PSHE and Health and Relationships Education

Whole school PSHE curriculum

Please see this document for an overview of our PSHE curriculum, incorporating Relationships Education across the school:

Whole school curriculum map

We teach PSHE through 3 main termly themes. These are ‘Happy and Healthy,’ ‘Me and You’ and ‘Out in the World.’ These themes are planned around the PSHE association resources. We have a planned, sequenced, age and content appropriate curriculum.

Please see the half termly overviews for each group here:

EYFS half termly overview

Year 1 and Year 2 PSHE half termly overview

Relationships Education

As we are an infant school we do not teach Sex Education.

Our Relationships Education programme is an integral part of our whole school PSHE education provision and will cover health and wellbeing, relationships and living in the wider world. We will ensure Relationships Education is matched to the needs of our pupils by keeping a flexible approach to teaching and learning and regularly reviewing the curriculum in line with the pupils needs.

Our school’s overarching aims for our pupils are to provide a framework in which sensitive discussions can take place, prepare pupils the importance of health and hygiene, help pupils develop feelings of self-respect, confidence and empathy, create a positive culture around issues of sexuality and relationships and teach pupils the correct vocabulary to describe themselves and their bodies.

We aim to plan the teaching and learning of Relationships Education with a truthful yet sensitive approach appropriate to the age of the child and the situation. Haddenham St Mary’s is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all pupils.

Mental Health and Wellbeing at HSM

At Haddenham St Marys we take a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing by developing a positive ethos and culture – where everyone feels that they belong. This involves working with families and making sure that the whole school community is welcoming, inclusive and respectful. It means maximising children’s learning through promoting good mental health and well being across the school – through the curriculum, early support for pupils, staff-pupil relationships, leadership and a commitment from everybody.

Please see here for a leaflet of useful tips, advice and contact details for people that can help you and your family with mental health and wellbeing:

Wellbeing Information Leaflet HSM

Here are useful contacts, advice and tips to support yourself, your friends and family’s mental health and well-being:

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters

https://www.minded.org.uk

Resources for use with children

BBC Education online learning content, also for reception to Year 10 pupils, to support home learning, with weekly wellbeing tips provided via their social media pages.
MindEd, Anna Freud or Place 2 Be webpages and the Starline parent helpline for home learning.
Every Mind Matters includes an online tool and email journey to support everyone to feel more confident in taking action to look after their mental health and wellbeing. It also includes a section for parents and carers on looking after children and young people.
Children and young people can access free confidential support anytime from voluntary and community sector organisations by texting SHOUT to 85258, calling Childline on 0800 1111 or the Mix on 0808 808 4994. For support with an eating disorder, children and young people can ring Beat’s Youthline on 0808 801 0711.
Local mental health crisis support lines (for all ages) can be found via a simple age and postcode search here.

Resources to help with anxiety for pupils and families

Worry and anxiety are common problems at the best of times, and when it takes over it can become all-encompassing. Psychology Tools have put together this free guide to help you to manage your worry and anxiety in these uncertain times.

Living with anxiety and worry

This situation is one of extreme uncertainty. We don’t know what will happen, how long it will last or what things will be like when it’s over. One thing we do know, however, is that worrying about it won’t change the outcome. Learning how to tolerate the uncertainty is a huge part of building healthy coping skills for ourselves, which we then want to model for our children. Practicing mindfulness helps bring us back to the present.

The following websites and apps may be helpful:

www.childmind.org

www.actionforhealthykids.org

https://www.home-start.org.uk/Listing/Category/support-for-families-during-covid-19

https://www.childnet.com/blog/keeping-children-happy-and-safe-online-during-covid-19

Please see the links below for advice and support for support with domestic violence and abuse:

https://www.reducingtherisk.org.uk/cms/content/information-and-advice-buckinghamshire

https://www.childline.org.uk/kids/

At least 2 children in every primary school class (based on average class size of 27) are likely to have a diagnosable mental health condition. This rises to three to four students in every class by secondary school age (Green, 2005). Around a further six to eight children in each primary school class will be struggling just below this ‘unwell’ threshold (Wyn, J. et al., 2000).

We want to help children understand and appreciate that, just like our physical health, we all have mental health. We can also help them to recognise that we all respond to experiences with our emotions, feelings, thoughts and behaviours.

It’s important too that children understand how there can be changes in their bodies which are connected to their feelings and thoughts – for example, just as in PE, when our heart beats very quickly after we have been running, the same is true when we are nervous or scared.

By helping children with these concepts and getting them to think about how feelings and thoughts are linked to behaviour, we can then explain how a combination of all these elements affects our mental health.

Ways we help our children

At HSM we give the children lots of new techniques to help understand their feelings and emotions. We have shared some of these below.

Nurture Groups

Run in every individual classroom. Teaching Assistants have had support training on how to run the groups and the aims of the nurture time. The groups are left for teachers to plan individually to ensure each session is aimed specifically for the evolving needs of the pupils. A bank of resources and sessions are provided for all to access.

Wellbeing and Lego Therapy Groups

These are cross year group groupings with specific purposes. The sessions are planned by PSHE lead after teachers fill out a baseline assessment of the needs of their pupils in their class. The groups are then formed based on the needs of the pupils. A block of sessions are planned, delivered and then evaluated. Children’s needs are then reassessed and ways forward recorded. This may be another well-being group or move the child into nurture group.