PSHE Curriculum

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health, Economic Education), RSHE (Relationships, Sex, Health and Education)

Our Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, including Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), is a vital part of our curriculum. It equips pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to stay safe, healthy and prepared for life both now and in the future. Through age-appropriate learning, children develop confidence, resilience and the ability to make informed choices, while also learning to respect themselves and others.

The learning and promotion of PSHE, RHE, and SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) is embedded across the whole school. Children are placed in forms with a dedicated form tutor who is responsible for their pastoral care and will address any issues as they arise, such as supporting children to develop feelings of self-respect, self-esteem, and general well-being. They also help pupils to take responsibility for their actions, understand the consequences of their behaviour, and develop an awareness of the world around them. The Fundamental British Values are actively promoted throughout the school, ensuring that pupils develop respect, tolerance, and an understanding of life in modern Britain.

PSHE/RSHE plays a key role in safeguarding by helping children recognise risks, understand boundaries and know where to seek help if they feel unsafe or worried. It supports pupils’ emotional well-being by encouraging open discussion, promoting positive mental health and building strong, respectful relationships. This proactive approach ensures that children feel secure, valued and supported within our school community.

All pupils receive weekly timetabled PSHE and Relationships and Health Education (RHE) lessons, supported and reinforced through Form time discussions, assemblies and wider school experiences. This ensures that learning is consistent, progressive and embedded across the curriculum and school day.

All staff contribute to this provision and act as positive role models, consistently demonstrating the behaviours, attitudes and values we promote. Through everyday interactions, staff reinforce expectations around respect, kindness and responsibility, helping to create a safe, supportive and nurturing environment in which pupils can thrive.

Our approach is underpinned by our whole-school values and vision, including the Leadership Advantage, The Enrichment Advantage and The Academic Advantage. Through the Leadership Advantage, pupils are encouraged to develop confidence, independence and a strong sense of responsibility. The Enrichment Advantage provides opportunities for pupils to broaden their experiences, develop social skills and build cultural awareness. The Academic Advantage ensures that pupils gain the knowledge and understanding needed to make informed choices about their health, relationships and future wellbeing.

By embedding these principles throughout PSHE/RSHE and wider school life, we aim to nurture well-rounded individuals who are confident, respectful and ready to contribute positively to the wider world.

Pam Holmes
Head of PSHE & Wellbeing

Curriculum Overview

Our PSHE and Relationships Education curriculum is primarily delivered through the Coram Life Education SCARF programme, which provides a structured, progressive and age-appropriate framework for learning. This ensures consistency across the school while supporting pupils to develop key knowledge, skills and understanding over time, particularly in areas such as relationships, safety, mental health and wellbeing.

To enhance and enrich this core provision, additional high-quality resources are used where appropriate. These may include, but are not limited to, the University of Birmingham’s Jubilee Centre Character Education resources, PSHE Association materials, carefully selected internet-based resources, and Growth Mindset approaches. These are used to complement SCARF and to ensure learning remains engaging, relevant and responsive to pupils’ needs.

Planning is flexible and may be adapted in response to the needs of individual cohorts, emerging issues, and topical events. Where appropriate, learning is also linked to whole-school themes to ensure coherence and consistency across the curriculum and wider school life.

In addition to discrete PSHE and Relationships and Health Education lessons, learning is reinforced through assemblies, special events, Form time activities, and Friday’s Golden Thread sessions, ensuring that personal development is embedded throughout the school day.

SCARF Curriculum Structure

Our PSHE/RSHE curriculum follows the Coram Life Education SCARF programme, which is structured around six half-termly strands:

Autumn 1 – Me and My Relationships
Pupils begin the year by focusing on building positive relationships. They learn about friendship, teamwork, cooperation and communication, as well as understanding their own feelings and how to manage them. This strand also supports pupils in developing empathy, resolving conflict and recognising the importance of respect for others.

Autumn 2 – Valuing Difference
This strand promotes respect, equality and inclusion. Pupils explore similarities and differences between people, celebrate diversity and learn about the importance of kindness and tolerance. They are encouraged to challenge stereotypes and understand the impact of bullying, including how to respond and seek help.

Spring 1 – Keeping Myself Safe
Pupils learn how to stay safe in a range of situations, including online and in the wider community. This includes understanding risks, recognising unsafe situations, and knowing how to respond to peer pressure. They also learn about their rights to feel safe and how to ask for help from trusted adults.

