Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a school subject through which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. It helps children and young people to stay healthy and safe, while preparing them to make the most of life and work. When taught well, PSHE education also helps pupils to achieve their academic potential.

Programme of Study for PSHE Education, PSHE Association 2020

PSHE Curriculum Intent

At Thomlinson Junior school, we teach Personal, Social, Health  and Economic Education as a whole-school approach to underpin children’s development as people and because we believe that this also supports their learning capacity.  The Jigsaw Programme offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through Scheme of Work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning in this vital curriculum area.  
This 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.

PSHE Curriculum Implementation

Jigsaw covers all areas of PSHE for the primary phase including statutory Relationships and Health Education. The table below gives the learning theme of each of the six Puzzles (units) and these are taught across the school; the learning deepens and broadens every year.

At Thomlinson Junior School we allocate 1 lesson (approx. 45mins to 1 hour) to PSHE each week in order to teach the PSHE knowledge and skills in a developmental and age-appropriate way.
These explicit lessons are reinforced and enhanced in many ways: assemblies and collective worship, praise and reward system, Learning Charter, through relationships child to child, adult to child and adult to adult across the school. We aim to ‘live’ what is learnt and apply it to everyday situations in the school community.  Class teachers deliver the weekly lessons to their own classes.

PSHE Curriculum Impact

In PSHE, we plan learning opportunities which build on children’s prior knowledge and shows progression; we use self and peer assessment to involve children in understanding their own learning and next steps.  Children’s progress will be monitored against the milestones for their year group termly and a decision will be made as to whether the child has achieved this in full, in part or is working below age related expectations.

Inclusion in PSHE

The DfE Guidance 2019 (p. 15) states, “Schools should ensure that the needs of all pupils are appropriately met, and that all pupils understand the importance of equality and respect. Schools must ensure they comply with the relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010 under which sexual orientation and gender reassignment are amongst the protected characteristics…
At the point at which schools consider it appropriate to teach their pupils about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender), they should ensure this content is fully integrated into their programmes of study for this area of the curriculum rather than delivered as a stand-alone unit or lesson. Schools are free to determine how they do this, and we expect all pupils to have been taught LGBT content at a timely point as part of this area of the curriculum.
At Thomlinson Junior School we promote respect for all and value every individual child. We also respect the right of our children, their families and our staff, to hold beliefs, religious or otherwise, and understand that sometimes these may be in tension with our approach to some aspects of Relationships, Health and Sex Education.
For further explanation as to how we approach LGBT relationships in the PSHE (RSHE) Programme please see:  ‘Including and valuing all children. What does Jigsaw teach about LGBTQ relationships?’