PHSE
Our Intent
Our PSHE curriculum in Key Stage 2 is designed to equip pupils with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to lead healthy, safe, confident and responsible lives. Through a carefully sequenced, thematic programme, pupils revisit core concepts across Relationships, Living in the Wider World, and Health and Wellbeing, allowing them to deepen understanding and apply learning with increasing maturity.
At the heart of our approach are the values of kindness, curiosity and success. These values shape the way pupils learn about themselves and others, encouraging them to treat people with compassion, explore ideas with confidence, and develop the personal qualities that help them thrive both now and in the future.
We aim to ensure that all pupils:
Develop positive relationships and respect for others
Pupils learn how friendships grow and change, how to recognise respectful behaviour, and how to respond safely to hurtful or unsafe situations both offline and online. They explore diversity within families and communities, learning to value difference, challenge stereotypes, and show empathy and kindness.
Understand their role within the wider community
Through learning about rights, responsibilities, rules, and shared values, pupils develop a sense of belonging and contribution. They learn how communities function, how media and digital information influence choices, and how to navigate the online world with critical awareness and resilience.
Build financial awareness and aspirations for the future
Pupils explore the world of work, recognising their own strengths and interests, understanding different jobs, and learning how money is earned, used, and managed. They begin to consider how personal choices, skills, and opportunities shape future aspirations.
Strengthen physical and mental wellbeing
Our curriculum supports pupils to make informed choices about health, including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, hygiene, and dental care. They learn strategies for managing feelings, coping with change, and seeking help when needed. As they approach puberty, pupils gain accurate, age-appropriate knowledge about the changes they will experience and how to care for themselves.
Stay safe and make responsible decisions
Pupils learn how to assess risk, keep themselves safe in a range of environments, and respond in emergencies. They develop digital safety skills, understand personal boundaries and consent, and learn how laws, rules, and age restrictions help protect them.
Safeguarding Curriculum
Safeguarding is woven throughout our PSHE curriculum to ensure pupils develop the knowledge, confidence and language they need to keep themselves and others safe. Across Key Stage 2, pupils learn how to recognise unsafe situations, understand personal boundaries, seek help from trusted adults, and respond appropriately to risks both online and offline. They are taught how to identify bullying, discrimination and harmful behaviour, how to report concerns, and how to make safe, informed choices in a range of contexts. Our safeguarding curriculum is proactive, age‑appropriate and rooted in building pupils’ awareness, resilience and responsibility, ensuring they know how to protect their wellbeing and where to turn for support.
Implementation
We deliver PSHE through a carefully planned, progressive curriculum that is taught weekly in every class. Our programme follows a thematic structure across Relationships, Health and Wellbeing, and Living in the Wider World, ensuring that pupils revisit key concepts each year with increasing depth and maturity. Medium‑term overviews outline clear learning intentions for each year group, drawing directly from the Programme of Study and our Safety Curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of statutory content, safeguarding expectations and age‑appropriate learning.
Our implementation is intentionally responsive. While we follow a long‑term sequence, we re‑structure the order of themes when necessary to address the current, prevalent needs of our pupils and wider community. This flexibility allows us to prioritise emerging safeguarding concerns, local issues, or specific cohort needs, ensuring PSHE remains meaningful, relevant and protective.
Lessons are delivered using high‑quality, evidence‑informed resources and include opportunities for discussion, reflection and skill‑building. Teachers use clear ground rules, inclusive approaches and sensitive vocabulary to create safe spaces where pupils can explore complex topics such as relationships, online safety, discrimination, emotional wellbeing, puberty and risk. Safeguarding is embedded throughout, with pupils taught how to recognise unsafe situations, set personal boundaries, seek help and report concerns.
Assessment is ongoing and formative, enabling teachers to identify misconceptions, adapt teaching and ensure pupils are developing the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to navigate growing independence. Through consistent weekly teaching, responsive planning and a strong safeguarding focus, our PSHE curriculum equips pupils with the confidence, resilience and understanding they need to thrive both in school and beyond.