Healthy Minds/PSHE (RSE)

"A healthy mind observes and questions itself. This is the path to inner peace and happiness. Don't believe everything you think"

- Vironika Tugaleva

PSHE Association evaluated research ‘A Case for PSHE’ indicates that PSHE, when taught well, helps keep children and young people safe, physically and emotionally healthy and prepared for life and work.

Intent:

At Bedgrove Junior School, our Healthy Minds curriculum is at the core of our PSHE curriculum which in turn enables us to inspire our children to become healthy, independent, and responsible members of society.  We want to challenge and develop the ‘whole child’ intellectually, morally, socially, and spiritually.  Our Healthy Minds curriculum equips children with relevant and meaningful content, which is supported through a strong emphasis on emotional well-being, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health. Weaving through the heart of Healthy Minds, are many principles of keeping safe and close links to SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural) and our British Values.  We are all aware of the importance of Healthy Minds to ensure that Bedgrove Junior School is implementing the protected characteristics of The Equality Act 2010. With an ever-changing society, we are able to provide our children with a strong understanding of the diverse world around them and support them to succeed as a positive role model in contributing to the school and the wider community.

Implementation:

We believe that the purpose of the Healthy Minds curriculum is to build, where appropriate, on the statutory content already outlined in the national curriculum and in statutory guidance on: drug education, financial education, citizenship, personal safety, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and the importance of physical activity and diet for healthy lifestyle. Our Healthy Minds curriculum is delivered by utilising first hand experiences and sharing good practice. However, we are aware that the delivered curriculum must reflect the needs of our pupils and the world that they live in. We expect teachers to use their year group curriculum progression document, which will equip all pupils with a sound understanding of risk and resilience and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions. A sample of class work will be displayed weekly in our Healthy Minds class book (Floor Books); during the end of a half term children and teachers can reflect on their journey and what they have learnt. Each week children will have time to self-reflect on their learning and what they are going to develop in future weeks; this may not always link to learning! At Bedgrove Junior School, each year group will understand the importance of our school, trust, local, national and worldwide communities. Community projects will enable children to research, plan and evaluate the impact of their involvement. Furthermore, it will provide opportunities for children make real decisions and can demonstrate a responsibility for these. Healthy Minds is taught for a full afternoon per week with additional reflection time during key heightened parts of the day (coming into school, after break times and at the end of the day). There may also be times that that additional sessions occur due to an issue in their own class or within our school or global community. Healthy Minds is also an important part of whole school and celebratory assemblies were children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural curiosity is stimulated, challenge and nurtured through the coverage of key events and National and Global news. Healthy Minds is integral to the development of children’s values in order for them to become a positive citizen in a forever-changing community. We believe that Healthy Minds is paramount to everything that we do and believe in at Bedgrove Junior School.

Impact:

All children at Bedgrove Junior School will be challenged to think independently in collaborative classroom communities. They will have a positive attitude to learning and a willingness to learn, alongside an ability to try new things and persevere in all that they do. They will have a good understanding of how to stay safe, healthy and develop good relationships and what it means to be a positive member of a diverse, multicultural society. All pupils will have a strong self-awareness, interlinked with compassion for others.

RSE Consultation 

Please follow the link to watch a video presentation on how the RSE curriculum is delivered at Bedgrove Junior School.

We have RSE lessons from year 3 up to year 6 and follow the Christopher Winter Project (CWP) resource ‘Teaching SRE with Confidence in Primary Schools’. This programme reflects the recent developments in RSE and the Science National Curriculum and has been quality assured by the PSHE Association.

PSHE Association Training and Development Lead Jenny Barksfield says:

“We awarded the Christopher Winter Project’s ‘Teaching SRE with confidence in Primary Schools’ our quality mark as it achieves exactly what it says on the tin: it provides everything a Primary practitioner would need to be confident that the SRE they’re providing is comprehensive, balanced, developmental and in line with best practice in PSHE teaching and learning.  The lessons incorporate a wide variety of learning activities and a range of assessment opportunities.  The teacher’s guide is thorough and supportive.”

Within the resource there is an increased focus on safeguarding/keeping children safe. The resource also encourages children to develop the skills of listening, empathy, talking about feelings and relationships with families and friends. The resources in this scheme are age and developmentally appropriate, for example, in year 3, the importance of friendship relationships is discussed and how to have safe relationships.

The RSE programme is delivered during the summer term and we communicate with parents before the start date to fully inform parents and carers how the scheme will be delivered.

Need Extra Support?

If you would like extra support in speaking to your child about anything covered in our policy, please contact Miss Scannell or Miss Gore (office@bjsglt.co.uk).