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Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE)
BackOur children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, pupils at KES Academy need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way. To embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, pupils need knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships and to build their self-efficacy.
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is a lifelong learning process of acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs and attitudes about sex, sexuality, relationships and feelings. This education can also foster understanding and respect for people with different sexual orientations and help them feel safe and supported when it comes to their own feelings and identity. It can make a significant contribution to the development of the personal skills needed by people if they are to establish and maintain relationships. It also enables young people to make responsible and informed decisions about their health and well-being.
The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019, made under sections 34 and 35 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017, make Relationships Education compulsory for all pupils receiving primary education and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all pupils receiving secondary education. They also make Health Education compulsory in all schools except independent schools. The guidelines are to ensure that education prepares young people for life in the modern world.
The teaching of RSE will encourage pupils to:
- Value and respect themselves
- Value and respect others for who they are, not for what they have or what they can do
- Value healthy sexual relationships which are based on mutual respect, care and goodwill
- Value and respect difference in people’s religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability and social background
- Value and respect their own and others’ rights to make choices in sexual relationships after having accepted responsibility for considering the consequences of those choices
- Value stable and loving relationships for the nurturing of children and as the basis of a society in which people care for one another.
Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE. Before granting any request an appropriate member of the academy staff will discuss the request with parents and, as appropriate, with the child to ensure that their wishes are understood and to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum. Once those discussions have taken place, except in exceptional circumstances, we will respect the parents’ request to withdraw the child, up to and until three terms before the child turns 16. After that point, if the child wishes to receive sex education rather than be withdrawn, the school will make arrangements to provide the child with sex education during one of those terms. There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education or Health Education.
Below you can find some example resources used to teach RSE at KES Academy. Please note that these resources form part of a wider suite of materials used to deliver our PSHE programme.
We would also like to remind parents and carers of the right to withdraw their child from sex education as outlined in paragraphs 45-50 of the statutory guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education document published by the DfE (2019). Please contact the school office if required.
Our PSHE Curriculum is part of a three-pronged approach to Personal Development:
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Form time sessions:
SMSC provision and community values are delivered through weekly form time sessions. At Key Stage 3 and 4 one form time per week is dedicated to delivering a variety of topics such as personal safety, mental wellbeing, online safety, RSE and finacial responsibility. .
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Taught PSHE lessons:
Key Stage 3 receive a weekly lesson in PSHE. Key Stage 4 receive a weekly taught form time session in PSHE . Assessment is based upon Quality First Teaching strategies leading to whole class feedback with a focus on identifying and challenging misconceptions. Presentation and literacy are also a clear focus for live marking. At Key Stage 4, taught PSHE resources are delivered in a weekly form time session by tutors.
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House System:
Our House system has a rich history and is an integral part of our school community. Regular House events allow all students an opportunity to ‘have their moment’ and celebrates achievement across 8 House values: Teamwork, Creativity, Respect, Determination, Passion, Honesty, Self-belief and Empathy.
Heads of Year also deliver assemblies based on a theme of the week. For example; anti-bullying week assemblies and remembrance assemblies. One week a half term is also ‘Attendance’ week where the Assistant Principal for Attendance delivers assemblies to each year group on the importance of attendance and there is a focused push through the staff team to drive attendance forwards.
In addition to this, students can take up a variety of student leadership positions across the school. These vary from Prefects to Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, from Head Students to Eco-Leaders. We aim to offer students throughout our academy the chance to be a leader and take an active part in their community.
We respect that parents are in the best position to deliver personal development to their children. Therefore, please see below for an outline of the content that will be covered within school during PSHE sessions, including a curriculum overview and Knowledge Organisers per half term. We hope that this will support your conversations at home.
We welcome feedback on our programme and encourage parents/carers to share their views with us. Our RSHE policy can be found on the policies page of our website and our RSE plan is below. If you have any comments or queries on RSE at KES Academy or if you wish to take a further look at the resources we use to teach the subject then please email the school office