Spring 2 – Rights and Responsibilities
This strand develops pupils’ understanding of their role within the school and wider community. They learn about rules, responsibilities, and the importance of contributing positively to society. Topics include caring for the environment, understanding money, and developing a sense of fairness and justice.

Summer 1 – Being My Best
Pupils are encouraged to focus on their own goals and aspirations. They learn about healthy lifestyles, including physical activity, balanced diet, and mental wellbeing. This strand promotes resilience, perseverance and a positive attitude towards learning and personal growth.

Summer 2 – Growing and Changing
In this final strand, pupils learn about change and development, including emotional and physical changes as they grow. This is delivered in an age-appropriate way and supports pupils in understanding life cycles, relationships and the importance of personal hygiene. It also helps prepare older pupils for transition to secondary school.

Each of the six SCARF units is revisited every year, with content carefully adapted to be age-appropriate and to build on prior learning.

Lower School (Years 1–3):
Pupils develop the foundations of positive relationships, including forming friendships, recognising and managing emotions, and understanding how to stay safe. They begin to explore respect, difference, and their role within the school and wider community, alongside building awareness of basic health and wellbeing.
Upper School (Years 4–6):
Pupils deepen their understanding of relationships, including respect, boundaries and managing peer influence. They develop greater awareness of mental health and wellbeing, learn how to assess and manage risk (including online), and are supported in preparing for the physical and emotional changes associated with growing up and transition to secondary school.

Through these six strands, our curriculum supports pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to stay safe, be healthy, build positive relationships and become thoughtful, responsible members of society.

Year 1

Year 1 PSHE & Relationships Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and my relationships How do we make our classroom a nice place? What feelings do I have? What is a special person? What makes someone a good friend?
Autumn 2	Valuing Difference Is everyone the same? What is the difference between unkindness, teasing and bullying? Why do we need school rules? Who are my special people?
Spring 1	Keeping myself safe How do I stay healthy? Who can help me? What is a good touch and what is a bad touch?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities How can I look after something? Why do we wash our hands? How should I move around school? What can I do if someone is hurt?
Summer 1	Being my best What foods does my body need? What are germs? Why do we say nice things to our friends? What do I do if I have had a bad day?
Summer 2	Growing and Changing How does my body work? How have I changed since I was a baby? Who can help me? What is a secret and what is a surprise? What are our privates and why are they private?

Year 2

Year 2 PSHE & Relationships Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and My Relationships How we make our classroom a nice place? Can I name all my feelings? What is the difference between bullying and teasing? What is the right thing to do? How can I be a good friends?
Autumn 2	Valuing Difference How am I special? How can I make someone else feel special? Who can I turn to for help? Why do people feel left out?
Spring 1	Keeping Myself Safe What is a medicine? What are safe and unsafe situations? When do I say yes, no, I’ll ask or I’ll tell? Who can I talk to if something’s wrong? Should I keep a secret?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities How can I work well with others? What can I do if I’m angry? How can we look after where we live? Why is saving important?
Summer 1	Being my best How do we learn? What choices do we make for ourselves and what choices do others make for us? How can we stop germs spreading? Why do we need to brush our teeth? What does my body need to grow strong and healthy? What does my body do?
Summer 2	Growing and Changing What is good teamwork? How does it feel to lose something? How have I changed since I was a baby? How are we the same and how are we different? What does ‘private’ mean?

Year 3

Year 3 PSHE & Relationships Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and My Relationships Why do we have rules? How might I feel if I lose something? What is good teamwork? How can I be a good friend? How can we resolve a conflict? What is a dare? Does everyone have to agree all the time?
Autumn 2	Valuing Difference How am I special? Do all families look the same? What different communities do I belong to? What are our similarities and what are our differences? How can we behave towards each other to show appreciation and respect? How should we deal with bullying or teasing? What is ‘prejudice’?
Spring 1	Keeping Myself Safe What are safe or unsafe situations? What is the difference between danger and risk? What is a drug and how does it affect the body? How can I browse safely online? How does our body warn us something is not right? How can I assess a risk? What can help and what can harm our body?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities How do volunteers help our community? Who helps us stay safe? Why do we need different viewpoints? What costs money? How can we look after our school environment?
Summer 1	Being my best What is a balanced diet? How can we treat an illness? How can I empathise with different viewpoints? How does my brain work? What are the different functions of my body? How do we become skilled in something?
Summer 2	Growing and Changing What is a positive relationship and who do I have that with? What is body space and how do we protect it? How might different surprises or secrets make us feel? How do I call for emergency help?

