PSHE and RHE

At Halley we follow the Jigsaw PSHE Scheme of Work. Jigsaw PSHE is a comprehensive Scheme of Work for the whole Primary School from Nursery through to Year 6. It brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. SMSC (Spiritual, Moral Social and Cultural development) and Rights Respecting Schools (learning about United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child) are also a key part of the scheme. All of these pieces of learning are brought together to form a cohesive picture, helping children to know and value who they are and understand how they relate to other people in the world.

PSHE at Halley: Preparing your child for the future

PSHE and RHE FAQs

Q. How often and when is PSHE taught at Halley?

PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) is allocated half an hour of curriculum time each week. It is up to class teachers to decide when it is taught and they may choose to ‘block’ some of it – to teach multiple lessons one after another. This is particularly useful at the start of the academic year when many of the lessons are about getting to know each other and agreeing class rights, responsibilities, rewards and consequences.

Q. What are the changes to the new Primary curriculum?

From September 2020, Relationships Education and Health Education both become a legal requirement for primary schools to teach and need to be taught alongside the Science Curriculum.

Health Education

Mental wellbeing
Internet safety and harms
Physical health and fitness
Healthy eating
Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
Health and prevention
Basic First Aid
Changing Adolescent Body

Relationships Education

Families and people who care for me
Caring friendships
Respectful relationships
Online relationships
Being safe

Q. What support is there for parents to discuss these issues at home?

We recommend you review these websites and resources before sharing them with your child to ensure they are suitable for your child’s level of maturity and understanding. Each child is a unique individual and all children mature at different rates. Some of these websites include content that is not covered at school.

Some useful resources are:

Q. What should I do if my child asks a question I don’t know how to answer?

Two strategies we use at school may be helpful:

Say that you would like some time to think about how to answer. This will give you time to consider what to say, discuss it with another adult and perhaps to look up more information.
Say that it’s a good question but that you think it is best you answer it when they are a little older. If you can be specific – e.g. we’ll talk about that when you are nine.

Q. If my child has sex education, won’t it result in them becoming sexually active at a young age?

All the worldwide research shows that young people are much less likely to put themselves at risk through early sexual experimentation if they have received good relationship and sex education. (Kirby 2007, UNESCO 2009, NICE 2010)

In primary schools, how a baby is conceived and born is recommended by the DfE to be taught in Years 5 and 6. At Halley they will be taught in Year 6. However, parents have the right to withdraw their child as these lessons will be in the non-statutory part of the curriculum.

Q. What is the process for withdrawing from sex education?

If you wish to withdraw your child from the sex education in Year 6 you need to: - Attend the RHSE information meeting so that you know what will be taught - Make an appointment to meet with the headteacher to discuss your concerns This needs to be done before the end of the first half of the summer term.

Q. I believe that a family should be a man and a woman. How does this match up with what is taught in schools?

Schools will teach that families are made up of many different forms and can include, for example: single parent families, LGBT parents, families with grandparents, extended families, adoptive parents and foster parents/carers. The most important element of any family is that it provides a loving, stable and nurturing environment for children.

Q. My child is confused because our religion says families should be made up of a man and a woman. What should I say to them?

Here is one suggestion: Following your religion is important, but it is not okay to treat other people badly. Religion does not teach us that it’s ok to be unkind to people. In our society, we respect and value all different people and families.

Q. DfE guidance says to talk about marriage and different families. Can’t that be done without using pictures of same sex couples?

In line with the DfE, LBTH advises schools to teach pupils about a variety of different relationships, in the context of different families, all of which are equally valued and respected. Under the provisions of the Equality Act, schools must not unlawfully discriminate against people because of their age, sex, race, disability, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership, or sexual orientation, which are all considered to be Protective Characteristics. To undermine the rights of one of these Protective Characteristics is to undermine the rights of everyone. Relationships Education nurtures tolerance, encouraging children to grow up to be respectful of others. Therefore it is important that when we talk about families we use examples from as many different kinds of families as we can.

Q. Can I withdraw my child from Relationships Education, Health Education or Science in Primary School?

There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education as the Department of Education has said these topics are compulsory. There is also no right to withdraw from Health Education or National Curriculum Science, which covers lessons on puberty and menstruation. However, parents can withdraw from some topics taught outside of these areas and which are purely to do with sex education, for example how a baby is conceived and born.