At Blowers Green Primary School, our Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum aims to cultivate a safe and inclusive environment where learners develop essential life skills.  By integrating emotional awareness, healthy relationships, and social responsibility, we strive to empower learners to understand themselves and others, make informed choices, and contribute positively to their communities. Through engaging, age-appropriate content and collaborative learning, learners will explore key themes such as emotional wellbeing, personal safety, respect, diversity, and healthy lifestyles, ultimately fostering resilience and a strong sense of identity. 

To promote progression and a spiral curriculum, we have adopted Jigsaw, a mindful approach to PSHE, as our primary teaching and learning programme, customising it to meet the needs of your children. The Jigsaw programme provides a comprehensive and well-structured scheme of work that ensures consistency and advancement in this essential area of learning.

By the time they leave Blowers Green, our children will:

• Reflect on their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspectives on life, while demonstrating knowledge and respect for diverse faiths, feelings, and values. They will take joy in learning about themselves, others, and the world around them.
• Use their imagination and creativity in their learning, showing a willingness to reflect on their experiences through engagement in artistic, musical, sporting, and cultural opportunities.
• Recognise the difference between right and wrong, applying this understanding to their lives and considering the consequences of their behaviour and actions.
• Confidently collaborate and socialise with peers from various religious, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, valuing both our similarities and our differences.
• Actively participate in community events through volunteering, demonstrating cooperation with others and effectively resolving conflicts.
• Understand the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those with differing faiths and beliefs.
• Have opportunities to take on leadership roles within their classroom, influencing positive change. Have an understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures in the school and further afield (local, national and global communities) which is an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain.
• Have participated in a wealth of experiences and visits, many of which are listed in our Pupil Charter and on our Cultural Capital Maps. 

The Department for Education announced changes to Relationships and Sex Education following nationwide consultation. These changes came into effect from September 2021 and all schools are required to comply with the updated requirements. The statutory guidance can be found Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The guidance focuses on healthy relationships and keeping children safe in the modern world. It also covers a wide range of topics relating to physical and mental health, well-being, safeguarding and healthy relationships.

Learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up will give children and young people the information, skills and positive values to have safe, fulfilling relationships and help them take responsibility for their own well-being.

Consequently, from September 2021, Relationships, along with Health Education, became statutory, and formed part of the National Curriculum. For Secondary schools, Sex Education also became statutory. However, the DfE continue to recommend that all primary schools should have a sex education programme tailored to the age and the physical and emotional maturity of the pupils. At Blowers Green Primary school, we teach relationships and health education which is still a statutory part of the curriculum together with what is taught in the Science National Curriculum.  

We reiterate that sex education is not taught at Blowers Green Primary. 

Here at Blowers Green, puberty is taught as a statutory requirement of Health Education and covered by our Jigsaw PSHE Programme in the ‘Changing Me’ (puzzle unit). Some elements of our programme may be delivered with support from our school nurse. 

Our Local Advisory Committee monitors the provision of Relationships and Health Education (RHE) across the school. The governor for responsibility for RHE is Mrs Patricia Hazlehurst. 

Protected Characteristics 

The Equality Act came into force from October 2010 providing a modern, single legal framework with clear, streamlined law to more effectively tackle disadvantage and discrimination. It stated that it is against the law (UK) to discriminate against anyone because of:

• age
• being or becoming a transsexual person
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or on maternity leave
• disability
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

These are referred to as ‘protected characteristics,’ and schools have a duty to protect all learners from discrimination and harassment. Jigsaw PSHE supports schools in understanding and promoting these characteristics in a child-centered manner. The Puzzle titled ‘Celebrating Difference’, emphasises both similarities and differences, teaching about diversity topics such as disability, racism, power dynamics, friendships, and conflict. Pupils learn to respect everyone’s right to be different, with most year groups exploring the idea of ‘normal.’  Addressing bullying—including cyber and homophobic bullying—is a key aspect of this Puzzle.

The Relationships Puzzle covers a broad range of topics, including families, friendships, pets, and themes of love and loss, all of which convey essential messages from the Equalities Act. A crucial component of this Puzzle focuses on safeguarding and keeping children safe, linking to cyber safety and social networking, as well as attraction and assertiveness. Students learn how to handle conflict, recognise their strengths, and build self-esteem. They also explore roles and responsibilities within families and examine stereotypes. All Jigsaw lessons are designed to be age- and stage-appropriate, ensuring they meet children’s needs while helping them understand the broader world.

We have aligned our Jigsaw PSHE lessons with the Equality Act, and the grid below illustrates how specific Jigsaw lessons address these themes:

Other aspects of PSHE such as British Values are embedded within our school values and promoted regularly across the curriculum.  As a school we aim encourage all children to meet our three golden rules, to be; ready, respectful and safe.  The Jigsaw programme of study helps to encourage children to have these golden rules. 

PSHE beyond Jigsaw

We strive to ensure that the principles of PSHE underpin all that we do in school. Our school rules and values support our positive learning culture and all staff contribute to maintaining a nurturing and safe environment for our children to come into every day.

We take every opportunity to engage in activities and events that enrich our PSHE curriculum and provide valuable learning experiences for our children.

Our consultation process with parents and carers took place in September 2021. Parents and carers were able to read our proposed policy as well as all the accompanying documents in order to inform them of how we planned to deliver the RHE requirements, when each area would be taught and how they could respond and ask questions.

Responses were received via a Microsoft Form and we received fifteen responses, all of which were positive.

As a result, our proposed policy came into practice and can be found under the Policies and Documents section of the school website: 

NSPCC

You have probably already talked to your children about things like crossing the road safely. But have you spoken to them about how to stay safe from sexual abuse? We know it is a conversation no parent wants to have, but we believe it can feel just as natural and easy as the road safety chat. We call it talking PANTS. From P through to S, each letter gives an important message for children as young as four to help them stay safe. The NSPCC have produced a simple guide for parents to support them with having conversations with their children to help keep them safe from abuse. It is called PANTS - The Talk Guide for Parents and can be accessed by clicking the following links:

• https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/advice-and-info/pants/pants-2018/pants-parents-guide-online.pdf 
• https://www.parentkind.org.uk/blog/8857/NSPCCs-PANTS-campaign---how-to-help-your-child-to-stay-safe

Where to get more information to help - The NSPCC have a range of other PANTS guides for parents, carers and children, including guides in a number of different languages and for people with a disability. They also have guides for foster carers, parents with a learning disability, parents of children with autism, and a film for deaf children. You can find these on the NSPCC website.

Childnet 

Childnet offers some good support and information for parents and carers. The following link offers advice on a range of topics relating to online safety.                                  

• https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics

The Ealing Grid for Learning signposts parents and carers to a wide range of websites and support services. Their page can be found by clicking the following link: 

• https://www.egfl.org.uk/services-children/safeguarding-and-child-protection/safeguarding-specific-issues/online-safety-0