Our PSHE Curriculum strives to give every child and young person an equal opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and in the future. This includes helping them to deal with issues they face every day such as friendships, emotional wellbeing and change. As well as giving them a solid foundation for whatever challenging opportunities lie ahead. 

At The Annunciation Junior School, we deliver our PSHE curriculum through the PSHE Association’s Question-Based Model. This programme is structured around an overarching question for each term or half term which links to our question-based approach across the curriculum. This builds throughout Key Stage 2 into ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions.

The three core themes of Health and Wellbeing, Relationships or Living in the Wider World from the Programme of Study are fully covered and colour coded in our plans. Teaching builds throughout the primary phase according to the age and needs of the pupils, with suggested developmentally appropriate learning objectives responding to each key question.

Although the Programme Builders organise content under different headings from those used in the content grids of the Department for Education’s statutory guidance on Relationships Education, RSE and Health education, the Question-Based Model covers all of the statutory requirements, within a comprehensive PSHE education programme.

We supplement this programme in different ways to support the needs of our school and to enrich the offer to our children. 
•    We have annual Police talks that cover keeping safe/online safety and we have used the Just Enough charity group to deliver workshops on gangs and modern slavery to UKS2. 

•    Alongside teaching of our PSHE curriculum, we strive to equip children with the knowledge that every emotion is okay and in addition teach them strategies to regulate their emotions using our Zones of Regulation. This gives children greater ownership and control over their own emotional wellbeing. 

•    We also take part in annual events such as Children’s Mental Health Week, Anti-Bullying Week and Internet Safety Day (In addition to the online safety lessons taught as part of PSHE).  

•    From the very start, our PSHE curriculum acknowledges that families are made up in different ways and it celebrates the family unit in whatever form it takes. 

•    Our PSHE coverage is fully inclusive of all children, families and teaching staff and we use a range of books to support the discussion and knowledge around gender identity such as ‘My Shadow is Pink,’ and ‘Julian is a Mermaid.’ 

•    We want to prepare children for later life and encourage this through Money Week in which we have a Careers day whereby parents explain to the children how they use subjects such as Maths through their rich and diverse job roles. 

•    To highlight the importance of healthy eating, we use annual Roots 2 Food workshops in which children can identify where certain foods come from and how to make healthy choices. They make delicious recipes that they then make at home with their families, which strengthens the home/school link. 

•    Each class has access to a range of Mindfulness resources that are used regularly as a relaxation tool. 

Our PSHE scheme of work is further supplemented by the resources which teaches RHE through our Catholic faith. These lesson resources are mapped out to enrich our Question based Model for PSHE. There is an entire platform of creative resources that engage, inform and inspire children, parents and staff. This includes interactive video content, story-based activities and original worship music, all whilst employing a wide range of teaching tools and an accompanying programme of classroom prayers.