PSHCE Curriculum   

Statement of Intent, Implementation and Impact  

At Hebburn Comprehensive School, the core British Values taught explicitly through PSHCE play an essential role in equipping learners with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to stay both physically and mentally healthy and to become imaginative and well-informed thinkers, who demonstrate respect and tolerance and have an appreciation and understanding of both world and current affairs.  

Through our PSHCE curriculum, we aim to raise the aspirations of all our young people, inculcating a respect for one another and for the core values of learning, citizenship and tolerance. By constantly reinforcing the school’s values, we aim to raise standards of achievement and create a genuine community spirit and a sense of belonging, reflected in corporate ownership, corporate values, corporate pride and a corporate desire to maximise the potential of learning and to celebrate success, with all pupils striving for excellence. Evidence shows that a well-delivered PSHE programme has an impact on both academic and non-academic outcomes for pupils, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged (PSHE Association 2019).  

Through our curriculum, we aim to deliver a coherent programme of personal, health, social, citizenship and careers education that prepares pupils for life in an ever-changing, modern Britain. We want all of our children to have high aspirations and to become healthy, safe, independent, responsible members of society who demonstrate respect and tolerance and are fully prepared to face and manage the many challenges and opportunities they will encounter throughout their lives.  

Our PSHE curriculum aims to:  

  • Promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development;  
  • Allow pupils to identify their own personal qualities, explore attitudes and have an appreciation of what influences these;  
  • Explore and examine their own values and beliefs and develop the skills, language and strategies needed to manage any issues they may encounter now and in later life;  
  • Develop critical thinking and resilience; 
  • Equip all pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe and be able to communicate when they do not feel safe;  
  • Provide expert, independent and up-to-date careers advice that gives our pupils the best information and opportunities available and helps them progress into further education, training and employment.  

At Hebburn Comprehensive we will: 

  • Deepen our pupils’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance; 
  • Provide opportunities for our pupils to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to contribute positively to an ever-changing, diverse society. 
  • Help pupils to develop an understanding of the many moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up in a diverse Modern Britain;  
  • Ensure that pupils aspire to be the best they can be and to have high aspirations for the future,  
  • Develop pupils’ sense of self-worth and belonging by enabling them to play a role in contributing to wider school life and the wider community; 
  • Stimulate, challenge and nurture children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity; 
  • Help pupils to understand the importance of their physical and mental health and how to manage emotions and feelings and to develop strategies to enable them to become resilient and confident;  
  • Help pupils to have a good understanding of themselves, to build positive relationships, treating everyone equally with tolerance and respect; 
  • Teach age-appropriate RSE lessons, so pupils develop an understanding of how to stay say safe and healthy relationships; 
  • Teach our pupils about personal safety and E-Safety, signposting pupils to any support they may need; 
  • Encourage all of our pupils to strive to be the best they can be. 

Through PHSE, there is a significant contribution to pupils’ development of SMSC, their behaviour and welfare. PSHE promotes personal development by helping pupils to build confidence, resilience and self-esteem, to help them identify and manage risk, make informed choices and develop an understanding of what influences their decision-making. It provokes challenging questions and discussions about health and wellbeing and relationships, as well as other topics.  

In addition, at both KS3 and KS4, we aim to have a knowledge-rich curriculum, where pupils have opportunities to develop cultural capital. PSHE provides excellent opportunities for pupils to be successful in the world of work, in relationships forged throughout life and as a valued contributor to society as a whole. These tools consist of knowledge gained, behaviours learned and skills mastered and it is our job to ensure that all learners have the opportunity to develop these attributes through their school experience.  

The PSHE programme supports the pupils to thrive in a time of rapid change, with new and unpredictable opportunities and challenges constantly emerging. It helps pupils to develop their own traffic light system to establish what is risky and should be avoided (red), what requires further consideration (amber) and those activities that are safe and healthy (green). 

Implementation: How do we deliver the PSHE / RSE curriculum?  

PSHE / RSE is a timetabled lesson, once per fortnight. Staff follow our bespoke, whole-school scheme of learning to plan individual lessons. 

  • In years 7 -11, PSHE is taught for one hour, once per fortnight delivered to each class by the same teacher  
  • We divide our curriculum into 4 main areas: 
  • My Choices (PSHE/RSE) 
  • My World (Citizenship) 
  • My Future (CIAG) 
  • My Money (Financial management) 
  • The programme is written to meet all the statutory requirements for RSE, Health Education and  Citizenship. The balance of the different aspects (PSHE, CIAG, Financial Management and SMSC) varies between year groups to respond to the needs of each particular year group – for example, more CIAG is taught in year 9, as pupils approach their option choices, enabling the programme to be tailored to the needs of our pupils.  
  • In addition, we run drop-down sessions and events throughout the year, such as subject careers day; a careers convention; sessions delivered by ASK; ‘Raising Aspirations’ university events; specialist RSE sessions; and themed weeks.  
  • Our PSHE programme is further enhanced by our whole-school assembly themes and ‘thought for the week’.  

Impact  

The curriculum is specifically planned to enable pupils to re-visit core themes and deepen their knowledge and understanding. Retrieval of prior learning is present at the start of each PSHE lesson and aims to embed key concepts. In order to recall this key information, termly reviews take place, which help to develop understanding.  

Pupils are assessed through multiple choice and knowledge-based questions which are built into each termly scheme of work, aiming to challenge all abilities across Key Stage 3 and year 10. This identifies gaps and misconceptions. 

Pupil progress is reported on as part of the school reporting system; the benchmark against which progress is measured is the pupil’s own starting point of knowledge, not the performance of others.  

Covid Curriculum  

During lockdown and remote learning, the focus on PSHE  in KS3 and KS4 was mainly mental health, support, guidance and strategies for coping at home. Alongside this tutor emails were sent each week to ensure pupils were safe, supported and answer any questions that was needed and the pastoral team contacted home throughout lockdown. Useful websites and support groups were also added to the school website for both pupils and parents/carers to access. Any concerns raised during tutor contact were forwarded on to the pastoral team.  

In order to help Year 11 pupils with college applications/employment all year 11s in the 2020 lockdown were contacted to ensure that they had the appropriate advice, as well as access to a Teams page for CIAG. Following the 2021 lockdown, remote sessions were given by the post 16 providers and identified pupils received 1:1 careers support and guidance.