At Four Oaks we are healthy, independent and responsible members of society. We want our children to love PSHE! We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and thrive as a positive member of a diverse and multi-cultural society. We want them to embody our core values. We all “strive to be the best we can be”.

The PSHE curriculum has been carefully crafted so that our children develop their own morals, attitudes, values and beliefs as well as skills to equip them to lead happy, healthy and safe lives. We want our children to remember their PSHE lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the opportunities they are presented with! In October, the whole school promoted and celebrated World Mental Health Day by supporting the Young Minds Charity and their movement on #helloyellow. The children were taught about the importance of looking after their mental health and strategies to improve their wellbeing focused on the five ways to wellbeing; Connect, Be Active, Keep Learning, Give and Take Notice. Last year, the children thoroughly focused on a variety of books such as ‘Your Special Voice’ in EYFS which helped children understand the importance of using their own voice. Bringing PSHE alive is important at Four Oaks Primary School. At Four Oaks, all children in KS1 and KS2 have reflection journals to promote self-regulation and healthy expression of emotions.

The PSHE curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and, as in all curriculum areas, empowers our children to become independent and resilient learners and citizens. For example, in the past, the whole school contributed to a display based upon Mental health and using your own voice to help you feel empowered. Children shared many stories and then created a piece of artwork to demonstrate their learning. Children shared examples of how they could use their voice such as helping a friend, sharing and idea or expressing themselves through art! We want to equip our children, not only with the minimum statutory requirements of the PSHE National Curriculum, but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. 

The pupils understand and promote our golden values of mutual respect for all and democracy. During PSHE, we have ‘ground rules’ which we revisit at the start of each lesson to ensure every child feels safe and respected during the lesson. One child commented, “If you disagree with someone’s opinion it is important to disagree respectfully and use the correct words for things.” Children in the EYFS also understand the importance of being respectful and the need for rules in society by adding, “Our rules are very important because they keep us safe. We have to follow our good looking, good listening, kind hands, kind feet and kind words all the time.”

We want our children to use the vibrancy of our great city and surrounding areas to learn from other cultures, respect diversity, co-operate with one another and appreciate what they have. We achieve this by providing a strong SMSC curriculum, with Four Oaks’ British ‘Golden’ Values at the heart of everything we do. This feeds strongly into the PSHE curriculum. For example, our pupils are encouraged to celebrate nationally recognised themed days and Four Oaks celebrate and raise awareness for as many charities as we can. In November, the children raised awareness for Children in Need. In December, the children celebrated Christmas Jumper Day for ‘Save the Children UK.’  Last October, we celebrated World Mental Health as a week-long focus and we had a different theme each day. We had ‘Mindfulness Monday’, ‘Talking Tuesday’, ‘Wiggle Wednesday’, ‘Thinking Thursday’ and ‘Funny Friday’. We explored different ways in which we can improve our mental well-being whether it was through movement, meditation, laughter, or by sharing our thoughts and feelings.

The pupils thoroughly enjoy this opportunity with one child commenting, “It was good to have a different focus each day as we are all different and might need to use different techniques to help our mental health.” We firmly believe that developing well rounded, lifelong learners is not just about what happens in the classroom, it is about the added value we offer that will really inspire our children.

Across the school, children also enjoyed various activities and learning about mental health and wellbeing. One fo the themes for the mental health week was ‘My Voice Matters’. Our learning was based around a lovely book 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse' by Charlie Mackesy. The children read the book and produced lovely pieces of work for the whole school display. In addition, the children take part in regular Resiliency lessons to support their mental health and wellbeing. 

One child recalled the use of the reflection journals, “I like writing in my reflection journal because sometimes I have lots of thoughts in my head.” Another child added a coping strategy, stating that, “I use my journal to draw pictures of my feelings, it’s my own private space.”

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in PSHE, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. PSHE is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. This helps to ensure sufficient time is allocated to PSHE and that PSHE subject matter can be revisited frequently. We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make. At the beginning of each topic, children are able to convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out – our new curiosity model. This informs the programme of study and also ensures that lessons are relevant and take account of children’s different starting points.

At Four Oaks Primary School, we ensure that PSHE has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.

The PSHE curriculum at Four Oaks Primary School is based upon a scheme of work called ‘You, Me and PSHE’. From September 2020, it was a statutory requirement that all schools teach health and relationship education and advisory to have sex and relationship education in all primary schools.  At Four Oaks, we had already included the revised curriculum in our scheme of work where all children in our school learn about relationships and health education and age-appropriate sex and relationship education in Year’s 2, 4 and 6. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our curriculum coverage document, which also shows progression of knowledge and skills. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.

PSHE teaching focuses on enabling children to think as independent and responsible members of society. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement. One pupil was recalling their subject knowledge on the ‘Growth’ topic and shared, “Growing up and changing was my favourite topic because it is something that is happening to me and so I could relate to it.”

At Four Oaks Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for PSHE learning inside and outside the classroom. Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional learning outside the classroom. At Four Oaks Primary School, the children have had many opportunities to experience PSHE on educational visits.

Through high quality teaching, we develop the following essential characteristics of being independent and responsible members of a diverse society:

• to understand and manage their feelings;
• to develop self-awareness and empathy;
• know and understand what constitutes a healthy lifestyle;
• be aware of safety issues;
• understand what makes for good relationships with others;
• have respect for others;
• be independent and responsible members of the school community;
• be positive and active members of a democratic society;
• develop self-confidence and self-esteem, and make informed choices regarding personal and social issues;
• develop good relationships with other members of the school and the wider community.
• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;
• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.