PSHE

S.R.E Consultation Summer Term 2022

This school year we have been implementing the PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) Programme across our school called Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE. The lessons since September have built children’s emotional literacy, self-esteem and knowledge of who they are and how they relate to each other. We are sure you will have heard your children talking about their Jigsaw lessons and elements such as Jigsaw Friends and Calm Me time. The Summer Term Puzzles (sequence of lessons) are about Relationships (Part 1) and Changing Me (Part 2).

 In every year group the Changing Me Puzzle includes 2 or 3 lessons to help children understand the changes that puberty brings and how human reproduction happens. There is a very serious safeguarding aspect to this work which starts with our younger children, for example, learning the correct terminology for the parts of the body. The Year 4, 5 and 6 lessons look more fully at puberty and human reproduction in an age-appropriate manner.

We hope you agree with us that this work is vitally important for all children. Our Jigsaw Programme helps us to build on the vital knowledge year by year in an age-appropriate way.

Once parents have had the chance to look at the lessons, they are encouraged to contact us via the school office.

Content that parents are able to withdraw a child from is flagged up in our SRE letter before we begin the carefully sequenced lessons. The lessons with this content are only found in Years 4, 5 and 6. All other content is part of the national curriculum and children must be taught it.

The information below outlines the lesson content that was shared with parents in May 2022.

Our Year 5 Children  Particpate Each Year in the D.A.R.T Project

In addition to having their jigsaw PSHE lessons,  our Year 5 Pupils take part in the Drugs Alcohol and Resilience Training (D.A.R.T 25) program as part of their Personal, Social, Health and Education curriculum.

 D.A.R.T (previously called the D.A.R.E program) aims to support children in developing valuable life-skills, equip them with important knowledge and build their resilience. We have now been running this program over the last few years and we have seen for ourselves the positive impact it has on our children.

If you have a child in Year 5 and  would like to know more before the program starts for pupils we run a parent and carer meeting, usually in the half-term before the course is due to start.

If you require further information before then, you are welcome to have a look at the official website at https://lifeskillseducation.co.uk/resources/the-dare-primary-programme/ . We have included the blurb from the website below:

Primary schools have a responsibility to ensure pupils leave fully equipped for transition to secondary school and all that entails and to ensure that they will be able to make safe and healthy choices.

As mentioned above D.A.R.T supports the delivery of P.S.H.E and helps equip our pupils with the essential life skills. Children are extremely vulnerable to peer pressure, have little understanding of the facts around drugs and alcohol, or about the law and the consequences of carrying a knife or treating others differently; they often do not communicate effectively, or manage risky situations successfully.

Knife crime has increased in recent years and incidents of hate crime are on the rise; the impact of drug and alcohol use is evident on the individual, family, community and society and can include low academic achievement, poor physical and mental health, crime and anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse. Early intervention using a programme which is proven to work can lessen the risks and can only be a benefit to all.