PSHRE

Intelligence and skills can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong. (John F. Kennedy)

At Atlas Academy we expect the highest aspirations for our pupils. We want all children to learn and make academic progress no matter their starting points. We have a clear vision for what we want pupils to achieve during their time at Atlas and have designed our curriculum to give all pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they will need in their future years.

The Purpose of Education for PSHRE

At Atlas Academy, PSHRE enables our children to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. These skills and attributes help pupils to stay healthy, safe and prepare them for life and work in modern Britain. Regardless of how long pupils are with us, be it their full primary years or just two or three, we intend for our pupils to:

• develop a healthy and safe lifestyle;
• building self-assurance and strong emotional resilience so that they are ready to engage with life and learning;
• build positive relationships with each other and all members of the school and wider community;
• develop an understanding of, and respect, differences between people;
• be confident in who they are as individuals and make the most of their abilities;
• play an active, positive role as citizens in a democratic society;
• make informed choices regarding personal and social issues – being responsible members of the school community;
• promote fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs;
• promote tolerance and respect of all faiths and beliefs, cultures and lifestyles through effective spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

PSHRE underpins the vision and core values of Atlas Academy. In its simplest form, Unity through Diversity is achieved when pupils know about and respect the similarities and differences in the cultures, beliefs and values of our school and wider community so that they are able to live and work alongside each other in harmony. Our belief that our pupils and our school community is ‘GREAT’: gifted, resilient, engaged, aspirational, together, are inter-weaved through PSHRE and how lessons are structured:

• GIFTED: as a multi-cultural school, so many of our pupils are come from different cultural and heritage backgrounds. This means that they often have many additional skills and knowledge such as speaking more than one other language to English or playing of musical instruments. PSHRE teaches them to be proud of their heritage as well as to learn about the cultural backgrounds of others.
• RESILIENT: pupils specifically learn about building resilience; they learn about emotions in success; and how to cope when things don’t go to plan.
• ENGAGED: the PSHRE curriculum encourages pupil contribution through discussion and collaboration; pupils reflect on their own ideas and those of others.
• ASPIRATIONAL: pupils learn to set realistic goals; they learn how to motivate themselves; they are taught about economics.
• TOGETHER: lessons are structured so that children learn skills together and as a multi-cultural school community they learn about diversity and socio-cultural awareness.

Our curriculum drivers (vocabulary acquisition, cultural capital, cultural awareness) are at the heart of all PSHRE lessons, helping students to understand, navigate and communicate within a rapidly changing 21st Century world. Citizenship, at school, community, national and global levels are integral.

Curriculum Implementation

At Atlas Academy, we teach PSHRE as a whole-school approach through a teaching and learning programme called Jigsaw. The Jigsaw Programme offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through scheme of work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning across all the required individual areas across the primary and early years’ phase, including statutory Relationships and Health Education, which is tailored to our children’s needs. The Jigsaw Programme is aligned to the PSHE Association Programmes of Study for PSHE.

Jigsaw organises learning content into six units (jigsaw puzzles) across the academic year:

• Being Me in My World
• Celebrating Difference
• Dreams and Goals
• Healthy Me
• Relationships
• Changing Me

These are taught across the school; learning deepens and broadens in each year group. Lessons are delivered by class teachers to their own classes each week in order to teach the required knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way. Where appropriate, outside agencies such as NSPCC, school nurses, who may come into school to deliver topics alongside teaching staff to offer advice and give additional support.

The Jigsaw Programme also supports the ‘Personal Development’ and ‘Behaviour and Attitude’ aspects required under the Ofsted Inspection Framework, as well as significantly contributing to the school’s Safeguarding and Equality Duties, the Government’s British Values agenda and the SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural) development opportunities provided for our children. The Jigsaw Programme aims to nurture the whole child and increase their learning capacity, underpinned by a philosophy of mindfulness and practice.

Learning is reinforced and enhanced though many other ways such as, during collective workshop and assemblies, behaviour reward systems, peer engagement arrangements and our general relationships with each other as a school community. Weekly assemblies focus on celebrating achievement and encouraging ambition; British Values; and SMSC. All pupils have a weekly Votes for Schools session where they discuss a challenging current issue. Pupils then discuss and vote to ensure that their voices are heard and have an impact.

Developing pupils’ social and emotional development is important to us at Atlas Academy. We use the ‘Thrive Approach’ which is based on neuroscience, attachment theory and child development to support pupils. The approach underpins our relationships and interactions with all children but some children receive additional targeted support. This includes regular profiling of developmental stages and individual action planning for individuals to develop the skills and strategies they need.

Staff have accessed Trauma Informed Schools training and strategies and techniques are being implemented across school.

Impact of the Curriculum

In PSHRE, we assess pupils’ work weekly using a pupil tracker which contributes towards a termly summative assessment of how pupil’s responses (written or verbal) may be presented at different levels (working towards, working at or working beyond), as appropriate to children’s age and stage.

In addition, we measure impact of PSHRE through:

• lesson observations – how well children are contributing to discussions and how they articulate ideas about relevant themes;
• learning walks – how well the curriculum intent is embedded
• book looks – as part of triangulation with learning walks and assessments
• pupil voice – enables us to listen to pupils’ views about their learning and how well curriculum content is taught and understood;
• assessment data tracking at Pupil Progress Meetings

To monitor impact, we will use the following impact statements to evaluate how effective our PSHRE curriculum is:

• Pupils make progress and attain in line with or better than age expectations, as set out by Jigsaw.
• A broad PSHRE curriculum will enhance pupils’ lives, build capital culture and instil a love of learning.
• Pupils will have high expectations of themselves and a drive for excellence. They will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills they gain in PSHRE. Pupils will have the necessary dispositions, character and academic qualifications to live a life full of choice and opportunity.
• Pupils will learn to value family, community and the environment. They will make positive contributions to the life of the school and those around them.

PSHRE policy

Click here to view our policy for PSHRE.

PSHRE Curriculum Overview

Click here to view our rationale for PSHRE.

Click here to view our curriculum overview (long term plan).

Jigsaw Guides for Parents/carers

Click here to view information for parents/carers about Jigsaw 3-11.

Click here to view guide for parents/carers about Relationships and Sex Education in Jigsaw.* (*note: Atlas Academy does not teach reproduction in PSHRE)

Click here to view guide for parents/carers: What does Jigsaw 3-11 teach about LGBTQ relationships?