Intent
PSHE promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils, preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences for later life.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education. It gives pupils the knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe and to prepare them for life and work in modern Britain. We aim, through our PSHE education, to help pupils achieve their academic potential, and leave school equipped with skills they will need throughout later life.
We use the Jigsaw scheme throughout the school. The scheme holds children at its heart, and its cohesive vision helps children understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the world, showing mutual respect and tolerance to others. With a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, this equips us to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole-school approach. Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness, allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus. Linked with this, we are using Project Evolve strands and lessons throughout the school to address online safety. In addition, we encourage many cross-curricular links to PSHE which can be seen in our Implementation.
In line with our Thinking Schools’ philosophy and Oaklands Mindset, we are keen innovators, aiming to provide a wide range of opportunities for children to develop resilience, communication, enjoyment and independence and respond positively to challenges within PSHE.
Following the COVID pandemic, we recognise the impact that the lack of face-to-face teaching has had on children’s PSHE ability to flourish. Although regular lessons and other activities were provided as part of our remote learning provision during lockdown, we are aware that we still need to revisit some key concepts from previous year groups. This has been discussed during staff meetings and there has been a strong emphasis on promoting children’s mental and physical wellbeing and resilience.
Implementation
Our scheme of work, based on Jigsaw, covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education. As these units are taught across the school; the learning deepens and broadens every year. Jigsaw 3-11 offers a comprehensive Programme for Primary PSHE including statutory Relationships and Health Education, in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.
Jigsaw consists of six half-term units
- Term 1: Being Me in My World
- Term 2: Celebrating Difference (including anti-bullying)
- Term 3: Dreams and Goals
- Term 4: Healthy Me
- Term 5: Relationships
- Term 6: Changing Me (including Sex Education)
In addition, we are keen to offer further cross-curricular opportunities for pupils’ development in these areas though projects such as sustainability including a Geography Y4 unit, Outdoor education and various school initiatives such as appointing an Eco Committee, creating ecobricks, recycling batteries and the Modeshift STARS travel initiatives. Online safety is a key area in both PSHE and Computing; this is addressed in both these areas of the curriculum. In addition, we have allocated strands from Project Evolve to each term in each year group to ensure that all aspects of online safety are covered.
Our school council is active and involved in school decision making and the school has thinking families and thinking days which encourage responsibility and resilience. As children progress through the school, there are opportunities for pupils to take an increasingly active and more responsible role including acting as wet play, playground games, bus, door and assembly monitors. Year 6 children operate slideshows and music during assemblies. To support children with online safety, we have a group of Digital Leaders selected from all year groups.
We have a House system which allows children to work together to earn weekly points across the age groups which are celebrated in our Monday assembly they compete in an annual sports day. Participation in the Daily Mile is celebrated with milestone certificates for the class. We have weekly certificates awarded to children, several linked to the Oaklands mindset or thinking skills, and there are whole school termly awards such as the Daisy Trophy (awarded to a child in the school for being an excellent example to pupils) and the Pride Award awarded to a child in each class (initially for presentation and then promoting children’s sense of achievement and pride in their work). At the end of Y6, trophies (including both progress and achievement awards across the curriculum) are presented to promote good learning, sporting and social attributes. In addition, the school has been awarded the bronze level of Modeshift STARS, for promoting healthy and sustainable travel.
We are enthusiastic participants in annual or one-off events in a wide range of PSHE related initiatives. In recent years, these have included Justice Week, Road safety Week, Anti-bullying initiatives including Anti-Bullying Week and Safer Internet Day. We are keen to promote children’s understanding and enjoyment of the many aspects of PHSE.
Impact
By the end of Year 6, we aim for Oaklands Junior school children to:
- Show positive recognition of the Oaklands Mindset, through their enjoyment, friendship, communication, independence, challenge and ambition
- Gain the skills and knowledge to be successful citizens within our continuously developing world
- Develop their own personal skills and attributes, self-esteem, and emotional resilience
- Be respectful of others and mindful of their own health, mental health and wellbeing
- Know how they can keep themselves safe and where they can gain support and guidance when needed to ensure their safety
- Live respectfully within their communities and the wider world
- Create meaningful, positive and healthy relationships in their future.
The school has established and maintained a learning environment where the children have positive relationships with their peers and teachers. The extent to which the school successfully promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school is further evidenced through the school’s recognition by a number of nationally recognised agencies and participation in a range of initiatives during the school year.
With regular assemblies, we ensure that PSHE remains a constant and relevant part of each child’s education. Our Oaklands Mindset supports PSHE and encourages children to develop their own sense of responsibility, well-being and creation of healthy relationships. Digital Leaders have been appointed and are being trained to support teachers and pupils with online safety issues. Pupils in the upper school are taking responsibility for others within the school in various roles such as Assembly monitors, Wet play monitors, Playground Games Monitors, Red Bus Monitors. All pupils have a voice through their elected school councillors. Thinking Families allows for children to interact closely with others in different year groups and develop their skills, creating relationships between the year groups. Staff have had training on use of Project Evolve which will support online safety.
For PSHE, teachers use formative assessment to track pupil progress during each topic. Understanding and evaluation can be seen through contributions to class, depth and detail of written work and how children use their accumulated knowledge to make connections. The PSHE key concept map shows the relevant concepts, attainment and progression to be covered for each year group. Project Evolve has been introduced to children’s awareness of online safety. Following staff training and piloting the resources, year groups have now embedded the lessons into their curriculum.
Children at Oaklands with Special Educational Needs are supported through differentiated tasks and adult support where needed.
OFSTED visit 2022
In April 2022, OFSTED undertook an inspection and confirmed that Oaklands Junior School continues to be a good school. Some quotes from the report about curriculum include:
- Leaders are refining their ambitious curriculum for pupils. The ‘Thinking Curriculum’ focuses on developing thinking skills to enable pupils to learn something in one subject and then apply that knowledge in another.
- Learning is well planned. Themes such as Egyptians in Year 3 bring together learning in physical education, art and design and technology. This helps pupils make links, and enriches their learning experience.
- The curriculum promotes topics that capture the imagination of pupils and inspire creativity. Teachers plan topics carefully so that pupils can link different areas of learning.
Next Steps
Next, we will use knowledge from pupil voice, Digital Leaders and Project Evolve surveys to ensure that online safety lessons are tailored to children’s needs and made more relevant.