Year 4

Year 4 PSHE & Relationships Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and My Relationships How do our emotions affect our physical state? What is a healthy, positive relationship? How can I be assertive? How can I work successfully in a team? What are the range of feelings I can have? Can my feelings change? What can I do if I see bullying or am being bullied?
Autumn 2	Valuing Difference How am I special? What is a ‘negotiation’ and what is a ‘compromise’? How can I protect my ‘body space’ and who can help if it being invaded? What are the different relationships I have? How can I deal with aggressive behaviour? How can I demonstrate respect? What is a stereotype?
Spring 1	Keeping Myself Safe What situations are a danger, risk or hazard? What strategies can I use for safe, online learning? What is a dare? Why and how do we safely use medicines? What are the key risks of smoking and alcohol? How can I manage risk? What can influence us positively or negatively?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities Who helps me stay healthy and safe? What rights and responsibilities do I have? How can I make a difference in school? How can I be influenced? How do my actions influence outcomes? What do we spend our money on?
Summer 1	Being my best Why is everyone unique? Will I always make the same choices as my friends? How does food affect my physical and mental health? How can I care for the environment? Who supports our school community? How do I help in a first aid emergency?
Summer 2	Growing and Changing Who can help us deal with change? What is puberty and how can it affect our emotions? How are men and women different? How can I ask for help if a secret makes me uncomfortable? What is marriage?

Year 5

Year 5 Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and My Relationships How can I work collaboratively? How can I resolve a difficult issue or situation? What are key qualities of friendship? Who can I talk to if I’m in an unhealthy relationship? How can I demonstrate assertive behaviour? What are our emotional needs? Why is responsible and respectful behaviour needed in all forms of communication?
Autumn 2	Growing and Changing Puberty (taught in STEM lessons see statements of progression) Why do we need resilience? How can I deal with uncomfortable situations? How can I help someone who feels sad? What is puberty and how will it affect me? How and why does puberty affect boys and girls the same/differently? How can positive or negative behaviours affect others? When might I need to break a confidence? Why and how do I show respect to those who are different from me?
Spring 1	Keeping Myself Safe What is a habit? Should I take that risk? What strategies can help those being bullied? How can I stand up for myself? What should I do in a risky situation? How can I protect myself when going online? How can medicines be helpful or harmful? Why do you need boundaries in friendships?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities How can I get reliable information about my health and wellbeing? What is the difference between fact or opinion? What’s the difference between rights, responsibilities and duties? Why is being part of a community good or me? Why do we need to be responsible with money?
Summer 1	Being my best What are harmful substances? What do our internal organs do? What are my strengths? How could we improve our school community? Who helps me and how can I help them? What ‘star’ qualities do you and I have? How can I help quickly in a first aid emergency?
Summer 2	Valuing Difference How am I special? Why do some friendships end? How do respond to others respectfully? What is discrimination and how does it affect others? Why is living in a diverse society beneficial for all? Should we believe everything we read online? How can an individual’s actions affect someone(s) positively or negatively?

Year 6

Year 6 PSHE & Relationships Learning Focuses
Autumn 1	Me and My Relationships What skills do I need to collaborate? How can a friendship be tricky? How can peer pressure influence and affect me? How do my reactions affect others? How can adults show their commitments to one another? What is appropriate and inappropriate contact? How can we keep our personal information safe online?
Autumn 2	Valuing Difference How am I special? What is discriminatory behaviour? What do we have in common? What are verbal and non-verbal ways of showing respect? What is prejudice? How are a friend and an acquaintance different? How does the media promote or dissuade stereotypes?
Spring 1	Keeping Myself Safe What is responsible and respectful behaviour online? What strategies do I have to keep myself safe online? What risks arise if I share pictures of myself online? How do I look after my emotional needs? What are drugs and are they all bad? What are the effects and risks of alcohol? What do independence and responsibility have in common?
Spring 2	Rights and Responsibilities What is a biased and unbiased view? What are the positives and negatives of social media? How can you save money? How can we live sustainably? What is democracy and how does it shape Britain?
Summer 1	Being my best What are the five ways to wellbeing? How can I achieve my aspirations? What could be the outcome of risk taking? What risks may I encounter as I grow up? How do I help in a first aid emergency?
Summer 2	Growing and Changing Puberty (taught in STEM lessons see statements of progression) How can I deal with change? Why is self-respect important? How can the media influence me? What pressures can I feel online? What is ‘normal’ when going through puberty? What is a safe or unsafe secret? When do I need to talk to someone?