Quick Links

Quick Links

Back to top

Eastbury Community School

PSHE

PSHE at Eastbury Community School 

PSHE education at Eastbury Community School is a planned programme of learning through which pupils acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives now and in the future. PSHE Education stands for Personal Social Health Economic Education. As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE education aims to develop the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.  

The PSHE Education Curriculum at ECS is built upon our three principles of Excellence, Collaboration and Success.

Excellence: pupils confidently demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to make considered and informed decisions which will keep themselves and their communities safe, healthy, and happy, now and in the future.

Collaboration: Pupils work collaboratively, with each other, staff, and external agencies, developing the critical thinking skills required of active citizens with integrity, empathy, and respect. Pupils are encouraged to celebrate diversity, challenge prejudice and discrimination and develop the skills to access appropriate support when needed.

Success: Pupils can recognise and manage risks, develop and maintain healthy lifestyles and relationships. They are aspirational and resilient, equipped to embrace the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face as they grow up and into adulthood.

Aims of PSHE 

Effective PSHE education equips pupils to live healthy, safe, productive, responsible, happy and balanced lives. it provides opportunities for pupils to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes and explore the complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they encounter now and in the future.  PSHE education contributes to pupil’s personal development by helping them to build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem, and to identify and manage risk, make informed choices and understand what influences their decisions. It supports pupils in making effective transitions, positive learning and career choices and in achieving economic wellbeing. 

We believe that PSHE education can help reduce or remove many of the barriers to learning experienced by pupils, significantly improving their capacity to learn and achieve. The PSHE education programme makes a significant contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development, their behaviour and safety and the school’s statutory responsibility to promote pupils’ wellbeing. The learning provided through a comprehensive PSHE education provision is essential to safeguarding pupils

This is the area of the curriculum where students will learn about how to look after their health and well-being, recognise the qualities of healthy and unhealthy relationships, explore the impact of life online and focus on careers and financial education.

The Secondary PSHE programme at Eastbury Community School

All KS3 students have a lesson a week of PSHE taught by a specialist team. At key stage 3, students build on the knowledge and understanding, skills, attributes and values they have acquired and developed during the primary phase. PSHE education acknowledges and addresses the changes that young people experience, beginning with transition to secondary school, the challenges of adolescence and their increasing independence. It teaches the knowledge and skills which will equip them for the opportunities and challenges of life. Students learn to manage diverse relationships, their online lives, and the increasing influence of peers and the media.

All Y10 students have the equivalent of an hour a fortnight with students in Y11 receiving an hour a week with some time allocated to private study. At key stage 4, students deepen knowledge and understanding, extend and rehearse skills, and further explore attitudes, values and attributes acquired during key stage 3. PSHE education reflects the fact that students are moving towards an independent role in adult life, taking on greater responsibility for themselves and others.

The KS3 and 4 programme has been developed to meet statutory guidance and the key concepts of the PSHE Association. All students will study units which reflect the core themes of Health and Well-being, Relationships and Living in the Wider World at an age appropriate level.

Maintaining a safe learning environment in PSHE

PSHE education focuses on how pupils can keep themselves and others safe, the following key principles are applied to create a safe learning environment for discussing sensitive and controversial issues: 

  • Teachers establish a safe teaching and learning environment by agreeing appropriate ground rules with the group, ‘distancing’ or de-personalising the learning, not focussing on individual pupils’ circumstances and providing a means to ask questions anonymously before, during, or as part of the lesson  
  • ’Topics’ are a context through which we develop overarching concepts such as risk, power and healthy relationships  
  • Trusted high-quality resources are used in lessons 
  • Sources of one-to-one specialist support are signposted
  • Lessons cover the law in relation to issues being covered when appropriate
  • Lessons aim to go beyond giving information and raising awareness, and focus on developing the skills and attributes required to use the information to make safe choices
  • Equality and high self-esteem are promoted throughout lessons.
  • Lessons challenge norms, attitudes and perceptions about how men and women ‘should’ behave
  • Lessons challenge the belief that abuse of friends, partners or family members in any form can ever be acceptable or excusable. 

PSHE and Rights Respecting Schools

The PSHE education department is committed to promoting the United Nations Conventions of the Rights of a Child by supporting students to be healthier and happier, feel safe, have better relationships and become actively involved in school life and the wider world.

The work of the PSHE department is linked to many of the articles from the Convention of Rights of a Child however it is the following five which we feel form a foundation for our curriculum intent:

Article 2 - All children have all these rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what language they speak, what their religion is, what they think, what they look like, if they are a boy or girl, if they have a disability, if they are rich or poor, and no matter who their parents or families are or what their parents or families believe or do. No child should be treated unfairly for any reason 

Article 12 - Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously 

Article 29 - Children’s education should help them fully develop their personalities, talents, and abilities. It should teach them to understand their own rights, and to respect other people’s rights, cultures and differences. It should help them to live peacefully and protect the environment. 

Article 36 - Children have the right to be protected from all other kinds of exploitation (being taken advantage of), even if these are not specifically mentioned in this Convention. 

Article 42 – Governments should actively tell children and adults about this Convention so that everyone knows about children’s rights 

Teaching and learning about rights 
The ECS PSHE curriculum makes links to Articles from The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) explicit. Learning opportunities are planned into lessons which provide opportunities for students to explore connections between the PSHE core themes and rights improved child wellbeing, school improvement, global justice and sustainable living. 

Teaching and learning through rights 
Strategies used in PSHE provide opportunities for students and teachers to work together to develop a learning environment and relationships based on rights-respecting principles. In classrooms, teachers and students collaborate to develop and reflect on the importance of equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation.  

Teaching and learning for rights – participation, empowerment and action 
As part of PSHE lessons, and the wider work of the PSHE department – School Council and Changemakers, activities are planned to empower students to enjoy and exercise their rights and to promote the rights of others in school, locally and where possible globally. 

PSHE Curriculum