skills necessary to grow personally and socially; helping to protect and enhance their wellbeing, helping them to stay safe and healthy and be able to build and maintain successful relationships. By doing so, our children blossom into and leave our school as respectful citizens with the skills required to successfully live in today’s ever-changing society.

We want our children to grow and develop in a safe and nurturing environment where they develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. We encourage pupils to be aware of their own thoughts and feelings as they happen; supporting them in finding strategies to manage their own thoughts and feelings so they can become more independent in regulating their emotions and building emotional resilience. We want every child to feel safe to take risks and to know that making mistakes is part of the learning journey. Our school Values underpin our PSHE vision and are reinforced not only in PSHE sessions, but also in whole school assemblies, class assemblies and day-to-day school life too.

Implementation

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, PSHE is taught as an integral part of topic work and is embedded throughout the curriculum. In Key Stage One, PSHE is taught as a standalone lesson on a weekly basis. However, across EYFS and KS1, depending on issues that might arise throughout the week, class teachers might choose to plan additional sessions or circle times to address these.

Across the school, including the EYFS, we follow 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 KS1 Programmes of Study, as well as the Early Years Foundation Stage Development Matters, to provide a whole-school approach to teaching the three core areas: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. There is planned progression within the scheme of work. Topics are revisited year on year so that the children’s prior knowledge can be built upon and the children are increasingly and appropriately challenged as they move through the school. Every teacher has access to SCARF online resources. Children in all three year groups have the opportunity to take part in the Life Education interactive workshop on a yearly basis.

Although all objectives are covered throughout the year, teachers have the flexibility to adapt the scheme of work and units of work where necessary to meet the school circumstances and fit in with half termly whole school topics. Each half term’s ‘Key Question’ and accompanying learning objectives are detailed on each individual year group’s curriculum map. Furthermore, class teachers may choose to enrich learning and teach an objective with additional resources and invite visitors into school to provide real life context for topics. Theme days, drama workshops and other enrichment workshops (for example, a First Aid workshop) are also planned throughout the year to further enhance the children’s learning experience. As a whole school, we take part in national campaigns such as Children’s Mental Health Week.

Within lessons, 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. Discussions, drama and role play opportunities are regularly used to help children understand how they can act and deal with a range of situations. The children’s learning is recorded in a variety of different ways, depending on the topic and year group. In KS1, each class has a floor book which includes contributions from class discussions and examples of the children’s work. For other topics or lessons, children complete independent work. Often, where written work is not needed or for when role play has been used, children record and upload their work to Seesaw. Teachers assess the children’s progress against the lesson objectives using recorded work but also through discussions and activities throughout the lesson.   

SCARF promotes a deep understanding of British Values, developing an appreciation of others and their value in society. Our children build positive views of themselves, so as to develop their self-worth, a strong sense of identity and become confident citizens by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. All PSHE topics support social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and provide all children with appropriate and essential safeguarding knowledge to enable them to know they can ask for help. SCARF also fulfils the requirements of the 2020 Statutory Relationship and Health Education objectives, which aims to help all children to feel comfortable and confident in their own skin, understand their bodies, express emotions safely and build good, safe and healthy relationships now and in their future lives.

In addition to dedicated PSHE lessons, many other curriculum subjects make links to PSHE, British Values and SMSC. Beyond our PSHE curriculum, our school’s values of Honesty, Kindness, Resilience, Teamwork and Safety are reinforced rigorously throughout day to day school life as well as during whole school assemblies.

Impact

Our teaching of PSHE will lead to children meeting the standards of attainments across the school and those that are expected of our children nationally. Children will each make progress relative to their own individual starting point. The implementation and impact of the PSHE curriculum is assessed across school to ensure that children are provided with the best possible chance at succeeding.

We strive to ensure that by the end of their time with us at West Leigh Infant School, each child will:

• Be more familiar with the British Values
• Be able to recognise, understand and manage their own emotions
• Understand who they can rely on and ask for support.
• Use the correct vocabulary to communicate feelings and ask for help.
• Look after their own mental health and ask for support where necessary.
• Be on their way to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• Recognise differences and have an understanding of diversity.
• Apply learnt skills in real life situations
• Demonstrate self-confidence and self-esteem.
• Have developed and maintained healthy relationships with peers and adults.
• Understand the physical aspects involved in the teaching of RSE at the level appropriate to them as an individual.
• Show respect to themselves and others.
• Have the confidence and knowledge to make informed choices and decisions.
• Be equipped to keep themselves safe: physically, emotionally and whilst navigating the online world; knowing where to get help if needed.
• Use and display good manners
• Show excellent learning behaviours and positive attitudes towards themselves, life and learning.