PSHE

Curriculum Intent

Although Biggin Hill falls under the London Borough of Bromley, it is relatively rural and isolated in comparison to other towns in London. This has meant that Biggin Hill is mostly monocultural with a majority white-british population. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that children are given exposure to a wide variety of diverse cultures to equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need to function in an increasingly multicultural country. In addition, PSHE learning aims to give children the knowledge they need to identify unsafe situations and ways to keep themselves safe including but not limited to: relationships with peers and adults; healthy living, including peer pressure and drugs; road and traffic safety; and knowledge of their own bodies, including changes in puberty with Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).

Implementation

At Biggin Hill Primary School we use the SCARF scheme of learning to deliver our PSHE teaching. This covers all statutory aspects of PSHE including health education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and the British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. The SCARF scheme gives children the opportunity to read different scenarios and discuss what the people in these scenarios should or should not do to keep themselves and others safe. In addition, the SCARF scheme explicitly teaches useful vocabulary which can then be used by adults throughout the school to help children in situations of conflict or stress to better manage their emotions. The SCARF scheme works as a spiral curriculum to ensure that wherever there are gaps in learning - whether due to poor attendance, illness or COVID school closures and isolation - the same objectives will be covered multiple times throughout the child’s school career. PSHE learning aims to give children the tools to recognise and celebrate equality and diversity, Therefore, all PSHE objectives have been carefully looked at to recognise any links to other areas of the curriculum, including RE, computing and history in particular, to ensure the coverage of equality and diversity throughout the curriculum. Equality and diversity is also taught explicitly through whole school and key stage assemblies. Assembly topics were planned prior to the beginning of the academic year to cover all 9 of the protected characteristics outlined in the 2010 Equality Act. Key PSHE topics are also taught as celebrated focus weeks or days including Anti-bullying Week, Hello Yellow Day and Walk to School Week.

Covid recovery

The school uses the SCARF curriculum which works as a spiral curriculum to ensure that wherever there are gaps, these topics will be covered again. Every objective of the PSHE curriculum is covered at multiple points throughout the children’s school careers. In addition to this, it was identified throughout the school and throughout the country that one of the main areas in which children had missed out throughout the COVID period was in building relationships with their peers. Therefore, the whole school has begun the year by focusing on the ‘Me and My Relationships’ units of the SCARF scheme. This has helped our children to carefully consider the relationships they have with their peers, what makes a healthy relationship and how to make choices within a relationship that help others. This unit has also given children the opportunity to discuss how they could and should react to conflicts and difficult situations in order to have the most positive outcome, including the language of negotiation and compromise.