At Our Lady of Hartley School, we aim to provide a fun, dynamic and exciting programme of work in RSHE that will greatly develop the social, moral, cultural and spiritual education of the children in our care.
Since RSHE becoming statutory in September 2020, our new scheme Ten:Ten ‘Life to the Full’, has been incorporated into our existing PSHE programme of study.
‘Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.’ (Secretary of State Forward from Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education guidance 2019)
The new compulsory curriculum covers many areas with a strong focus on relationships. The focus of this is on teaching the fundamental building blocks and characteristics of positive relationships, with particular reference to friendships, family relationships, and relationships with other children and with adults.
This starts with pupils being taught about what a relationship is, what friendship is, what family means and who the people are who can support them. From the beginning of primary school, building on early education, pupils should be taught how to take turns, how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, the importance of honesty and truthfulness, permission seeking and giving, and the concept of personal privacy. Establishing personal space and boundaries, showing respect and understanding the differences between appropriate and inappropriate or unsafe physical, and other, contact – these are the forerunners of teaching about consent, which takes place at secondary.
There is also focus on physical health and mental wellbeing. The aim of teaching pupils about physical health and mental wellbeing is to give them the information that they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing and that of others around them. It should enable them to recognise what is normal and what is an issue in themselves and to help recognise this in others. They learn how to seek support and who to ask for help.
Ten:Ten ‘Life to the Full’
The programme adopts a spiral curriculum taught across 4 Learning Stages:
EYFS
KS1
Lower KS2
Upper KS2
Each learning stage covers the same 3 Modules, which take their names from the three themes of the CES Model Curriculum:
Parents as the first educators
One of the most distinctive features of a Catholic Relationships Education programme is to emphasise the vital role that parents have in nurturing their children on these matters. It is our aim to reassure parents and lead to a shared vision and purpose in teaching RSHE. ‘Life to the Full’ provides tools to enable us to share lesson content with parents and gives access to an online platform to ensure that parents are fully integrated into the teaching and learning of RSHE.