The following information and more can be found in the introductory document below.
For specific information about Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), continue to scroll down the page.
What do schools have to teach in PSHE Education?
According to the National Curriculum, every school needs to have a broad and balanced curriculum that:
• promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school;
• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
• promotes British values.
From September 2020, primary schools in England also need to teach Relationships and Health Education as compulsory subjects and the Department for Education strongly recommends this should also include age-appropriate Sex Education.
Schools also have statutory responsibilities to safeguard their pupils (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE, 2022) and to uphold the Equality Act (2010).
At Parkway Primary we have introduced a whole school PSHE scheme called Jigsaw. Jigsaw combines PSHE, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills and spiritual development.
What is Jigsaw?
Parkway Primary holds children at its heart, and its cohesive vision helps children understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the world. With strong emphasis on building emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, Jigsaw PSHE properly equips us to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole school approach. Lessons also include mindfulness allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus.
Jigsaw is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time. This enables each Puzzle to start with an introductory assembly, generating a whole school focus for adults and children alike. There is a Weekly Celebration and this encourages children to try to reflect that learning in their behaviour and attitudes.
Jigsaw aims to help children know and value who they really are and how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world.
There are six Puzzles (half-term units of work) each with six Pieces (lessons). Every year group studies the same Puzzle at the same time (sequentially ordered from September to July), allowing for whole school themes and the end of Puzzle product, for example, a display or exhibition (like the Garden of Dreams and Goals) to be shared and celebrated by the whole school. Each year group is taught one lesson per week and all lessons are delivered in an age- and stage-appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs.
To find out more about Jigsaw please click on the link below to access a Parent/Carer information guide and our curriculum map.
Relationships & Sex Education
An important part of the Jigsaw PSHE programme is delivered through the 'Relationships' and 'Changing Me' puzzle pieces which are covered in the summer term.
There are four main aims of teaching RSE:
• To enable children to understand and respect their bodies
• To help children develop positive and healthy relationships appropriate to their age and development
• To support children to have positive self-esteem and body image
• To empower them to be safe and safeguarded.
Each year group will be taught appropriate to their age and developmental stage. At no point will a child be taught something that is inappropriate; and if a question from a child arises and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer, (for example, because of its mature or explicit nature), this information with be shared with you by your child’s class teacher. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s programme.
Below is a summary of RSHE coverage within the Jigsaw scheme for each year group:
• Foundation Stage - Growing up: how we have changed since we were babies
• Year 1 - Boys’ and girls’ bodies; naming body parts
• Year 2 - Boys’ and girls’ bodies; body parts and respecting privacy (which parts of the body are private and why this is)
• Year 3 - How babies grow and how boys’ and girls’ bodies change as they grow older
• Year 4 - Internal and external reproductive body parts, body changes in girls and menstruation
• Year 5 - Puberty for boys and girls, and conception
• Year 6 - Puberty for boys and girls and understanding conception to birth of a baby
Further information about how the school approaches the teaching of Relationships and Sex Education through the Jigsaw programme can be found within the documents listed below.